By Clare Lanning
“Welcome home Clare,” was the thought running through my head like a flashing sign as my Dad and I made the long, four-hour drive in his station wagon back to school at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, for my senior year. What used to look so familiar and ordinary to me each time I made the ride down to school, now looked odd. Hills surrounded me as I glared out each sunny window as we made our way through and around the Appalachian Mountains. As beautiful as they are, I found myself missing a different type of scenery when Lykke Li, “Little Bit,” began blaring on my NYC play list taking me back to the life I had just left. I took out my new Iphone, key survivor tool while living in any city despite my mother’s belief, and took a picture to send to my city girl and fellow intern, Hana. “Different view,” I titled the picture message as she replied, “Oh, very different!” I began to miss my fresh Empire State of Mind, which was just in my grasp a few short days ago. My internship at City Parks Foundation and SummerStage was more than ever on my mind as I couldn’t help but switch into the reality of my country college state of mind.
Ohio view
New York City view
After a few weeks into school, I began settling down and getting into the swing of things back in my Ohio life. I received an email from the director of the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, Dr. Stewart, inviting me to be a part of a discussion panel during one of his classes answering questions and talking about my internship. I jumped on the opportunity to share my amazing experience as a Marketing and Public Relations Intern with City Parks Foundation. Once arriving at the panel, I sat down beside a few other students who also had experienced awesome internships out of state. I looked up at at the lecture hall full of younger classmates with their hands up. All it took was one student to ask where I did my internship, and what the experience was like, to have all my amazing memories and experiences in the Big Apple rush back into my head. Having the opportunity to be an intern with City Parks Foundation is more than just being a part of the only independent, non-profit organization to offer programs in all the five boroughs which also publicizes the city’s largest performing arts festival, SummerStage, it provided me with an experience of a lifetime. You must be asking yourself, “How much better can it get?” Let me tell you - a lot.
Each time I got off my subway stop at Fifth Avenue and walked through Central Park to City Park Foundation’s office, I had to pinch myself that it wasn’t a dream to intern with this organization and work in an office where I am close enough to hear the seals bark in Central Park Zoo. I miss the office life where I received real public relation experience by pitching to major publications throughout Downtown Manhattan, informing them of how, “Your publication is the perfect fit for what dance, music, and theater performances are coming their way.” I had to remind myself to calm down, and that everything was cool, I am only about to pitch a show to the editor at New York Daily News! Waiting anxiously by the phone to have Huffington Post call me back, I’d forgotten to eat lunch when one of my bosses told me, “You just entered the public relations world, it never stops for lunch!” And when I left the office and went to work on site, I would see the benefits of my work as an integral part of City Parks Foundation and SummerStage.
When I think of my favorite memories as an intern, I think of traveling to sites in all five, unique boroughs to work at the citywide shows. It was always an adventure to get to the designated park that day. Whether it was traveling in the Park’s car an hour- and-a- half away to Springfield Park in Queens, and on the way singing oldies or Blind Melon on the radio with my boss Georgia and our choir of interns squished in the back, we made the most of it. Or, sprinting through East River Park during a thunderstorm, dodging falling trees with my boss Sin to catch an MTA bus, such escapades became commonplace. Even if I was getting to a performance on my own, it was always fairly easy to find the park because, once I got off the subway, all I had to do was follow the sounds of an opening DJ, the beats of Step Afrika, the smell of the food vendors, or the sight of the crowds heading towards the park. Each park had a unique style and demographic of people. However, one thing was always the same: once you put on the staff pass, you felt empowered and that you were a part of something which helped contribute to revitalizing neighborhoods. People in the neighborhood came up to us smiling, dancing, and singing in gratitude. I miss the different cultures that I learned about in each borough, and how the people came up to our marketing tent eager to share their life stories or find out who would be coming to perform at their park the next day. I miss the smiling kids who would come up to us interns and asking if they could help us pass out the SummerStage books on the streets. I miss seeing girls up in Harlem make signs and go nuts when they saw their Latin superstars, Bachata Heightz. I miss watching older couples dance at Tappen Park in Staten Island as they are serenaded by the Irish wonder Andy Cooney. Towards the end of the SummerStage season, and at my internship, the huge city of New York became less intimidating after I was given the opportunity to explore the boroughs and people within them who had shared their cultures with me and their appreciation for City Parks Foundation’s programs.
East River Park was one of my favorite parks
and Queensbridge Park was the other!
Now, of course, I could not explain this all to the classroom full of students. Even this blog post does not describe every little detail of my amazing experience. Even though SummerStage is done for the season, no matter what the season is, SummerStage is always alive in the spirit of the people who contribute to it. People are always anticipating what programs will be around next season, and the empty stage venues are a constant reminder of the performances that took place and that will take place. It is said that you truly never appreciate anything until it is gone, but there is always next summer to look forward to! As for my life after my internship in New York City and with the “big” stages in all the boroughs, I hope to come back and start my career there so I will truly feel welcomed “home.”
Handing our brochures before a show.
