Heinz College Students Make Impact at Internships in Arts and Entertainment
By Emma Folts
Managing a concert series in Colorado. Supporting the production of television shows at NBCUniversal. Creating a marketing campaign for TikTok.
These opportunities are just some of the exciting and impactful internships Heinz College students in the Master of Arts Management and the Master of Entertainment Industry Management held this summer. Both are joint programs of Heinz College and Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Fine Arts.
Below, several students share what their internships taught them –– and how Heinz College prepared them for professional success –– in their own words.
TikTok
TikTok
Jinghong Gong (MEIM ‘26) served as a content operations intern at TikTok LIVE.
Describe your internship and what a typical day looked like for you. How did your work make a difference for your organization this summer?
My team worked like a startup, with multiple projects happening at the same time. Besides supporting operations for recurring LIVE shows, I had the opportunity to execute the marketing campaign of a singing competition called Next Up: LIVE Music, in collaboration with iHeartRadio.
As part of that campaign, I scripted the ads and coordinated their distribution across iHeartMedia’s radio, podcast and streaming networks. I also worked closely with my teammate on producing promo videos on TikTok for the competition.
The videos we produced accumulated close to 10M views on TikTok and attracted 5,000+ audition video submissions under the competition’s hashtag.
What did you learn from this experience that you'll carry forward in your career?
Working at TikTok was a privilege. The fast-paced working environment pushed me to keep learning and be resilient. I’ve learned so much about the backend of the creator economy and the technology innovations that are driving the app’s success. The knowledge and connections I gained from this internship will prepare me for more professional development in the future.
How did your CMU education prepare you for success in this internship?
My courses related to strategy, presenting and marketing proved to be especially valuable during my internship. Heinz College also taught me how to manage projects, which helped not only in executing my own projects but also in collaborating with others at work.
Aspen Musical Festival and School
Samantha Childers (MAM ‘26) served as an operations assistant for the Aspen Music Festival and School, a classical musical festival in Aspen, Colorado.
Describe your internship and what a typical day looked like for you. 
In my role, I spearheaded a small concert series in collaboration with the Aspen Arts Museum, collaborated with the development department on all donor stewardship concert events and managed all aspects of the festival concession stand. I also took inventory and ordered and distributed all water and wine for the entirety of the festival for the summer season.
Some days consisted of meetings and administrative work –– such as placing orders for the concession stand based on ticket sales, weather and revenue predictions –– while others involved setting up events, managing wine deliveries or serving as the “manager on duty” for a student recital. The fun thing about this job was that no two days looked alike!
How did your work make a difference for your organization this summer?
I felt I had the biggest impact when event operations ran smoothly. During our Mariachi Celebration Concert, our Pride celebration and our two season benefits, I knew I had played a role in creating and running a successful event.
Many of my days involved interacting directly with patrons –– at development events, at the concession stand, at concerts –– and that felt extremely impactful. Speaking with patrons who had been coming to the festival for over 30 years, hearing their stories and having a positive impact on their day made me feel like I was contributing to the spirit of the festival.
What did you learn from this experience that you'll carry forward in your career?
Getting to travel to and work in Colorado, a place I had never been to, completely expanded my perception of what I thought I could do and opened my mind to future opportunities.
I had never experienced a classical music festival before, so working with the professionals who make this happen year after year was incredible. The talent, work ethic and connections that these professional experiences exposed me to was incomparable.
This summer helped me reconnect with my training as a classical musician. I went to amazing concerts, sang in the chorus for “La Boheme,” and connected with colleagues doing amazing work in their own musical training and arts management studies.
How did your CMU education prepare you for success in this internship?
Heinz College gave me the confidence to know I belonged at an organization like the Aspen Music Festival. I knew that the program’s course work and professional training had provided me with the skills and knowledge to be successful, from determining gross and net revenue to creating an accessibility plan for concert patrons.
NBCUniversal
Evelyn Chen (MEIM ‘26) supported television production and operations as an intern at NBCUniversal. 
Describe your internship and what a typical day looked like for you.
I updated weekly production report trackers, compiled and delivered “wrap binders” about shows that were ready to go into post-production and attended meetings to ask questions about budgeting and production standards. I also held one-on-one meetings with colleagues to learn about their experiences at NBCUniversal.
How did your work make a difference for your organization this summer?
Helping to deliver the wrap binder was a huge help for the team. About four shows wrapped each month, and there was a quick turnaround to finish post-production, so I was able to support those efforts.
What did you learn from this experience that you'll carry forward in your career?
I had a chance to practice my social skills in a professional working environment. I learned how to professionally communicate across departments via email and Microsoft Teams. Also, the individual meetings I hosted with my colleagues honed my interviewing skills and taught me how to have professional conversations with executives.
How did your CMU education prepare you for success in this internship?
The Mary Beth and Miles Reidy Career Center was super helpful throughout the whole process, from internship-hunting to transitioning to my next internship this fall. Advisor Matthew Spangler has been a great source of guidance and information
Wolfbrown
Yuwen Chou (MAM ‘26) served as a research intern for WolfBrown, an arts research and planning consultancy.
Describe your internship and what a typical day looked like for you.
My primary responsibility was authoring research on innovative strategies arts organizations can pursue to address the challenges posed by changing audience behaviors. I also analyzed survey data for WolfBrown's Loyalty Labs program, focusing specifically on accessibility and dance community preferences. I used a statistical software suite to analyze data and generate comprehensive reports.
How did your work make a difference for your organization this summer?
By conducting academic research and translating theoretical frameworks into practical membership innovation strategies, my work filled a gap that WolfBrown typically doesn't have the bandwidth to address.
For the data analysis component, I helped organize and analyze substantial amounts of survey data that had been awaiting attention, transforming raw information into insights. This work directly supported WolfBrown's client services by providing evidence-based recommendations grounded in both academic research and empirical data analysis.
What did you learn from this experience that you'll carry forward in your career?
This internship gave me valuable exposure to the arts consulting field, which I was eager to explore. The experience confirmed my passion for research and report generation in a consulting context and reinforced my interest in pursuing data analysis professionally.
This internship helped me identify knowledge gaps in my academic background that I want to address, particularly in advanced data analysis techniques and survey design methodology. Moving forward, I plan to take additional courses in these areas to strengthen my analytical skills and research capabilities.
How did your CMU education prepare you for success in this internship?
The MAM program at Heinz College provided essential foundational knowledge about how arts organizations operate in the U.S., which was crucial for understanding the context of my research on membership innovation.
Coming from a liberal arts undergraduate background, I had no prior exposure to data analysis, so the courses at Heinz College introduced me to fundamental statistical concepts and analytical methods that opened up entirely new possibilities for my career path.