“It’s a resource I would have liked to have,” said Edwardo Lara, an administration assistant for Long Beach City College’s Performing Arts Department.
His sentiments describe what it was like to find out about the upcoming information session for the Paid Art Internship Program hosted by the Los Angeles County Arts and Culture Department.
On March 21, LA County Arts and Culture will be holding an information meeting for Long Beach City College students interested in applying to one of 228 year-round internship positions offered by the program.
The session will be held from 1-2 p.m. in room K 102 at the Liberal Arts Campus as well as online via Zoom.
When it comes to the General Art Internship Program, LA County Arts partners with various 5013c non profits focused on providing LA County with little to no cost general art programs.
They offer a grant if the organization is willing to hire college interns for at least 400 hours as long as they have been established and active for more than two years.
A 5013c non profit describes any organization that does not operate on profit generating business and instead relies on other sources of funding.
While the organizations are located all over the county, those closest to LBCC include but are not limited to the Long Beach Opera, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Arts and Services for Disabled, Inc. the Arts District San Pedro Waterfront, and the Arts Council For Long Beach.
There is also a separate category for organizations that specifically agree to hire students from one of seven community colleges participating in the program.
Community college students can apply knowing that these organizations are looking for community college students, said Martin Hernandez, the Senior Program Associate At LA County Arts described the reasoning behind the extra category that make up 47 of the positions being offered this year.
The program offers flexible assignments for students, taking the unique aspects of each applicant into consideration.
“Sometimes it’s data entry, sometimes it’s working with the artists. They don’t know what job will be available to you but they try to find out what you are interested in. Where do you live and y‘know what kind of transportation access do you have?” said LBCC Performing Arts Department Head and professor Anthony Carreiro.
According to Carreiro, Hernandez reached out to him in 2019 as part of the effort to include community colleges in internship programs that are typically advertised to four year universities.