Life as a summer intern: A bright view of Herron professional experience... with Carlie Foreman

Next in our series profiling the recent summer internship experiences of Herron students is sculpture senior Carlie Foreman, who wore many creative hats, from gallery assistant to disc jockey, working for the nonprofit organization Big Car Collaborative.

HERRON: When did your internship officially begin and what was it like?

CARLIE FOREMAN: I officially began the internship during the last week in May and it ended when school was back in session. But I will stay on at Big Car as staff artist of WQRT community partnerships.

My days at Big Car began at Listen Hear, a sound art gallery just south of Garfield Park, with morning emails and cleaning after a night or weekend of public events. The internship hours began at 10 a.m. and would end around 4 p.m., with the exception of evening events. I spent my time focusing on maintenance of the gallery and radio station, event planning, and booking.

HERRON: What were some of the highlights of the internship?

FOREMAN: When I began interning at Big Car, I had no idea I would come out of it as the host of a once monthly live radio show! Big Car's community radio station 99.1 WQRT throws mainstream radio on its head. We play anything from atmosphere and experimental music to local hip hop and country/western.

I am so passionate about the power of music and now I have the opportunity to give air time to electronic music that will not typically be highlighted on mainstream radio stations. I think of that goosebump-inducing moment when I am driving and I discover a beat that makes me look around and say, "Is anyone else hearing this!?" I feel lucky to curate Good Vibrations, a once month electronic radio show that airs the first Wednesday of the month at 5 p.m.

HERRON: What lesson do you value most about this experience?

FOREMAN: From the beginning to the end of my internship at Big Car I had the opportunity to exercise many different skills: how to run a gallery, booking, building, live radio, [creative] placemaking, and underwriting. Plus, our big project this summer was the building of the Indianapolis Bee Sanctuary.

Through all of these projects, the most memorable lesson I have learned is team work. Everyone operates in different ways and you have to utilize everyone's strengths because it takes a fine balance of everyone's unique personalities to get a job done.