A Summer Intern's Reflection on fresh inc 2014

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5HE summer intern Katrina Leshan wrote a post last week about her efforts finding and choosing internships.  This week she's written a post reflecting on the few days she was able to spend observing fresh inc this year as part of her internship. 

As an intern for Fifth House Ensemble, I had the opportunity to spend two days at the fresh inc festival. During my time there I sat in on on rehearsals and workshops and saw two very good concerts. I heard Melissa Snoza and Anna Duncan speak about the best way to manage money as a musician, where they addressed important topics such as grant writing and creating a budget. These workshops also served as a forum for fresh inc participants to ask questions about specific projects theyve been working on, and they were able to get helpful tips on how to progress in the stages of concert planning, album recording, and more.

In the midst of the entrepreneurship education at fresh inc are intense rehearsals and performances. I saw fresh inc perform at Constellation Chicago and at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  Participating performers premiered works by the festival composers and blew the audience away. It was clear to me that the level of professionalism expected of the fresh inc participants during the week was equal to the musicianship displayed onstage. What fresh inc really aims to do is prepare musicians for the part of a career in music that is usually not taught -- how to book your concerts, how to write grants, how to communicate professionally, and how to be prepared for a variety of situations -- while simultaneously guiding them through a series of high-quality repertoire rehearsals and performances.

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One of the coolest parts of stopping in to fresh inc was meeting Francis Bedford, who donated the Francis Bedford Concert Hall on campus at UW-Parkside in which the final concert was performed. Mrs. Bedford is an energetic, intelligent, and hilarious woman who enjoys meeting the musicians who perform in her concert hall as well as eating her cupcakes before her main course. So many participants from fresh inc introduced themselves to her and were able to tell her how the hall benefited them, what kinds of experiences theyd had at fresh inc, and what their career goals are. Across the board, the opinion seems to be that the participants felt more comfortable talking to supporters of fresh inc after going through the professional training theyd been given during the festival.

Im excited to see what these amazing young artists do next!