Arts Management

Description of the video:

Bloomington does have the cultural resources and assets of a large city, but it's in a smaller community which means that you actually have the opportunity to go in and be a part of big decisions and do really hands-on work. For me as a dual student, an MPA-MAAA student, I wanted a true mixture of theory and practice. I was able to participate in multiple practicum projects with organizations both around Bloomington and outside of Bloomington. I've had the opportunity to volunteer with the Lotus World Music Festival, which has been a wonderful opportunity to experience some worldwide musicians that come to Bloomington. It was really helpful to be here and have access to these leaders at cultural institutions and other venues here in town that really helped me define my direction and what I was interested in. There's a lot of local live music venues here in Bloomington, so it gave me a great opportunity to still play my instrument. I was able to perform in some local groups, both in the Jacobs School of Music as well as some community bands, while also studying about the administrative side of things. IU has a ton of arts and culture happening here, whether that's seeing an opera, going to see the Latin Jazz Ensemble, Theatre and Ballet. There's always opportunities. In addition, the Arts and Humanities Council puts on First Thursday Festivals which is very interdisciplinary. You get a mix of a bunch of different departments on campus, as well as community organizations and performances. There's a lot of wonderful natural assets around here as well. B-line Trail runs around downtown. Ton of great lakes and hiking trails. So you kind of get the best of both worlds with Bloomington. No matter what you're interested in whether it's visual arts, music, dance, theater it's all here and there's opportunities to engage in that in a really meaningful way.