Marissa Lake

Author: Marissa Lake

Step-by-Step Guide For An Impactful Summer

Step 1: Find out your goal

For those of you who have jobs or internships for the summer, it may be your goal to excel in those positions. However, what if you don’t have one of those opportunities and still want a high-impact summer? Here is our list of goals you can have:

  • Learn a new skill
  • Volunteer
  • Create your own “resident” experience
  • Prepare for graduate school applications or job search

There are so many other goals you can have for your summer as well! But this was our list of suggestions to just get you thinking. 

Step 2: Figure out the steps to achieve that goal

We suggest writing out your plan for the summer. Whether it is easier to break it up by day, week or month is up to you! If you are learning a new skill or expanding your knowledge on a subject, you may take some free online courses or even courses at a community college nearby. If you are volunteering, research where you would like to spend your time and reach out to find times that fit in your schedule. If you want to create your own resident experience, research where you would like to stay for the summer, the funding that Lawrence or the community can provide, who you would like to study with, or where you would like to work. If you’re looking to prepare for graduate school or a job search, figure out which schools or which fields you are interested in a form a plan for creating your application materials. 

Step 3: Execute! 

Stick to your plan! If you end up falling behind that is totally okay, just be sure you have a chance to recharge and get back in there. Always keep in mind that even the tiniest amount of progress can make a huge impact on your career and your goals and ensure you have a high-impact summer.

Step 4: Keep track of your progress

Be sure to take note of all of the progress you are making. You can do this by journaling, keeping a calendar, or just reviewing all of the materials you’ve gathered throughout the summer. If you’re volunteering be sure to log your hours. Also, if you are working with other people, you can even ask them how you have progressed throughout the summer. 

Step 5: Enjoy the benefits!

If you have an internship, there is a really good chance you have earned college credit for completing your position! Not having to take one extra class during your time at Lawrence is a really great benefit. Those of you who learned new skills, be ready to excel in your classes relating to those skills or apply them all throughout the school year. The same goes for those of you who created your own residency! If you got a head start on job or graduate school applications, be ready to send those in and enjoy the downtime after getting such a good head start. 

What To Do During This Summer for Music, Art & Film Students

Step 1: Find out your goal

Music

For musicians, you may already have a summer program opportunity or internship for the summer. If so, make it your goal to learn as much as possible during these opportunities. If you don’t have one of these opportunities lined up, that is okay! You can spend your summer preparing for graduate school auditions, summer pre-screens, academic auditions, or more. 

Art

For those interested in the art field, you may have internships lined up for the summer as well. It may be your goal to get as much experience possible at these opportunities. If you don’t you can always work on projects to bulk up your portfolio or prepare for your academic art exhibits and projects. You can also prepare materials to apply for graduate programs or future jobs/internships. 

Film

For film students, if you don’t have an opportunity lined up for the summer like an internship, you can spend your summer bulking up your portfolio as well. You can also prepare materials for the next academic year, graduate school applications, or just future job opportunities. 

Step 2: Figure out the steps to achieve that goal

Music

For those who are music majors, you can check out a previous helpful guide we have created here. 

Art

You can actually do quite a bit to achieve multiple goals during the summer as an art major. You can work on weekly pieces to bulk up your portfolio, or even create your own “artist residency”. To create your own residency you can try taking online classes that interest you, or if you are feeling daring you can even move to a different city for the summer and work at a makerspace to learn from other artists. Whatever route you plan on taking, make sure that your steps to achieve your goal are clear!

Film

For those interested in film, working on projects over the summer is the perfect thing to do in your spare time. It can be hard during the academic year to find enough time to work on your big projects, so take the extra time to create something you have always wanted to create! You can also spend the time perfecting your portfolio to send to future opportunities. You can even reach out to local news stations or film companies to see if they have any temporary openings.

Step 3: Execute! 

For all areas of the Visual & Performing Arts Community, stick to your plan! If you end up falling behind that is totally okay, just be sure you have a chance to recharge and get back in there. Always keep in mind that even the tiniest amount of progress can make a huge impact on your career and your goals. 

