Every year, the Festival tries to spotlight their amazing interns who work really hard to make the Festival what it is; whether it's grassroots papering the downtown area, making numerous photocopies or helping out at events. This year is no different, and to start off our spotlight is Liz Guidone, an intern in the Artist Service department who has an interest in the music industry.
Liz Guidone
Artist Services Intern
June 12th, 2010
For the past 2 weeks, I have been stuffing envelopes, copying papers and plugging information into excel sheets for the upcoming festival. Today, the festival began and I was thrown for a loop. I was no longer stuffing envelopes, but running all around the center of New Haven trying help out wherever I was needed. I got lost a couple of times, but eventually made it to the places I was needed. I helped out at the Shubert Theater encouraging the audience to fill out a survey that determines how much income the festival generates to the New Haven Community. Afterwards, I helped set up the reception for the event (Dance at Shubert Theater). The night seemed to be a success. Many people showed up and seemed to really enjoy the event.
June 13th, 2010
Today was an amazing day. I got to hang out with Phillip Glass and Lucinda Childs. I attended their conversation at the Yale University Art Gallery. As a musician myself, I found Phillip Glass inspiring. He spoke of when he was a young adult struggling in New York and how he found creative ways to be put on unemployment status in order to get money and to stay in New York to continue writing his music and collaborating with musicians. Even after he became as successful as he is today, he made sure to let the audience know that it is a definite struggle to get to the top. He explained that people donate money to universities to help students become artists, but once they are out of school and try to begin their career; there are very few places that support them. Though his lecture was inspiring, it also scared me a little to remember how competitive and difficult a career in music is.
Later that evening, I got to watch him warm up in Sprague Hall. The hall was empty except for me and another Arts and Ideas employee. Glass first had to decide to play on either a German or American Steinway piano. Once the decision was made, he began to play his pieces in the empty hall. I sat in the very middle seat in the hall and let the music surround me. It was an amazing experience, and ultimately made me remember why I decided to major in music and how much passion I had for it. Before Glass had his concert that night, I spoke to him a bit backstage. He spoke very highly of his 8 year old son who might just be the next Phillip Glass and gave me some words of encouragement to stick with my music. It was a great experience, I’m very excited to see what other moments await me in these next 2 weeks.