Student Blog: Shifting with the Seasons - A Year of Advocacy in the Arts

After becoming committed to pursuing a career in the theater industry a year ago, I would’ve never expected to spend this fall as an intern supporting a film festival. However, on November 13th, I walked into the Philadelphia Film Society office for the last time to say my goodbyes and receive my final evaluation as a Development and Guest Services Intern. That internship was one of many roles I couldn’t have imagined taking on this year, others ranging from the Social Media Manager of a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for Autistic theatre artists and this role as a blogger for Broadway World. And yet, here I am - reaching the end of a year that has been full of career blessings, personal and professional transformation, and dreams turned into realities. Perhaps most importantly, I have managed to intertwine my passion for disability advocacy and the arts in my work and am on my way to becoming not just an arts professional, but a change-maker who can shake up this industry, as they say in Wicked, for good.

However, it was not an easy journey. As a disabled person, I knew not long after entering the industry that I wanted to be someone who shakes it up. I had no idea how I would do that though. Embracing my identity as a disabled person was new to me and so was disability advocacy. To celebrate my journey to where I am today, I want to reflect on how I took steps each season to get here.

During my final evaluation - one of the first things I was praised for was my community outreach work. This made me think about a post I had seen from the organization I completed my first internship with, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, sharing how a partnership program with the Philadelphia Art Museum I helped put together was finally starting soon. I was in the middle of my PYP internship last year and thinking about the kind of person I wanted to be and how that would shape my career. I started my journey in arts education and wanted to continue uplifting youth through accessible opportunities. I also wanted to make theater more accessible in general and got to work on an initiative getting ticket donations from local theaters for PYP students. These projects showed me that I could use my presence in spaces to work towards a more accessible theater community in small but meaningful ways. One does not change an industry alone in big ways, they change it with community in small ways that add up.

Last winter my work with PYP was slowing down, but it gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed working in theater from the nonprofit side - specifically in ways that made use of my passion for the arts and accessibility. I was seeing that there were ways to be an advocate in the arts outside of creative projects - not that I am planning to abandon my own creative life. I had also been a student playwright with them and just wrapped up the New Voices Festival where I got to have a play I wrote centered on Autistic people in theater performed at Temple University. However, I didn’t want my creative work to be at the core of my career. Perhaps, I thought, I can build a career in theater that allows me to empower others and advocate for the disabled community in ways that feel right for me. The question was, how?

Two opportunities came along during the winter that showed me the answer to my question:

I started off the new year by landing a Social Media Manager role at the Autistic Theatremakers Alliance. This was exactly the type of org I needed to be involved in, I thought. Advocating for Autistic theatremakers across the U.S. is our mission, and that is a mission I stand strong in today. Now, I was playing a larger role in the advancement of a nonprofit - a leadership role. What a win! It was hard at times to hold this role while being so busy with other jobs I took on, but I've slowly gone from lightly managing our social media to taking on a stronger presence to ensure our growth. In the Spring, I got to assist with fundraising efforts for ATA while preparing for an internship in development, and that internship was a life-shifter. 

While continuing to work with ATA, I moved to DC to participate in the American Association of People with Disabilities Summer Internship Program with a placement site at Washington Performing Arts. I landed the internship in December 2024 and was elated. I wasn’t confident I’d be selected given that only a few people from across the country are chosen for this opportunity each year. I wasn’t even that deep into disability advocacy at the time, but I wanted to learn and part of the internship program was a Disability Advocacy Certificate Program. Additionally, my primary interests at the time were education and theater, neither of which are nearly as respected as the fields a lot of my peers were in. However, AAPD saw the value in my passion for arts access even at a time where I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted my career to look like. So, I spent 10 weeks in cross-disability community while learning about operations at a nonprofit with incredible arts and education programs. I also got to attend weekly classes learning about disability history, disability justice, and advocacy. When I wasn’t with AAPD or WPA, I had the honor of attending several community events, exploring DC., building friendships with peers who understood me, and having a disabled mentor who also works in the theater industry, 

After my internship with AAPD ended, I spent the fall feeling more confident and comfortable in who I am and my goals than ever before. The trees may be dying, but I feel alive. Learning to embrace my disabled identity and take my passion for disability advocacy into my work has helped me live a life defined by my wants and needs. So, after shifting between seasons of challenges and growth, I am now in the Fall of 2025 continuing to build dreams no longer half-formed. I started September for a trip back to DC for disability advocacy, came back to be a Film Festival intern building on my skills in arts nonprofit operations, learned to maintain my disability pride while away from disability community, and returned to my creative roots. I am taking a creative writing course, working on playwriting and poetry again, going to open mics, and finding ways to make room for the arts outside of uplifting other artists. Again, I don’t want a career as an artist - or at least I don't want that to be the only thing I do. I enjoy being a voice for other artists through my work. However, being a creative is an important part of my life that I don't intend to give up. So this Fall, I’ve chosen to focus on the things that the past year of my life has proved to me is important to me. Art, advocacy, professional growth, PERSONAL growth, and joy. As I enter the new year, I am so grateful that the past year has allowed me to build a life where I can hold space for all of these things. I look forward to continuing to live my life in this way.