Step 4: Keep track of your progress

Music

For musicians, keeping track of progress is either incredibly easy for your or incredibly hard. If you are trying to practice more this summer, try keeping a video diary of your practice sessions and lessons. If that doesn’t work, try a physical practice diary to check in with how you and your instrument are feeling each day or week. If you are at an internship or program you can also use the diary method.

Art

Thankfully for artists, it can be relatively easy to see the progress you are making throughout the summer. If you are building your portfolio up, you can compare your past pieces to your present ones or see if you want to improve any past ones you have done. If you are taking a class, you can gauge how attentive you are to the material or even ask the professor how you are doing. 

Film

For those interested in film you can also see your progress relatively easily if you are building your portfolio. You can compare your past pieces with your newest ones to see how you have improved. If you are finding it easier to write your application materials the more you spend time with them, that is also progress! 

Step 5: Enjoy the benefits!

Once you have completed all of your steps, you can now go and get that audition, job, or internship a lot easier! Fill out those online forms, schedule those interviews and get those plane tickets to go and land those opportunites. If your goal didn’t include applying for anything, you now have the tools you need to become the best version of yourself and your artform! Hopefully, throughout the process you learned a lot more about yourself as an individual and what your interests are in order to inform yourself on what to do in the future.

Credible Non-Profit Job Boards

While you will find non-profit jobs on any reliable job board like Handshake or Indeed, there are job search sites that specialize in non-profit positions. A few of them are described and reviewed below.

NationalNonProfits.org

Nationalnonprofits.org is fully free and easy to use. You can search by a specific organization and geographical location in order to find the opportunity that is right for you. This website sadly does not give many internship options, however, they do have a few. Most of the opportunities found on this job board are full-time job positions, so it might be best to use this site for post-graduation. You can apply for each opportunity directly through the website.

Foundationlist.org

Foundationlist.org is great for those looking for specific foundation jobs. Sadly, this website does not feature any internship search tools and is mainly for those finding part-time and full-time non-profit work. Each opportunity has a “How To Apply” section, where it lists the requirements and also whether to apply through the Foundationlist website or if you will be redirected to the company website. 

Check out our previous review of Idealist.org, which is another great tool for those interested in working in the non-profit industry.

Foundationlist also has a list of other nonprofit job boards here. 

If you seek non-profit opportunities in Wisconsin, visit Jobs That Help.

Job Search Resources for Film Students: Mandy.com & StaffMeUp.com

Mandy.com

Mandy is a simple job search tool for those in the film and theater industries which functions a lot like LinkedIn. You can easily find casting and crew calls for all sorts of productions and apply for them safely directly through the website. All you need is a free account to start seeing the listings, however, you have to pay for a subscription in order to apply for the positions and make sure your profile is seen. The nice thing about Mandy is that it organizes opportunities by employer. That way if you find an employer you would like to work for it lists all of their available positions in one place, rather than having to weed through all other listings to find that particular employer. 

StaffMeUp.com

StaffMeUp is a great resource for those looking for film jobs and internships. Unlike Mandy, it does not feature theater internships and only showcases film and crew opportunities. The website is extremely easy to navigate and you just need to make a free profile to start applying for positions. With the free version, you are allowed to apply to 5 opportunities every month, but if you would like to apply to more you must pay for a subscription. The paid subscription also gives you access to the status of your application to see when it is being reviewed. Overall, StaffMeUp’s free version is much more useful than Mandy’s since you can actually start applying for positions right away without having to pay anything.

Tips for Preparing for your Non-Profit Career

Volunteer:

One of the best things you can do to bulk up your resume for a future career in Non-Profit work is volunteering. Volunteering is also a great way to figure out what causes you are passionate about and want to seek when you are applying for your future careers. Here at Lawrence, it is very easy to get involved with the Appleton community through volunteering. Lawrence’s GivePulse page has hundreds of opportunities for students to sign up for to get you started.

