Student Blog: In Honor of Three Women Who Have Changed Me

For the last year, I have been an Intern at Philadelphia Young Playwrights, an arts education nonprofit serving youth in the Greater Philadelphia area. Here, I have worked for a team of three women who have given me opportunities to do meaningful work, hone valuable skills, and learn a lot about both myself and the theater community I am working within. Since it is Women’s History Month, I want to take some time to reflect on three things I have learned while working for these leading ladies. 

Community is Power 

Artists and organizations that seek to uplift the arts are more powerful together and this is something my bosses recognize. They are constantly working on forming and maintaining meaningful partnerships with local schools, theaters, arts organizations, and other community spaces where our classes and productions take place. One of my favorite things to work on in my internship at PYP is helping my bosses form partnerships with community spaces to bring the power of arts education to the youth they serve. I am very passionate about arts education as someone who has experienced a lot of personal growth thanks to it, so being able to expand the impact of an arts education nonprofit has brought me significant joy. I met my boss at a one-off workshop at my old workplace, the Parkway Central Library’s teen center, and set a goal to land us another opportunity to do a workshop there. It worked, and now we have done several workshops there over the last few months. Since then, we have continued discussing different potential valuable sites PYP can connect with for mutually beneficial collaborations and working to make these collaborations happen.

Access is Empowerment

I am quite passionate about accessibility - both in terms of financial accessibility and accessibility for disabled people. I began my internship shortly before the passing of PYP’s former Finance Manager, Judy. I was told Judy dreamed of PYP students obtaining opportunities to see local theater more frequently.  It is a dream I also had for myself and therefore could understand well. I dreamed of being able to help fulfill Judy's wish and was overjoyed when I was finally given the opportunity to do so through a ticket initiative started by my bosses. Madeline Charne, our Director of Education and Programs, led me through the process of reaching out to various local theaters for ticket donations and the response was overwhelming. Multiple theaters offered tickets to PYP students, seeing the value in granting young creatives access to live theater. 

My bosses have also made my work experience very comfortable as a disabled person. When I entered my internship with PYP a year ago, I had only just begun to truly embrace my Autistic traits in professional environments. Working for supportive leaders, some of whom are also disabled and neurodivergent women, has allowed me to continue embracing my own neurodivergence and disabled identity. During the last few months, I have been more passionate about arts access  than ever before now that I have come so far in my own journey as a disabled and neurodivergent person in theater. I want to help people learn about and implement accessibility efforts so that other young disabled people can enjoy the magic of the arts. I have been able to take on new roles that allow me to do work in arts access lately, such as being a Community Engagement Fellow for Theatre Philadedlphia. I don’t think I would’ve been able to get to where I am now without the growth and skill-development I’ve experienced at PYP.

Good Leaders Share Light

The best part of an internship is that curiosity and questions are encouraged. I have pried my bosses minds with a million questions, eager to learn from them. Everytime I do, they happily share any wisdom and light they can to help me as I work, learn, and grow as an emerging arts professional. They offer advice, insights, ideas, feedback, inspiration, and encouragement without hesitation because they understand the importance of helping young people to achieve their dreams and explore their interests. Coming to people with my questions and ideas can be scary, but these wonderful women have made it feel easy to do so. Madeline teaches me everything from writing pitches to how to breathe as a busy perfectionist. Ali teaches me how to stay organized, reminds me to embrace my neurodivergent traits, and reminds me of the value I bring to professional spaces.

Working with PYP has meant entering a new and wonderful community of people who I could learn from. I’ve learned to be a reliable intern while also accepting that I have limits and boundaries. Thankfully, PYP is a community of people that understand the power of self care which has allowed me to be comfortable working in the ways which are most efficient for me and rest when I need to. It is the leading ladies of this organization that have also enhanced my ability to be courageous by showing me they have a lot of faith in my capabilities despite my own fears and doubts. To be able to learn how to work confidently and comfortably at a young age is a blessing I am constantly grateful for. I have been applying this lesson to my work for other organizations and I believe it will help me to thrive.