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Students recount experiences with artistic summer internships, jobs

Fourth-year music education student Virginia Pettis had a summer job at the UCLA film production studio in De Neve Commons, called Studio 22. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Joshua Greenberg

Sept. 18, 2015 8:45 p.m.

The original version of this article and caption accompanying the article contained multiple errors. The original article misstated Edwin Arzeta's position at the Hammer Museum. He was a visitor experience representative, not a visitor guest representative. The original article also stated that Virginia Pettis was a third-year film student. In fact, she is a fourth-year music education student.

Shayna Warner used tape to hold a tripod rig together during her summer internship.

While working at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, she learned to over-prepare rather than under-prepare. Two weeks later, her filming setup was organized instead of makeshift.

“It was basically creative Girl Scouts on overdrive,” said Warner, a second-year world arts and cultures student.

Students like Warner will return to classes this fall after working as summer employees or interns in media arts. By getting involved in creative fields, students aim to acquire skills and connections to help them in their future careers; Warner said what interns learn is proportional to the effort they put in.

Warner was a summer intern at the Jewish Film Institute for their 2015 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which featured 70 films about people like Kosher bakers and Israeli singer-songwriters.

At first, Warner worked in an office and copy edited press releases, but was later able to fulfill her goal of filming and photographing the festival. However, Warner said she learned more from the organizational than the creative side.

“It’s tedious, but it’s necessary for the actual creative component to be put together,” Warner said.

While photographing and filming audience Q&As after movie showings, Warner talked to film professionals with a camera, which allowed them to empathize with her, she said.

“They say, ‘Ah, I was where you are, young Padawan. Keep going,’” Warner said.

Second-year art student Deena Mostafa found an artistic summer job by returning to her own K-12 American school near the American embassy in Cairo. She taught middle and high school students as an assistant art teacher.

Mostafa said the stalled Egyptian Revolution and the Syrian diaspora have radically changed the cultural environment. People in Cairo are politically aware, she said, including her high school students that expressed themselves through the AP and IB art curriculum.

One boy’s drawings, Mostafa said, represented his thoughts about the continued oppression of women in the Arab world. He wanted his depictions of a veiled woman to represent women’s struggle for gender equality. Mostafa said she was surprised her students were as determined as they were to voice their opinions.

Third-year art student Edwin Arzeta was involved at the Hammer Museum in Westwood this summer, and hopes to continue his work until he attends graduate school. As a visitor experience representative, he said he acted as a concierge and kept visitors from touching the paintings. This taught him how the general public views and relates to the Hammer’s exhibits.

Working at the local museum gave him experience for running fine arts workshops and galleries, preparing him to have an art show in a gallery space. Arzeta said that’s the peak of a career in fine arts.

“You can see what the process is like, what the work is when no one’s around to explain it,” Arzeta said. “Talking to guests firsthand … it’s nice to know that people can engage with conceptual work.”

Fourth-year music education student Virginia Pettis worked at the UCLA film production studio in De Neve Commons called Studio 22, the new brand for the residential life video program. She has worked part-time as a video and audio editor for the past two years and continued this summer.

As film coordinator, she edited pieces for Off the Record.” Most of her efforts were on the administrative side, setting up film shoots and timing meetings, she said.

“If anything, Studio 22 is helping me become a more flexible content creator, in any kind of career,” Pettis said. “The skill set is to help me not be afraid.”

Students said the knowledge they acquired at these summer jobs would help them in their future pursuits.

For Warner, the festival management pushed her to develop film techniques on her own. However, for now she plans to focus on screenwriting and writing for UCLA’s OutWrite Magazine.

Mostafa said her work at the school was valuable in giving her the tools she’ll need as an arts educator, which is her goal after graduation. Her long-term ambitions involve helping spread Middle Eastern culture on a broader scale.

As for the employees at Studio 22, many have graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Pettis said, showing a connection between their jobs and studies.

“(Studio 22) is not just a good place to learn, it’s a good place to network,” Pettis said. “This experience applies to so many internships in Los Angeles.”

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Joshua Greenberg
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