The day: April 23. Year: 2019. Location: New York City. Today I wore a suit jacket. Not anything lavish, I actually purchased it for my senior prom eight years ago (and it still [mostly] fits!), but for someone who’s pretty much only worked in very casual non-profit environments, a suit jacket is a moment for me. I chose to document this day because I knew that it’d be a mix of my usual tasks and routines along with some special happenings, so it is a nice little slice of my time as the Membership intern at ABT this semester.
Something I’ve enjoyed about this internship is always having responsibilities each time I come in. Some of these tasks include short-term projects like conducting research on prospective donors and analyzing data about family memberships, daily tasks like preparing membership acknowledgements, long-term projects like updating profiles in the database, and special events and programs like studio visits and ABT UpFronts, which I’d be helping with later that day.
After getting most my office duties out of the way, I accompanied Alex, Assistant Manager of Membership, and Meredith, Patron Services Intern, to The Elizabeth Collective to drop off decorations and do a venue walkthrough for the upcoming Junior Council Color Party. Color Party is an annual spring kickoff event for ABT’s young patrons program that took place at Elizabeth Taylor’s former townhouse. Unfortunately, I had class the night of the event, but from what I saw in preparation it looks like it was a great time!
After returning from the visit to The Elizabeth Collective, I had some time to work on a long-term project of updating profiles in the database before heading over to the Joyce Theater for the big event of the evening, the Reason I wore a suit jacket today… ABT UpFronts! UpFronts is a special program for select ABT donors, prospects, and guests to get an exclusive look at the upcoming spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House. This year’s event included conversations with Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, and choreographer Cathy Marston, and featured excerpts of performances from principal dancers and Studio Company. Before and after the event, I was working at the Membership table to answer questions and speak with current and prospective donors.
After the event (and after snagging a dozen gourmet mini rice krispy treats) a few of us interns went out for a bite to eat, which was nice just to have a moment to hang out and socialize. While admittedly not every day at ABT is as eventful as today was, it was a nice snippet of my time here at ABT… plus I felt fancy in my suit jacket.
Chad Rabago
Membership Intern
Spring 2019
abtinterns 
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