Zack Hayhurst

To commemorate the inaugural National Arts in Education week, I am dedicating this first post to Norman Scribner and Choral Arts Society of Washington. My experience interning with his organization exhibits why institutional and community support of arts education is so vital, no matter where one is in their academic journey.

I was saddened to learn the other day that Norman Scribner will be stepping down in 2012 as Artistic Director of Choral Arts Society. After founding the organization 45 years ago, Norman has led it through many a financial crisis and cultural change, present circumstances included. After sitting at the helm for so long, he has no doubt affected countless individuals in a positive way. I am thankful to be one of those lucky people.

After beginning my Master's degree in Arts Management at American University this past fall, Choral Arts Society was my first internship where I worked as a development apprentice. As far as I'm concerned, it was not only my first internship in D.C., but also my introduction to arts management.

Both Norman and Executive Director Debra Kraft realize the importance of arts education, both professionally and elementally. Supporting arts education in words is one thing, putting money behind it is another.  

Norman and Debra have managed to do both, even in hard economic times.  They not only provided a great work environment, but by arts internship standards, paid me a respectable wage and travel stipend. For a small organization employing approximately ten full time employees, that is no small feat. They could have easily cut this line item from their budget and not affect their artistic product, but they didn't.

Too often lately, we hear stories in the news about cuts to state education budgets - arts curriculum usually being the first on the chopping block. To add insult to injury many arts organizations, in an effort to trim budgets, are cutting back on programs that do not directly impact the artistic product. One of the easiest ways to do this is to eliminate educational programs, including paid internships.

When the government fails to provide a service, such as a comprehensive education, it is essential for community organizations to pick up the slack. What we are faced with today, however, are not only governments that can't afford to pay for comprehensive education, but arts organizations that are so concerned for their immediate survival that they cannot afford to pick up the slack.

Given this reality, it is all the more reason to praise Choral Arts Society for their persistence and dedication over the years to numerous aspects of arts education. In addition to paying the stipends and travel allowance for two apprentices, they also have numerous free and discounted concerts for children and families, training programs for local teachers on how to integrate music into their curriculums, a series of educational materials created in-house for use in the classroom, and a newly created Online Learning Community allowing for teachers around the world to share music-integrated lesson plans.

There has been some discussion in the blogosphere lately as to the fairness, and some say, "legality", of unpaid internships.  As a graduate student in arts administration who is facing tens of thousands of dollars of student debt in the near future, I can't tell you how invaluable earning a few hundred dollars a month is not only to my finances, but also to the general intrinsic feeling that my work is valued by the organization.

If one feels valued, then one will tend to work harder at something and own the work as their own. Yes, as interns we are supposed to be there for the experience of the whole thing. But let's be realistic, man cannot live on Ramen Noodles alone...not even graduate students.

Thank you, Norman and Debra, for all that you have done to establish a solid foundation from which Choral Arts can continue to be a great place to work, a leader in arts education, and a great cultural institution within the D.C. community.