Hi class- I wanted to reflect on our talk with Trisha, the Assistant Director of Education at Washington Performing Arts.
Our talk with Trisha on Monday was great! These interviews really are a different experience when you do all of the research beforehand, and you know about the ins and outs of the non profit before our guests explain them. On that note, hearing Trisha explain her job definitely revealed some things that were not so evident on her website. The first example of this is the budget that she outlined with us, early on in the presentation. I didn’t find this information on the ‘About Us’ page on their website- and I also didn’t realize that managing the finances
was part of Trisha’s position. Another example of this is when I asked Trisha what an average day in her position is like. The explanation of her job on her Linkedin was comprehensive in overarching content- but it didn’t go into the specifics of what she does everyday. For example, the Linkedin post says that she manages the Embassy Adoption Program, manages the internship program, is the main point of contact for diplomatic recruitment and stewardship, and supports other initiatives of the education team. What it doesn’t say about her job in this post is that she sits at her desk and answers emails for half of the day, every day, which is what we learned while talking to her directly.
Most of the information that Trisha gave us, however, was not a surprise to me, and the Washington Performing Arts website does generally do a very good job of explaining their programs and their mission. One t
hing that Trisha’s talk did help me to understand about their company is how the work that they do ties into democracy- the overarching subject of this class. One thing that Trisha said during the presentation that ties directly into democracy is the fact that all of the education programs run by Washington Performing Arts are free for D.C public schools and Title I schools (schools with high majority low-income students). This is a big deal, because it denotes accessibility for all students to take part in the education programs run by the organization, not just those who can afford to attend.
Another takeaway that I got from Trisha’s talk, and from a lot of the folks that we have talked to so far in this class, is that arts management and arts administration is totally a path I could see myself going down for the future. It’s been especially helpful to hear about their jobs for me, w
ho is dedicated to working in the arts in some way but hasn’t figured out the specifics of what that work might be yet. I’ve always thought that education would be my path, but as of late, due to the work in this class among other things, I don’t know if that is necessarily the case. One thing I know that I want to be involved with in my career is a lot of arts events. I’ve always loved attending the PMEA, NAfME, and ACDA conferences/festivals, and every trip or conert that I do with choir is always incredible. I was delighted to hear when Trisha mentioned she helps out with concerts and events often, especially given the fact that her boss lets her have some time off if she has been working especially hard on one given weekend, or anything like that.
-Will Fecko
Works Cited
Washington Performing Arts Website – https://www.washingtonperformingarts.org
Trisha Taylor Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisha-taylor-59033915
Michelle Hoffmann Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-hoffmann-b0b7ba30