Devon morin - Winant Fellowship Report

Internship at The Freedom Café

As a Winant fellow, I had the opportunity to complete an internship at The Freedom Café, a specialty café dedicated to ending human trafficking and the commercial exploitation of all people. Located in downtown Durham, NH, The Freedom Café is known for being a community arts hub, and as a musician and future music educator, this led me to pursue an internship focused on music at The Café. My internship included four main projects: assisting with fundraising for NH Gives; creating promotional materials for Perform for Freedom and Teen Night events for the 2023-2024 academic year; highlighting the work of local artists; and coordinating a project to install acoustic sound treatment in The Café. Through each of these projects, I participated in unique learning experiences that helped me to further develop, and gain exposure to, a variety of skills.

Fundraising for NH Gives

On June 6-7, The Freedom Café participated in NH Gives. Hosted by The NH Center for Nonprofits, NH Gives is a statewide, 24-hour day of giving for NH nonprofit organizations which strives to increase awareness and support for the work being done by nonprofits in the state. The Freedom Café’s goal this year was to raise $15,000, and for the first year ever, The Café reached their goal and surpassed it, raising a total of $15,661.

To support fundraising efforts, I created several social media posts for The Freedom Café’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, including a story series which was posted throughout the NH Gives event. The story series featured most of the Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers for The Café and included a picture of the individual, a quote about why they support The Café, and a link to their personal Peer-to-Peer fundraising page.

In addition to social media content creation, I made calls and sent emails to past volunteers at The Freedom Café asking for their support and participation as a Peer-to-Peer fundraiser in preparation for NH Gives. Along with having the opportunity to connect with volunteers passionate about The Café’s work, I also gained experience using the platform Bloomerang. My work with Bloomerang included learning how to create reports as well as how to draft and send mass emails. Developing proficiency using Bloomerang was a valuable opportunity that could easily transfer to future employment in public service or volunteer experiences.

Perform for Freedom and Teen Night Promotion

During the academic year, The Freedom Café hosts weekly Perform for Freedom open mic nights and monthly Freedom Friday Teen Nights which are open mic nights for high school students. During my internship, I created social media content, including a feed and story post

for every Perform for Freedom event and a feed post, a story post, and a flyer for every Freedom Friday Teen Night for the upcoming academic year. Altogether, this includes over 100 social media posts. While I had experience using Canva prior to this internship, I have gained so much more experience and have learned many more tools for using it. Preparing for upcoming events supports the sustainability of music at The Café which has been an important aspect of my work.

In addition to the social media content, I also learned how to use SignUpGenius in order to create two sign-up forms for the fall and spring semester Perform for Freedom dates. These forms allow artists to sign up for the opening slot on each of the Wednesday Perform for Freedom dates. Preparing these forms in advance helps to support The Freedom Café staff in hosting these events during the academic year.

Local Artistry

An important goal of mine during my internship was supporting and amplifying local artistry. As a community arts hub, The Freedom Café holds space for local artists to perform, share their work, and gain exposure. As an intern, one of my projects utilized social media to center local artists. The material for the social media content was drawn from two sources which include interviews I had with several local musicians and a project prior to my internship which had produced flyers featuring local musicians. From this material, I created a new “Spotlight Series” and a series of throwback features, totaling over fifteen posts, to be shared on The Café’s social media during the fall semester. I appreciated the opportunity to work on the “Spotlight Series” from start to finish, beginning with the interviews and ending with the posts I created, in addition to continuing a project other folks had worked on well in advance of my internship.

Another aspect of my work in supporting local artistry involved drafting a proposal for a prompt-inspired art collection created by local art students. For this project, I wrote one proposal to be reviewed by my supervisor and The Freedom Café Board and another to be sent to local schools invited to participate in the project. Through this project, I learned what areas are typically addressed in proposals and how to format them appropriately. Proposal writing is such a useful skill, and I appreciate the opportunity to gain practice with this during my internship.

Acoustic Sound Installation

Coordinating the installation of acoustic sound treatment was my largest project this summer. My role in this project involved researching the most effective and affordable materials to use; communicating this research to my supervisor; drafting sample pictures of The Café with the potential products to be presented to board members; purchasing the materials; and installing the acoustic sound treatment. As the project progressed, the scope of installation expanded to include painting the entire café space and rearranging furniture.

Research

The research component of this project included meeting with community members knowledgeable about acoustic sound treatment along with conducting research online. I learned about various types of acoustic sound treatment; commercial materials commonly used; natural and everyday materials that can help with sound treatment; identifying which products may be effective; and determining the placement of sound treatment. Meeting with individuals experienced in this area helped me to create professional connections while also expanding my understanding of acoustic sound treatment. As a future music educator, this knowledge of acoustic sound treatment will be an asset in my career and is an area about which I otherwise would not have learned.

Communication
Because I was gathering so much information about acoustic sound treatment, learning how to effectively share this information with my supervisor was particularly important. I had the opportunity to use Slack and expand my competency with this program in addition to strengthening my verbal communication skills. Additionally, I created materials to share with the board to gather their feedback on the project plans; these materials included questions about several redecorating options, samples of potential designs for felt panel installation, and images of the café with various paint colors using the Behr Color Visualizer. This type of professional communication of ideas is a lifelong skill which I will continue to develop and use in the future.

Purchasing Materials
I had the opportunity to purchase materials for the project which also involved creating and managing a budget. Working with a budget required prioritizing certain materials over others, looking for the most affordable materials, and paying close attention to how much money was spent on each material. Learning how to manage a budget, especially for a large-scale project such as this, will be useful in the future.

Installation
Prior to the installation which was scheduled to be completed during one week in July, I worked to recruit volunteers to support the renovation. I created several social media posts to recruit volunteers, and I had another opportunity to use SignUpGenius in order to create a sign up form for volunteers. During the installation week, I supported the renovation by completing tasks such as preparing the space to be painted, cleaning The Café, and potting plants.

Completion of the fellowship program:

As my internship experience ends, I am grateful for the opportunities I had to learn and further develop a broad skill set. I feel excited to pursue a career in public service, and I am confident that this experience will help me in my future work. Most importantly, I am thankful to have had the opportunity to pursue this internship through the Winant Fellowship Program.