Bloomberg Arts Internship comes to Baltimore this summer

Bloomberg Philanthropies is expanding a summer program that allows high school students to get experience working at arts institutions.
Through the Bloomberg Arts Internship, 25 rising high school seniors will work three days a week with Baltimore-area cultural orgs. The students spend the rest of the week going on field trips to arts hotspots in Baltimore, and get professional development. The program runs six weeks (June 20–Aug. 4), and students are paid.
Baltimore is the third city where Bloomberg is introducing the program, following New York and Philadelphia. It’s being managed by the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and Young Audiences/Arts for Learning. The two organizations were initially invited to apply separately six months ago, said Young Audiences Executive Director Stacie Sanders Evans.
“We said, ‘Why compete when we can collaborate?'” Evans said at a rollout Monday at Station North makerspace Open Works.
The arts community showed lots of interest, with more organizations applying than the 14 selected to host interns. They include Baltimore Center Stage, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Dance & Bmore, Maryland Public Television and the Center for Innovation Research and Creativity in the Arts at UMBC, among others.
Myca Hinton is studying theatre at Baltimore School for the Arts. She recognized organizations from the list where she participated in programs when she was younger, and now sees interesting opportunities to work at some those places professionally.
“Our teachers are always saying, ‘If you’re having fun, that’s good,'” she said.
As Mayor Catherine Pugh noted at the announcement Monday, it’s one of several initiatives that Bloomberg Philanthropies is working on in Baltimore. Earlier this year, the organization provided a grant for an innovation team within City Hall. The foundation’s founder, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is a Johns Hopkins alum with a known soft spot for Charm City.