Administrative Internship Program - 2025 Festival Season

Interested in a career in the arts Want to learn about producing a worldclass opera festival Opera Theatres seasonal administrative internships offer handson experience collaborating to produce a worldclass opera festival as well as the opportunity to develop a wide variety of skills crucial in todays arts and nonprofit landscape.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is accepting applications for its Administrative Intern Program for the 2025 Festival Season featuring Die Fledermaus This House Don Pasquale and A Midnight Summers Dream.

Opera Theatre is known as a center for training young professionals in all aspects of opera including arts administration. OTSLs Administrative Internship Program offers direct onthejob experience for those interested in careers in arts administration and management. Past interns have gone on to enjoy careers at Opera Theatre the Metropolitan Opera The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the St. Louis Art Museum the American Repertory Theater San Diego Symphony and other arts organizations across the country.

Opera Theatres administrative internships offer handson experience collaborating to produce a worldclass opera festival as well as the opportunity to develop a wide variety of skills crucial in todays arts and nonprofit landscape. In addition to working on projects that are integral to the success of the Festival Season interns are encouraged to learn from and about roles across the entire company and are invited to attend additional lectures recitals rehearsals and performances. The program also includes educational sessions specifically for the interns designed to further the professional growth of the program participants.

We are committed to fostering a diverse equitable and inclusive environment and strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds including people of color members of the LGBTQ community women individuals with disabilities and others who have been historically excluded to apply. We welcome and value the unique perspectives and experiences that all candidates bring to our team!

Internship Guidelines

• If interested applicants can and are encouraged to apply for more than one position!

• Applicants must be 18 and authorized to work in the U.S. (some positions may have additional requirements as detailed)

• All internships are paid hourly at the rate of $15.00 an hour and overtime at 1.5x for any hours over 40 per week.

• Dates and hours for each position vary but most are from late April/early May early July. Hours may include some nights and weekends (see individual position descriptions).

• Limited shared housing available.

• A basic familiarity with opera and classical music is a great help however it is not required!

• Note: While the majority of our interns are college students or recent college graduates this is not required. Any qualified applicants will be considered!

INTERN POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

• Events Intern

• Digital Marketing Intern

• Graphic Design Intern

• Press & Communications Intern

• Social Media Intern

• Production Intern

TO APPLY:

Applicants will be required to submit:

• Their contact information

• 2 references names and contact information

• Resume (as a PDF)

• Brief personal statement of no more than 250 words that communicates why you are interested in the internship and what unique skills and/or experience you will bring to the role.

• Some positions ask for additional work samples or writing samples

Application and Selection Timeline:

• Application Period: December 2024 March 2025

• Interviews and Selection: February March 2025

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS

Events Intern

Dates of Employment: Early May Early July 2025

Supervisor: Deputy Director of Development Institutional Giving & Events

Works closely with: Director of Development & Campaign Strategy; Senior Manager of Donor Engagement; Events Coordinator; Data Assistant

Hours: Approximately 3540 hours per week

The Events Intern assists with Opera Theatres Festival Season donor events including 2030 dinners and receptions for patrons as well as a gala benefit (pending start date). This position requires a selfmotivated individual comfortable interacting with a range of personalities including donors volunteers and staff in both professional and social situations.

Work hours are based on the events scheduled each week including evenings and weekends. Most events take place in the evening outdoors under an event tent in the David W. Mesker Festival Gardens. A general workday may look like office work in the afternoon followed by an event in the evening. On nonevent days the Events Intern will work in the office. The Events Intern will be trained in Tessitura (Opera Theatres development and box office software) and Asana (Opera Theatres project management app).

Success in this position looks like creating a warm and welcoming experience for event guests wellmaintained guest records and the timely delivery of event materials and clear communication with Development team members.

