Joshua Smith’s ePortfolio

I pitched an idea to my co-worker Jonalyn and my supervisor Alison to advertise the Brooklyn Nutcracker. My idea was to illustrate a stage for the background, place performers onto the stage and somewhere would be titled “The Brooklyn Nutcracker” while placing other information such as the date, logos, etc.

They loved the idea so then I began working on the project. For this project, I wanted to work straight from Adobe Illustrator. The first thing I began to do was create the curtains for the stage and I wanted to make them red and gold. I wanted to make the curtains red and gold so they can look similar to Kings Theatre. Kings Theatre is where the Brooklyn Nutcracker is normally performed so I thought that was the best approach for the illustration. Next, I made the backdrop a simple dark purple-ish color. Then I made the platform of the stage light blue. After that, I started illustrating a ballerina character to place on the stage. Then I started struggling with where I wanted to put the logo so I decided to make a circular pattern for the backdrop and place the logo in the middle. I wanted to add some lighting to highlight the ballerina so I added that within the image. Finally, I wanted to illustrate a crowd for the show so I did that.

After I was done with everything, I sent the project to my supervisor and we had a meeting later that week about it. She liked the project a lot but she wanted to see more diversity represented within the image. I promised to add more characters to the image during our next meeting.

Gordon Parks was an African American photographer known for capturing moments of African Americans experiencing inequality, racism, and poverty from the 1940s-1970s. One of his photographic collections I find meaningful and very interesting were the Harlem Gang Leader, published in 1948. Those photographs were focused on gang wars that were taking over Harlem in the 1940s. Park’s intention in taking these pictures was to spread awareness about the brutality and hopefully reduce the danger that is threatening the area. Gordon Parks met a young black man called Red Jackson who was the leader of a gang called the Midtowners. Park’s took many pictures of Harlem and Jackson inform people about the current condition of the area. I believe this action was ethical because he was doing with the intention of helping people who lived in Harlem without causing any real harm.

While trying to start the first week of my internship, Cultural Corps was giving me trouble because I was never given access to my timesheet. A couple of weeks later, I gained access to my timesheet but before I could start my job, I had to do things like give proof I’m vaccinated, sign up for my direct deposit, sign up for benefits and complete my mandatory workplace training. When I finally started my first week of work, I was given a few tasks this week such as working on a graphic for the Brooklyn Ballet’s social media which is supposed to teach people how to tie a bun. I was also given other tasks to illustrate cartoons to advertise the Brooklyn Nutcracker performance and make videos using archival material. This internship is introducing me to the world of marketing and I’m genuinely happy to be a part of that.

The workplace culture of Brooklyn Ballet is very calm and nice due to the small size of the company. There is no strict dress code for the role that I work in for Brooklyn Ballet. I personally dress business casual whenever I have to work in person. I have to work 12 hours a week divided between 2 days. I would have a lunch break halfway through my work day. My supervisor and team members communicate with me mostly through email. The main software I use for projects are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator

Working at Brooklyn Ballet, I am a PR/Marketing & Production Assistant. A PR/Marketing Assistant supports the Public Relations and Social Media Marketing team with various tasks including press releases, scheduling press interviews, tracking ticket sales, capturing and creating social media content, and updating the website. The production portion supports the Brooklyn Nutcracker, Spring Season, Student Showcase, and additional performances and community events. I initially selected Brooklyn Center for the Arts as my internship through Cultural Corps due to the fact that it has video and production learning opportunities. Later on, I was switched to Brooklyn Ballet because my original supervisor Tristan Grannum who worked for Brooklyn Center for the Arts switched to work for Brooklyn Ballet. Due to that switch, I got a new supervisor and her name is Alison Mixon. I had an interview with Alison Mixon, later on, to introduce ourselves to each other and what I’ll be doing for the job. The type of questions I was asked was what kind of person I am, what are my strongest skills, what are my biggest weaknesses, and what are my future goals.

For my internship, I got accepted by Brooklyn Ballet through the system of Cultural Corps. The size of the company is very small and located in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn Ballet is a public professional not-for-profit dance company that is a classical ballet conservatory and a community dance center. The company was founded in February 2002 and offers high-quality ballet classes to students of all ages. The most important day for Brooklyn Ballet is the Brooklyn Nutcracker which is a production that combines the style of ballet, hip-hop and an array of other dances from all over the world. I will be working within the PR/Marketing & Production department in the company, so I will be working on creating social media assets and help setting up the stage for performances. One news articles I saw about the company mentioned that Brooklyn Ballet was celebrating the 20th anniversary and offering free classes. I saw another news article going in detail about the Brooklyn Nutcracker