Research & Insights / Engaging Youth in Creative Careers: Reflections from the 2026 Bloomberg Arts Internship

Engaging Youth in Creative Careers: Reflections from the 2026 Bloomberg Arts Internship

by J Rowen O’Dwyer (any pronouns)

I came to the role of BAI facilitator after 12 years working in arts education as a teaching artist, camp counselor, community organizer, and educator in both private and public schools and universities. I was looking for a way to bring my experience as an artist and educator to youth work in a way that felt genuinely empowering. That is when I began working with BAI Boston.

On the surface, BAI might look like a standard youth internship program focusing on the arts. In practice, however, many aspects of BAI make it different. A key characteristic of this program is radical honesty. BAI makes the professional ecosystem legible and teaches young people creative ways to speak its professional languages. It offers transparency: one of the most valuable things I believe we can offer to young people, especially teens.

That philosophy showed up in the people interns met throughout the program. The vibrant staff members and visiting professionals shared not only their expertise, but their own stories, uncertainties, and unconventional paths. Through these interactions, the interns saw that what makes them unique is not something to diminish to become a successful professional, but their strongest asset. Through transformative executive coaching workshops with Muadi Dibinga and public speaking opportunities like Show Us Your Best Self, which highlights students’ passions and art forms, these teens began to identify their strengths, see how they could use them to achieve their goals, and connect with networks of accomplished professionals.

One of my favorite parts of the program was our arts-based orientation, led by the BAI facilitators through our respective creative fields: music, theatre, and visual art. These activities gave students permission to experiment and explore, often with creative practices that were completely new to them. Interns who initially seemed quiet became excited to join a dance workshop, create experimental theatre pieces, or take creative risks in a professional setting. These activities showed that, beyond sparking joy and exploration, creativity could also support their personal and professional development. Watching them develop that creative confidence was one of the most joyful parts of working with BAI.

One of the most impactful people the interns met was Kenny Mascary, Senior Advisor for the Creative Economy, in the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, City of Boston. Like many of the professionals they encountered, Kenny brought his full story. He spoke about his unexpected journey to his position, his experience as an immigrant, and even his dream of becoming a celebrity DJ. During our tour of City Hall and later in his keynote at the final celebration, Kenny emphasized that the interns are not separate from the systems and communities around them. They can contribute to them.

What stayed with me most was his insistence that he had done nothing the interns were not also capable of doing. He did not avoid the intimidating structures or inequities they would encounter; he named them openly while reminding them that they also possess power within those systems. Their creativity, vision, and lived experience are not obstacles to their participation; they are part of what makes their contributions valuable.

BAI is the kind of program I desperately needed as a young person. It balances youth empowerment with genuine support and skill-building. Investing financially in young people acknowledges both their needs and the value of their presence in our local industries. BAI holds interns to high standards and trusts their capabilities, while also making room for growth as emerging creative professionals.

It has been incredibly meaningful to work alongside educators and organizations that genuinely live the values they speak about. BAI and Edvestors do this by creating a culture in which staff are encouraged to support and pour back into one another at every opportunity. That part of the work can be easy to overlook, but its impact is immeasurable. Being part of a community that invests in the people doing the work is ultimately what makes this kind of work sustainable.

If I could leave the interns with one message, it would be, “remember your joy.” And if they have trouble finding it, to seek out the people and places that remind them of it. Find it in art, in music, in dance. Find the spaces where creativity flows freely. Creativity is a powerful, contagious force and one of our greatest allies in making our visions for the future possible.