Erin Berthon

Erin Berthon, MA Career Advisor, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, at Chapman University

Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) is not a straightforward minor, and what makes it exciting is that students can personalize the minor to fit their own creative needs with their specific major.

As students connect the minor to their unique prism of research and practice, internship exploration can be exciting. Their internships cover a vast array of different industries such as, media, fashion, tourism, museums, video games, social media, emerging technologies, and visual cultures.

When asking some of the students why they chose CCI, they explained that the discipline has enhanced their understanding of their major and can create new ideas that interest them. Throughout the past few years, student internship interests have been entertainment, digital media, and fashion.

Ashley Parke, a Business Administration major with minors in CCI and Public Relations, currently interns with PostOak, which is an entertainment management company. Parke explained that the internship has allowed her to help transcribe songs and conduct research on up-and-coming artists. She loves that she gets to create a potential artist pitch list for songs produced by their artist.

While Sylvie Messing, a senior sociology major has a similar internship. She exclaimed, “I am in the sales department at Sub Pop Records. In my role, I generate the sales data for the weekly marketing report, including streaming data and physical release sales for our artists’ latest releases. I track this information from artists like Iron & Wine, CHAI, Flock of Dimes, Ya Tseen, TV Priest, Hannah Jadagu, and more! One of the coolest parts of my job is getting to see the backend of how streaming data is tracked.”

Allison Zoey Feraren, a Business Administration major with a minor in CCI, is also in an intern in the entertainment marketing industry at Hollywood Branded. Feraren explains, “What I love about my internship is that I not only get [to] work hands-on with projects ranging from product placement to content creation, but I get to work with enthusiastic, creative, and like-minded individuals. Every morning before we start our day, we hop on a Zoom and get together to do  “Sing for Thanks”. During this time, we try and guess each other’s song and sing it out loud in a careless way where everyone gets to have fun. Sing for Thanks adds a unique touch to my internship and sets me up with the energy and mindset needed to start my day!”

Senior Katherine Bernhardt, a creative writing major with a minor in CCI, had a couple of exciting internships that allowed her to look more broadly at how all CCI work impacts society and everyday life in ways we do not even notice.

“I’ve had two internships at literary agencies based in New York, and I’ve loved both of them. I’ve done things like editing manuscripts, sending submission letters to editors, and working on social media for both companies. My CCI classes allowed me to learn about the industry in-depth and think critically about all the creative processes that I’m a part of. It’s been amazing to get experience in the field that I hope to work in after graduation, and I feel so much better prepared to do it after my CCI classes and these internships!”  – Katherine Bernhardt

When chatting with the students about these internships, the one thing they all pretty much have taken away from the creative side is that it is okay to embark on projects that are out of your comfort zone, even when you have no idea what you are doing. Sometimes the best method is to just walk into the flames, and even if you get burnt, at least you learned something.

The Creative and Cultural Industries continue to grow, encompassing large portions of our economy and shared cultural movements in today’s society. Learning how to work and prosper in these areas will be essential for our graduates, which is why exploring an internship that helps you put more thought into your major is very important. With the help of the CCI professors, who are incredibly supportive and encourage students to pursue projects that they are passionate about, finding the right internship is possible with the help of your career advisor. Internships will allow students to do work that is s going to be beneficial to them after graduation and in their careers.