Seniors Rachael Chen, Hannah Lieberman Receive Prestigious Internships

Two seniors from the Department of Music and Dance have already been making their mark in arts management through their work with some of the nation’s most well-respected arts organizations.

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Rachael Chen is graduating this spring with a bachelor of music in flute performance and will also earn certificates in arts management and Asian American studies. Over the past year, Rachael served as communications intern with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, where she helped to promote the group’s concerts and their Global Musician Workshop program. Previously, Rachael served as a social media intern with the Chicago marketing firm 42nd Parallel, where she created content designed to highlight the voices of people of color.

Chen’s next opportunity will come this summer as a marketing fellow with the renowned National Repertory Orchestra. Her duties there will include doing market research for forthcoming promotions campaigns, coordinating special events and building connections with public relations firms. In describing her hopes for her forthcoming position with the NRO, Rachael commented, “I am most interested in refining my marketing skills so I can contribute to the efforts of other musicians and arts administrators who are entrenched in making radical and equitable change to classical music while challenging the nonprofit industrial complex.”

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Hannah Lieberman, who will complete her bachelor of fine arts in dance and a minor in English this spring, has been gaining valuable experience while working at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Beckett, Massachusetts. Last summer, Hannah served as a public relations intern, where she communicated with visiting dance artists regarding their publicity materials, wrote press releases and programs and created posts for Instagram. She is currently serving as the Festival’s business administration fellow, where she acts as the assistant to deputy director A.J. Pietrantone.

Lieberman commented on how working at Jacob’s Pillow has greatly enhanced her ability to “pursue a career that melds my interests in dance writing, arts advocacy, performance and choreography, and creative exploration through movement and text.”

Lieberman has also been serving as the UMass dance program’s administrative assistant, where she has worked with director Tom Vacanti on creating a promotional video for the program and contributed ideas for website redesign and marketing.