Ask your local community:

Also going along the lines of volunteering, asking around your local community to see what their needs are is also beneficial. You can hear about the local non-profits that they know, or even ones that offer remote internships or funded ones. Word of mouth is a great way to find out opportunities and exactly what your local community needs in a non-profit worker.

Search for summer internships:

Another great way to get your foot in the door of non-profit work is through summer internships! Lawrence’s Handshake page has a bunch of non-profit internships listed all throughout the year, and you can also check out websites such as Indeed.com and Internships.com to find others as well. Internships are a great way to get an in-depth experience of what it is like to work in a particular field.

Find causes you are passionate about:

The causes of a non-profit company could range anywhere from arts and music to diversity and inclusion. The possibilities really are endless on what kind of non-profit you see yourself working in, however, how do you choose just one? Through your volunteer work, asking your local community, and pursuing job and internship openings you should get a good idea on where exactly you want to end up. Try to find the cause that you are the most passionate about, and use that cause as a keyword when conducting your latest job or internship search.

#VPA Interview with Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Theatre Chair, Kathy Privatt

Q: What does the path to a career in theatre look like for a student currently at Lawrence?A: If they are in the major they take core courses that go across the discipline. They will have performance course work, design course work, and literature and history course work. We think of it like a 3 legged stool, since all performance takes from those main aspects. After these main courses, you have a choice to explore these areas further or you can choose an area of specialization such as design tech., directing, or literature history. You are also required to be involved in some aspect of 6 performances. Finally, you end with a Senior Experience that is individual to each student.
Q: What other majors or minors are often paired with theatre in order to reach different careers in the industry?A: Art History and Studio Art is often paired with Theatre to lead to a career in design. Those interested in dramaturgy or playwriting often pair it with an English or Creative Writing major. Performers often pair Theatre with Psychology or Sociology since you have to think about human behavior while you’re on stage. Many also do the double-degree program within the Conservatory if they are interested in Musical-Theatre, pairing with the Vocal Performance major.
Q:Can you estimate what the job placement percentage is for Lawrence students pursuing a career in the industry? A: The trajectory for making a living in theatre is often a lot slower than other areas. This could be the case for a few years post-graduation. However, many students end up going into grad schools later on depending on the school. Many grad schools prefer theatre majors to have some experience working in the industry before applying, which also makes the trajectory for immediate placement after graduation slower.
Q:What have students done after graduation that have gone through the theatre program? A: Professional actors. Some started teaching at the college level. We have people that immediately started work in scene shops, costume shops, and doing design work. Stage management. We also have some teaching secondary education, which is exciting for us since we want to build new theatre-makers and keep things going.
Q:What are the different careers within the field of theatre? A: There are the big ones: actor, director, and designer which could be set, costumes, lighting, make-up, or sound. You could be a stage manager or run-crew and light-boards. Dramaturgy and lots of people are teaching artists that are at regional theatres. Theatre management, which is management of the performing venue itself.
Q:What would you say is the hardest field to find careers in for theatre? Which ones are in high demand?A: Right now in the U.S. acting and playwriting is the hardest career to make a living off of. Many actors and playwriters have to have a second form of income. Some of the easiest are the production roles such as set construction and stage management.
Q:What influenced your decision to become a professor. What do you love about it? A: I genuinely get excited about what happens when you take scholarly inquiry and fuse it with creative choice. To share that with other people, and to collaborate with a company, which is how I think of the theatre department. I can’t imagine a more joyful place and way to be making theatre.
Q:Do you have any tips for current students pursuing a theatre career? A: Number one, think about internships, at least in the summertime. This is a way to explore what careers can be possible and which ones you are interested in. You will develop a network of people that know you and how you work. I would definitely say go to the Career Center from the moment you first can, so that you are doing things like practicing interview skills and writing resumes. Also, think about the skills you are learning in all of your course work and extracurricular activities, and what those skills might mean to your future employers. Connect with alumni relations so you have an idea of where you want to be.