Arika Johnson: Red Clay Dance Summer Intern Reflection

I started my journey with Red Clay Dance in the Summer of 2015 and continued as a youth ensemble member up until I left for college in 2017.  I have to say deciding to join was one of the best decisions I have made.  Red Clay has been a welcoming and encouraging space for me in which I was able to grow into the individual I am today.  So when I was offered to be a summer intern while I was back in town from college how could I say no?  I gladly accepted the opportunity to experience what goes on behind the scenes of Red Clay.Recently, I developed an interest in Arts Administration and the work that I have done with Red Clay as an intern has given me a taste in what it is like to run a company like Red Clay.  They are not only a professional dance company, but they also have an academy for young dancers and provide a program for teens to work with professional choreographers and perform in various public venues.  Therefore, there is a large amount of planning, organizing, calling, and other processes that go into all that Red Clay does.Based on my interests, the projects I mainly worked on were starting a digital archive for all of Red Clay's performances, creating profiles for current company members, and working on certain marketing tasks.  The project that took the most time was the digital archive.  It required quite a bit of research and organizing different aspects of performance into their designated places.  I had to collect images, videos, feedback from each dancer, press releases, promotional materials, and other information that would aid future company members in becoming familiar with whatever previously done piece they may have to learn.  Creating the dancers' profiles was not as time consuming since all I had to do was basically gather responses and type them up.  Finally, the marketing responsibilities I had were primarily to find strategies that would increase registration in the academy and create listings on websites of the classes Red Clay provides.  A few ideas I presented were putting up flyers on community boards, giving incentives for bringing/referring a friend, and even making a Groupon.Also, I was able to engage with Red Clay Dance Youth Ensemble once a week.  It was nostalgic to see how the Ensemble has changed since I left and I cannot deny that I was not a little jealous of the new space they were in.  Of course, I participated in class at times and I enjoyed interacting with the teens in the program.  Being able to be on the other side of where I used to be gave me a greater appreciation for what I had gained at Red Clay.  I know that I can always consider Red Clay as home.