Volunteer Ysaye Zamore (pictured left) with 2018 Summer Intern Jonathan Spangler (pictured right) at a community engagement event.
“Invaluable” is how former intern, Jonathan Spangler, summed up his time with the California Symphony as the Arts Administration Intern. A year on, we caught up with him to see what he thought about his experience.
1. What was your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part of the internship involved the broad learning opportunity. Future managers and leaders need experiences that affirm where their skills are proficient as well as deficient. Working with California Symphony also helped reveal areas that are more enjoyable and worth pursuing jobs in, while also uncovering the disciplines I perhaps would not enjoy in a day to day job.
2. What was the most valuable thing you took away from the internship?
Practical grounding. We get years of theory in academia, and the internship at California Symphony married a lot of the theory with reality quite well.
3. Was there anything you wished could have been part of the internship?
In the future, involvement in the Artistic Planning/Budgeting process, would cover another area for arts management interns.
4. How was it different from other work experiences you’ve had in the past?
It was much smaller, less bureaucratic, and not siloed. The staff at California Symphony have a system in place to check and balance workload, and productivity to keep everything and everyone working together.
5. Favorite event that you participated in during your time with the California Symphony?
I worked on a few small projects and a few longer big projects. One of my favorites was assisting the Executive Director in the European Patron Cruise order tracking as well as procurement of tickets. I enjoyed using my experience living and studying abroad to provide the tour additional options for the patrons.
My second favorite experience was the Association of California Symphony Orchestra’s Conference in the final week. The intimacy and humility of the conference was a terrific experience. It was encouraging to have the chance to network with consultants, directors, conductors, board members, and musicians of the Orchestras in California.
Jonathan Spangler has served in the United States Army with leadership experiences in Project Management, Program Development, Operations, Resource Management, and Personnel Management. Currently, he is a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College for Public Policy and Information Systems Management graduating in May 2019 with a Master of Arts Management degree.
The California Symphony is currently hiring two new interns for the 2019 summer. Applications are open through March 30, 2019, for details and how to apply click here.