Digital Marketing Intern

Dates of Employment: Late April Early July 2025

Supervisor: Web & EMarketing Manager

Works closely with: Director of Marketing & Public Relations; Graphic Designer & Brand Manager Social Media & Content Strategy Manager; Box Office staff

Hours: Approximately 3540 hours per week

The Digital Marketing Intern plays a crucial role in the creation routing editing and of OTSLs emarketing strategies across email and website. Reporting to the Web & EMarketing Manager this interns responsibilities may include but are not limited to: copywriting and layout of marketing emails design of new pages for the OTSL website design of digital programs in OTSLs official app brainstorming and executing a calendar of push notifications to further customer engagement with the app routing proofs of all emarketing materials crossdepartmentally and incorporating edits upon request.

Applicants should be excellent writers who also possess a strong grasp of digital marketing technologies. Experience with graphic design and/or email marketing for professional brands preferred. The successful applicant will show a high level of initiative and organization. This position will be wonderful experience for a quick learner and organized worker who seeks professional mentorship and can work independently on several projects at once.

The Digital Marketing Intern must have their own transportation (company mileage is reimbursed) and must be willing to work some evenings and weekends.

In addition to your resume please submit a PDF or link (if applicable) to any previous writing or digital marketing samples.

Graphic Design Intern

Dates of Employment: Late March Early July 2025

Supervisor: Graphic Design & Brand Manager

Works closely with: Director of Marketing & Public Relations; Social Media & Content Strategy Manager; Communications Manager; Web & Emarketing Manager

Hours: Approximately 3540 hours per week (varies)

The Graphic Design Intern will play a crucial role in branding and marketing Opera Theatres 2025 Festival Season collaborating with seasoned professionals to translate concepts into visually compelling designs using Adobe Creative Suite and contributing to diverse projects across digital and print platforms. Tasks may include but are not limited to creating direct mail collateral digital and print advertising education camp collateral social media visuals and editing production and event photography. This intern will also participate in the final stages of designing and packaging Opera Theatres annual 160 page program book which is distributed for free to audiences throughout the season. Additionally this role provides the unique opportunity to work under the mentorship of a fulltime Graphic Designer and Brand Manager. In conjunction with other Marketing & PR colleagues the intern may also contribute to event planning and staffing. This internship offers a rich learning experience in a dynamic creative environment.

Applicants should be aspiring creatives with previous design experience. Experience using Adobe Photoshop Illustrator and InDesign strongly preferred. The successful applicant will also show a high level of timeliness and organization. This position will be a wonderful experience for a quick learner who seeks professional mentorship and can work independently on several projects at once.

The Graphic Design Intern must have their own transportation (company mileage is reimbursed) and must be willing to work some evenings and weekends.

In addition to your resume please submit a PDF or link (if applicable) to any previous design samples or a current portfolio.

Press & Communications Intern

Dates of Employment: Late April Early July 2025

Supervisor: Director of Marketing & Public Relations

Works with: Communications Manager; Social Media & Content Strategy Manager; Web & Emarketing Manager; Box Office staff

Hours: Approximately 3540 hours per week

The Press and Communications Intern will play an important role in supporting Opera Theatres press and storytelling efforts during the Festival Season. Duties include but are not limited to copywriting and proofreading marketing collateral creating blog content for OTSLs website monitoring stories surrounding OTSLs Festival Season staffing the theaters press desk prior to performances maintaining the companys press archives helping coordinate media interviews distributing artist media alerts sending weekly press updates to OTSL staff and helping to ensure that positive press coverage is published across OTSLs email app and social channels.

The Press & Communications Intern will be an exceptional writer and proofreader who possesses extremely high attention to detail and a working knowledge of Microsoft Word. The successful applicant will have a team player attitude be a quick learner who can work independently on several projects at once in a fastpaced environment and enjoy peopleoriented work. Experience/interest in classical music is a plus but not required.

