Unexpectedly--and luckily (and probably undeservedly)--we got an intern for the summer. Her name is Claire Zalawa, and she come to us from Mazamet, a small city in the south of France (not far from Toulouse) where Claire has been working in festival organization and radio promotion/advertising. What in the world, I wondered, can she possibly learn from us here in Hagerstown? Oh hell, I thought, if she specifically requested a Washington, DC experience and she's landed in Hagerstown, she might be one very disappointed woman. Sure, we're only 70 miles from the Capitol, but our other-side-of-the-mountain traditions make that more like 700 miles (and countless years). Not that that's a bad thing. But could we make the best of an awkward situation?
The satisfying answer is that Claire had a lot to chew on here in Washington County. She cut her teeth on the Western Maryland Blues Fest, then went on to absorb all the data and processes and methods she could from the likes of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, the Maryland Theatre, and Hagerstown Magazine. Her assessment is that here we not only produce a remarkable amount of cultural promotion, but also it generally is of superior quality. She claims that our energy, creativity, and production values are in many ways better than she's used to, and that our commitment to making a plan and working a program have been instructive for her. And now that she's pointed it out, I have to agree that we do produce a surprising amount of postcards, websites, brochures, emails, TV ads, radio spots, billboards, t-shirts. When she saw the multiple huge binders full of Blues Fest plans in Karen Giffin's office at City Hall, and then saw that they were for one year, with shelves and shelves of similar binders from previous years on the shelves behind her, her eyes got wide for a moment.
Don't worry about Claire getting a lopsided impression of American life. She got away for several days (al by herself, solo, alone!) to Manhattan and in Boston. She's astute enough to know that there's more to life in the USA than steamers and pizza and cable television (but seriously, I've pointed out there are as many versions of American cuisine and American entertainment as there are Americans, which is one of the things that makes America America; ain't it glorious to live in a pluralistic society!). But perhaps the most generous thing she's accomplished in her time in Maryland is reminding us that we are doing a pretty good job for the arts in Hagerstown.
Oh, and I must point out that Claire's conversational English was laborious when she got here. After ten weeks, it's improved to the point that you'd assume she's lived here for a long time. If you get to meet her before she leaves for home, ask her to tell you about her bus trip to NYC.
No comments:
Post a Comment