Intern Diaries: Meet Alex

Alex is our brand new Learning & Participation Intern who joins us for next few months and for the excitement of our upcoming Summer Festival. She tells us what she been up to during her first few weeks as a part of the Spitalfields Music team. 

Despite having just passed the one month mark, the initial week of my Learning & Participation internship induction seems awfully far away. But I suppose that’s what happens when you join an organisation with less than two months to go before the annual Summer Festival…

For the most part, my first week was dedicated to getting acclimatised to the office and the upcoming festival events. In purposely withholding a wave of Learning & Participation tasks, I was free to explore the area, the ongoing projects with community members and neighbourhood schools, and ground myself in the vibrantly eclectic culture of Tower Hamlets. As a Canadian living in a new city, this was a perfect opportunity for me to integrate myself into a rich musical community, engage with some remarkable local residents, and familiarise myself in an amazing city.

Now, after five weeks of ongoing project sessions – some for toddlers, some for children with learning disabilities, some attended mostly by seniors, to name a few – I understand the breadth of involvement and presence that Spitalfields Music has in this community. Almost instantly, I became aware of the importance of catering to as many local music lovers as possible and offering anyone and everyone a chance to explore their creative potential, and every single project session I’ve attend has reinforced this objective.

Alex has been working with our all-women choir, Women sing East

In terms of my responsibilities, I seem to have struck a balance between shadowing various organisation members and managing specific Learning & Participation projects myself. One community choir in particular, Women sing East, is sort of my baby. Over the past month, I’ve overseen choir practices and cared for the singers, and during the Summer Festival concert itself, I’ll actually be project managing the event! I’m really looking forward to experiencing its full development – from initial choir practice to polished performance.

As we gear up for the annual Summer Festival kick off in a matter of weeks, the office is buzzing with energy. Everyone is busy, but ready and willing to dedicate their time and energy to producing the best series of festival performances possible. Everything that Spitalfields Music does – from office meetings to community workshop sessions to choir practices to festival planning – is grounded collaboration and interplay.  I feel incredibly lucky to be involved in such a dynamic process.

Alex Lepinski
Learning & Participation Intern 

Intern Diaries: Meet Kathryn

Kathryn Allnutt has joined us as our new Learning and Participation Intern! She plays the French horn, and enjoys chilling in the garden during her free time (even in November!) She shares with us how she has found her first month as a Spitalfields Music intern.

It has now been four weeks since I started my internship working within the L&P team at Spitalfields Music and I’m loving it!  I have been made to feel very welcome in the office (with the frequent offerings of chocolate and brownies!) and I’m now feeling very much part of the team.

My main focus over the past four weeks has been to recruit members for Spitalfields Singers, an exciting new community singing group that meets on Thursday lunchtimes at Hanbury Hall (it’s still not too late to join us!)  The first two rehearsals have been a huge success, with membership now double that of the previous year!

The past four weeks have zoooomed past SO quickly – they do say that time flies when having fun! My initial impression of the office and of Spitalfields Music is one of amazement – amazement both at the exciting and interesting programme of concerts and education projects that they run within Tower Hamlets, but also at how cool, calm and collected everyone is (or at least, appears to be!) in the office despite having so much going on!

I had my first monthly review with Natalie this morning, reflecting on the past month.  Scary to think that I’m already one –sixth of the way through! If the first month is anything to go by, I think I’m in for a very enjoyable (and busy!) six months!

Intern Diary: Niharika says ‘Hello’

Hello – Niharika here, the new Marketing and Communications Intern at Spitalfields Music.

It has been four weeks since my first day and am really enjoying it. Spitalfields Music is in a wonderful location – in case the name didn’t give it away already – its HQ resides on the always busy Brushfield Street. It is lovely to work at my desk because I am able to hear live music from the market, and since a lot of restaurants and cafes crowd Spitalfields, the aromas from busy kitchens always waft in.

What we’ve been up to:

We have had the first recruitment session for Women sing East. If you want to join, or are interested in joining our other community choir Spitalfields Singers click here to find out more.

We are also currently working on our Winter Festival, and I wanted to share the new brochure with you:

Spitalfields Music Winter Festival 2011 Brochure

The brochure has been illustrated by Joanna Moore. You can read more about Joanna, and see some of her unique work here.

Currently, I am working on the Winter Festival 2011 programme book – compiling and collating artists’ information. I love reading about the performers and their work. The line up this year is excellent and I am really looking forward to the festival!

Some more news:

• Booking for the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival 2011 is now open!

• Our Twitter has hit the 2000 mark and is growing – if you are not following us already – here is a link to the page http://twitter.com/SpitsMusic

Niharika Jain
Marketing and Communications Intern

Intern Diaries: My time as an L&P intern!

31 March is here and what do Papa Haydn, Rene Descartes, Diaghilev and Al Gore have in common? Birthday cake!

For me though, it is the end of my six-month internship.  I cannot believe how the time has flown since my arrival at the end of September. I’ve seen the workings behind the Winter Festival and enjoyed some wonderful and varied performances. I’ve witnessed some awesome Learning & Participation Spring term projects and then followed the plans for the Summer Festival as it all begins to blossom.

I shall miss the team here at Spitalfields Music– the sheer diligence, determination and vision that inspire the projects undertaken together with the bonhomie, levity and laughter of those in the team – thank you and I’ll keep in touch.

And finally in the spirit of tomorrow:
The First of April, some do say
Is set apart for All Fools Day;
But why the people call it so,
Not I, nor they themselves do know!
Poor Robin’s Almanac (1790)

Caroline Went
Learning & Participation Intern

Intern Diaries: What’s in an intern’s handbag?

It’s been more than 2 weeks since I joined the lovely Spitalfields Music team, so it was about time to invite you get a glimpse of Spitalfields Music through my looking-glass. Ready?

As I don’t like silent blog posting, this time the soundtrack playing in my mind is a French song by Camille (no, not our smiling colleague Camille!) who’s wondering what one could find in Le sac des filles (the ladies’ handbag). You have to admit that there’s always been a fascination with the presumably mysterious content of a lady’s handbag, so I thought it would be the case to introduce my new must-have friend: the Summer Festival brochure!

Colourful and bright as the touch of summer, the brochure has been travelling in my bag almost every single day from mid-February on (she must be already tired of Central and Northern underground lines!).  We met on a quite chilly, yet unforgettable Friday morning. After entering the cosy Spitalfields Music office and enjoying a nice welcome given by the team, Communications Officer, Mia, introduced us and I must confess it was love at first read!

Since then, I feel like I’m carrying around with me an entire musical experience, with magical stops between baroque and more contemporary, unconventional music.  And the best part is that every single event is brought to life whenever I have a discussion with someone from the team. It is impossible not to feel the enthusiasm around!  I still can’t believe how fast my first 2 weeks went by, it’s like time becomes somehow liquid when being surrounded by the sounds of Spitalfields.  Alongside my faithful friend, the brochure, I’ve been attending a lot of meetings and brainstorm sessions, got myself comfortable with what is actually happening behind the scenes and have focused more on research, copywriting and ways of making our sounds reach, in a creative way, a wider audience.

Having a background in advertising and wanting to switch coherently to arts marketing, I found at Spitalfields Music the enjoyable environment that I was looking for: a small, enthusiastic team with a common goal, not to sell a product, but to share with you a variety of high-quality musical experiences. However, you should be aware of an important side-effect: it might be quite a challenge to pick out just one favourite event!

Ruxandra Mateiu
Marketing & Communications Intern

To get your own copy of the Summer Festival brochure, give us a call on 020 7377 1362 or view the electronic version here.