Q&A Spotlight with Senior Carter Rice
Senior and Arts Management major Carter Rice spent all of last semester studying abroad in Ireland. Her time overseas featured amazing experiences, including exploring the picturesque countryside. And soaking up the famous Irish culture. And processing check payments.
“I kept thinking back to Chris Burgess’s class,” Rice says. “And the importance of financial management within arts organizations.” Rice credits her Arts Management courses, including Chris Burgess’ Arts Financial Management class, with laying the foundation for the wide variety of work she undertook at her internship with the Gaiety School of Acting at the National Theatre School of Ireland in Dublin.
Read more about all of Rice’s internship experiences below.
Briefly describe your internship. What was an average day like for you?
As an intern [last] semester I was placed on the Shakespeare in Schools project. This program puts on a professional production of the Shakespeare show that last-year secondary school students are studying for the Leaving Certificate exam that year. The production travels to theatres around the country and each show is followed by a workshop for the students to connect what they saw to what they are reading in school. Last fall the production was King Lear, which one in every seven Leaving Certificate students in Ireland saw.
I worked in the administrative office at the school, taking bookings and payments. Additionally, I helped collaborate on the formation of the workbook each student received [at their] workshop. Once the show went into production I went on tour with the cast and crew to help lead the workshops for the students.
What specific area of Arts Management is your focus? How are you applying the skills you learned in the Arts Management program to your internship?
This internship was very much up my ally on what I want to do. Up until very recently I was double majoring in Arts Management and Theatre for Youth. Unfortunately, I had to drop my TFY major down to a Theatre minor so that I could be able to spend the entire semester abroad. However, I was ecstatic to be able to work not only in the administration office for an arts organization but also for a project centered around connecting theatre to young people.
Do you have any plans as to where your Arts Management degree might take you in the future?
My dream career, currently, is to work for a performing arts center in outreach and/or administration or for a children’s theatre.
What area of the arts are you passionate about? How has the Arts Management program help to fuel those passions?
Whether you believe it or not I came to CofC as a marine biology major. The Grice Marine Lab, and the ocean, is what drew me to the school initially. After not doing so well in my statistics class first semester freshman year I decided I was trying to make myself something I wasn’t. My years of community theatre and the drama program at my camp had fueled a strong passion in me for the arts but I never thought I’d pursue studying theatre in college. My mother was persistent on me studying business but I couldn’t see myself working in a cubicle for the rest of my life. Eventually I learned about the Arts Management program and thought it was perfect for me.
What advice would you give to a new student or someone considering the program?
This is an incredible program and I wouldn’t trade my time in it for anything. Students who are considering becoming arts management majors, know this: not only will this program help you to grow, but it will enable the arts world to continue to grow for generations.