Caitlin Nelson

Of all of my art courses, Foundations in New Media seems to be the most practical beyond the arts. The skills I learned in Photoshop, Blender (3D Modeling), and Final Cut Pro are needed in a variety of organizations for marketing and design and certainly in the charitable nonprofit sector as well. This will allow me to be versatile within various roles. 

 

Within this class, I created several collaborative pieces. I think very rarely in my career will I work on a project alone. The one below was part of a project in which the team created a new holiday based on existing traditions. This was a combination of Black Friday and Hogmanay, Scottish New Year's Eve. My part of the project involved using Blender, while the other group members used Photoshop or video editing.

Marketing is an important skill set to have to understand how a company can create value for its target audience. The course provided me with opportunities to apply theories and have experiences relevant to marketing for a nonprofit. Among a team of five, I created a video for the International and Off-Campus Study department at St. Olaf College to communicate the value of studying abroad. I did most of the filming and a large portion of the editing. In this same team, I developed a marketing plan for the Northfield Area YMCA. I learned how to analyze the industry through a CDSTEP, create a SWOT analysis, and identify a sustainable competitive advantage for the Y. My team then identified the target audience for the Y and outlined a marketing mix. Although I may not explicitly go through the same steps in the future, I will always need to understand how to create value for the population my organization serves.

Arts Management was a key course for learning about a career in non-profits. I studied some of the challenges as well as best practices within non-profits from an arts perspective. However, the concepts directly transfer to all types. I interviewed and created a video for a local artist to understand his art background and career trajectory. I also wrote a grant with a team for a local arts guild, which will be a very useful skill to acquire funding for an organization in the future.

This class established a solid foundation for any higher level position in an organization. I learned what it means to be a good leader rather than just a good manager. We discussed and executed best practices for making business decisions by analyzing real-life examples and participating in a team-based simulation (Capsim). The course allowed me to evaluate my own leadership qualities, identify challenges and opportunities, and understand the interactions I might encounter in a leadership position.