The Press & Communications Intern must be willing to work evenings and weekends as needed. Due to the nature of press activities around a performing arts festival this internship requires the flexibility to accommodate many evening and weekend hours with an everevolving weekly schedule. We ask applicants to take this into consideration when applying one example of a possible weekly schedule is below:

Mon: 9am5pm

Tue: 9am5pm

Wed: 1pm5pm 6pm8pm

Thu: 1pm5pm 6pm8pm

Fri: 9am5pm

Sat: 6pm8pm

In addition to your resume please submit at least one professional or academic writing sample (PDF or link).

Social Media Intern

Dates of Employment: Late April Early July 2025

Supervisor: Social Media & Content Strategy Manager

Works closely with: Director of Marketing & PR Graphic Designer & Brand Manager Web & EMarketing Manager Box Office Staff

Hours: Approximately 3540 hours per week

The Social Media Intern plays a crucial role in creating content and maintaining a vibrant and welcoming brand identity for Opera Theatre across all its social media platforms. Reporting to the Social Media & Content Strategy Manager this interns responsibilities may include but are not limited to: brainstorming and creation of social media posts daily monitoring of social media engagement providing timely and friendly responses to social media comments and inquiries planning and executing social media influencer events during the season the capture and editing of backstage and experiential photo and video content and basic photo manipulation and graphic design necessary to aid in the of the aforementioned tasks.

Applicants should possess a strong grasp of digital marketing technologies. Experience with graphic design and/or social media management for professional brands preferred. The successful applicant will also show a high level of initiative and organization. This position will be wonderful experience for a quick learner and organized worker who seeks professional mentorship and can work independently on several projects at once.

The Social Media Intern must have their own transportation (company mileage is reimbursed) and must be willing to work some evenings and weekends.

In addition to your resume please submit a PDF or link (if applicable) to any previous writing design or digital marketing samples.

Production Intern

Dates of Employment: MidApril Late June 2025

Supervisor: Production Manager

Works closely with: Production and Operations departments

Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week

The Production Intern assists the Production Manager and the Production Administrator with the organization and operations of the Production and Operations departments to facilitate a successful Festival Season. Responsibilities include assisting with inter/intra department communications; research; department paperwork and data entry (e.g. welcome letters PO tracking); collecting and reviewing time sheets; reviewing and posting schedules; department events (e.g. crew meals education events).

Ideal candidates might be 3rd or 4th year students in a college technical theatre program or a student in a theatre emphasis MFA program. Strong organizational skills and a working knowledge of MS Office particularly Excel and mail merge is required.

This position requires that the candidate have a valid drivers license and personal vehicle (company mileage is reimbursed). Candidates must be able to move equipment weighting up to 6070 lbs.

APPLY HERE! Please click on the link to complete the application process.

About Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization known for innovative productions featuring outstanding young artists. The company offers a festival opera season each spring which attracts ticket buyers from zip codes throughout the metropolitan area as well as visitors from nearly 50 states and multiple countries. As of 2024 OTSL has presented 41 world premieres which may be the highest percentage of new work in the repertory of any American company. In addition to the spring Festival Season OTSL operates yearround education and community programs serving nearly 17000 local children and adults.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis has a yearround artistic and administrative staff of approximately 45 which grows to more than 500 during the Festival Season. Several hundred volunteer members of the Opera Theatre Guild provide support for all aspects of Opera Theatres work and advocate for the company throughout the greater St. Louis community. The companys annual budget size is approximately $12 million; contributed revenue represents more than 50 of the budget.

At Opera Theatre of Saint Louis we value equity diversity and mutual respect. We strongly encourage people of color LGBTQ individuals women people with disabilities and others who have been historically excluded to apply. Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative of our community. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

OTSL will not discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of race color religion or belief; national social or ethnic origin; age; sex sexual orientation gender identity and/or expression; physical mental or sensory disability; family or parental status; genetic information or characteristics; protected veteran status; or any other protected class under federal state or local law. OTSL will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. If you need assistance or accommodation in completing an application interviewing or otherwise participating in the employee selection process please contactor