2023–24 Studio Repose interns at the 2024 High School Visual Arts and WriteNow! Writing Contest Reception and Award Ceremony. Photo: White Bear Center for the Arts
At Studio Repose, students develop their leadership and creative skills beyond the canvas.
Amid the beautiful exhibitions and celebrated artists-in-residence, it can be easy to forget that, behind the scenes of a nonprofit arts organization, there exists an entire workday dedicated to keeping things running. Administrators design development campaigns, create marketing materials, interface with local artists and educators and create programming. To make sure organizations like theirs are sustained for years to come, the team members at White Bear Center for the Arts (WBCA) wanted to figure out how to create new workforce members who are ready to step into roles at successful art institutions.
Enter Studio Repose, a creative internship program at WBCA where local high schoolers can learn about running a nonprofit arts center and prepare for a variety of career paths.
“It’s a holistic approach to workforce development but through the lens of an art center,” says Lexi Munson, Studio Repose internship administrator. “It’s providing so many skills that are transferable to any sort of career.”
The program welcomed its first cohort in the 2023–24 school year, which included seven students hailing from Centennial, Mahtomedi, St. Anthony Village, St. Croix Preparatory Academy and White Bear Lake Area High School. Munson advertised the program via high school art teachers.
The students work on a range of projects, such as creating a marketing poster for a local musical and helping curate and install exhibitions. “There really is intricacy and art in simply putting a show together,” says 2023–24 intern Cynthia Meisinger. “Having to hang up a painting gives you a new perspective and with that comes a source of great pride.”
The interns helped adjudicate the WBCA high school exhibition—which includes visual art and writing contests—and worked on their own mural. “People who come from different backgrounds and stories mingle together in one room, united over their love for art,” Meisinger says. “It’s really beautiful to see.”
Munson says the internship tries to emphasize that artists can be leaders. “[Artists] are creative problem solvers, and they support economies,” she says. “They bring a lot to any table they sit at.” In fact, Munson and several colleagues approached the Minnesota State Legislature for funding as part of its 2023 omnibus bill and received bipartisan support. “They were all for it,” Munson says. WBCA received funding for Studio Repose for two years; the second cohort of interns will begin their term this fall.
Munson was “the proof in the pudding” for the possible outcomes of the program, she says. “I’ve been involved with the art center since I was 11. When I was in high school and college, staff really took me under their wing and let me work on different administrative things,” she says. “I had kind of an unofficial internship, and it really shaped my career trajectory.” Now, Munson is helping pay that mentorship forward by growing a new generation of artist-leaders, whether they end up at arts organizations or in other industries.
“I feel like I’ve been living in a dream ever since I got [the internship],” Meisinger says. “I’ve made so many valuable connections and learned a lot about what a career in art looks like.”
White Bear Center for the Arts
4971 Long Ave., White Bear Lake; 651.407.0597
Facebook: White Bear Center for the Arts
Instagram: @whitebearcenterforthearts
