Overview
Since the inception of the Arts Workforce Initiative in 2017, the program has placed more than 100 Connecticut individuals interested in exploring a career in the arts, including college students, emerging creatives, formerly incarcerated individuals and military veterans in apprenticeships at non-profit arts organizations. AWI participants have explored various job opportunities in the arts, developed new passions, enhanced their skill set, received professional development support and, for some, long-term employment.
Arts organizations - "host organizations" have provided apprentices with hands-on and engaging learning experiences in arts administration, visual arts, arts presenting/curating, media arts, performing arts, visual arts, arts education and literary arts.
Your organization is a good fit for the AWI program if:- Its mission and values align with READI.
- It has experience managing apprentices.
- It has the capacity to manage apprentices.
- It has an open role for an apprentice to perform Project-Based work that is descriptive, engaging and goes beyond general tasks.
- It has a positive work environment, both in-person and virtually, for an individual to thrive.
- Its leadership has bandwidth to support an apprentice. Kindly note, we receive apprenticeship applications with different experience levels.
Selected host organizations will be granted $3,750 to be used to pay an hourly rate of $15. Selected participants work 25 hours a week for 10 weeks for the selected host organization. Participants receive payment from the host organization where their apprenticeship will take place.
The 2023 AWI Program will consist of 12 apprentices and 12 host organizations. All selected organizations and apprentices are required to attend a one-day creative workforce event, in-person. This event will be held the week of May 15th. Further details will be provided to selected participants. You can also watch/listen to this pre-recorded info session here.
Questions:
You can submit additional questions here.
Answers that can benefit all applications will be updated to the FAQs in real time.