Summer 2023 Marketing and Digital Media Intern
Lucas Esteves (he/him) is the 2023 Marketing and Digital Media Intern. Lucas hails from Florida where he pursued his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theater at the University of Tampa. At the time of his internship, Lucas is actively working towards his Master of Arts in Arts Administration at the O’Neill School at Indiana University. Lucas has worked in freelance costume design, marketing, performance, and technical theater.
Monday
Monday is the Marketing department’s day off. I was very happy to sleep in and catch up on laundry after a busy and exciting week. Later, my fellow interns and I went to Burmese Bowl in the town of Becket, MA and decided to go on a spontaneous trip to the lake. Jumping off of the floating deck with my friends and doing cannonballs made all of us feel like we were in a movie.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I decided to go to one of the Pillow’s Morning Classes. Today was Pilates. I had never done Pilates before and so I didn’t know what to expect but everyone was in a really good mood. It was a great way to start the day. I grabbed some quick breakfast and then headed to the Annex. I had my check in meeting with the Digital Marketing Manager, Emma Garber, to make a plan for the day. Today we decided to go for a walking meeting!
I started working on prepping some emails that will go out next week. I serve on the Social Committee and the LGBTQ Affinity group. I wanted to be able to connect and engage with folks from other departments so these were great ways to do that! The Social Committee helps plan social and casual gatherings where all folks can connect with one another, unwind, and just enjoy hanging out. The LGBTQ Affinity group is a social space where I was able to meet others with a shared identity where we plan social events and socialize. I was able to help plan some of these internal events throughout my day.
Dutch National Ballet arrived today and they will be performing at the Ted Shawn Theatre all week. It was great to see some new faces on campus. I finished all of my assigned work for the day and went to grab some content for our social media team at Blake’s Barn.
After work, I got to relax at Malm Manor, a space for staff to relax or spend their downtime at, by finishing up my second book of the summer. Later, some fellow interns and I went to Tanglewood to finish up the day.
Wednesday
We hit the ground running today. The Marketing team had our weekly huddle with the social media team. On Wednesdays we have the Director’s Welcome which is a long standing tradition at Jacob’s Pillow. Our Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge welcomes the new companies for that week by introducing the Pillow Staff and reflecting on the week ahead.
In the afternoon I was able to watch the dress rehearsal for Ice Dance International and grabbed some photos there as well. I was backstage at the Henry J. Leir Stage and snagged some backstage action shots.The Leir Stage is the perfect place to sit, breathe for a bit, and take a moment for myself.
Today was quite a long and sweaty day. I’m very glad I went home to refresh, drop my things off, and freshen up. I went to Ice Dance International’s 6pm performance and it was absolutely breathtaking. You could feel the stillness of the audience holding their breaths together. It was gorgeous to see people skating against the backdrop of the Berkshires – almost as if they were flying!
Thursday
I wanted to treat myself today so I woke up early and had a solo breakfast moment on the patio by the Ted Shawn Theatre. I got some reading in and it was a lovely moment to recharge.
This morning in the Annex, I created and edited informative emails we send each week to ticket buyers for the upcoming shows. One of my big tasks is to help update these “pre-visit” emails with information on each week’s performing artists. I got the ball rolling and had a really nice planning conversation regarding a video series I’m working on!
I headed back to the office and continued working on those pre-visits emails. After that, I drafted a promo email that will also go out next week. I finished up the work day by editing all the emails and blog posts I’m currently working on, and brainstorming some outreach strategies with Emma.
Friday
Happy Friday!
We had our all staff meeting today which was great. I ran to take photos of a School event and they happened to be taking their “Pillow Rock photo” so I assisted with that. Artists taking their photo on the Pillow Rock is a long standing tradition here at the Pillow and I love seeing how happy it makes folks.
Christopher, our photographer, informed me that he was going to have a mini photoshoot today and I was invited so I assisted with that. He gave me some great feedback and tips on some previous photos I took so I was very excited to apply those and see the work come together.
Later, I sat in on a PillowTalk at Blakes Barn where the theme that evening was Legacies of the Black Berkshires: An Evening with David Levering Lewis. The way the panel spoke with such passion and adoration for Dr. David Levering Lewis was astounding. I took down the title of one of his books that they mentioned quite often and ordered myself my own copy of When Harlem Was in Vogue by the aforementioned Dr. Lewis himself.
That night, I helped lead a craft night event for the Social Committee!
Saturday
Today, The School was having their Pause in the Process live stream and I was able to run it on Instagram live! It was great to see how things run from the other side of the camera. Setting up was straightforward, we connected with the school team, they informed us of the program, and where to set up our tripod. Our social media team created everything up for us on our instagram so my job was to do double duty and both watch the actual show that was happening to make sure we were moving the camera accordingly and capturing the best content whilst still reading the comments and monitoring the chat.
We are having our Pillow Pride Dance Party tonight so we helped set up for that. My friends and I got ready for the party, and then finally headed to the event where we danced very hard and had an absolute blast at Pillow Pride.
Sunday
We work a half day on Sunday. I came in, got some quick breakfast. That morning, I captured some content of The School’s 360 Intensive on Zoom with Chapman University, as well as content from the Dutch National Ballet Workshop. I caught up on emails, worked on some projects, and then headed home where I ended my week by socializing with friends.
This Pillow Pick was written by Lucas Esteves and published on July 29, 2023.