I’m not sure if I should credit the employee at the Wisconsin School of Business who is responsible for the specialized master’s programs’ social media or a very accurate targeted ad algorithm (or both!), but to whoever it is, thank you for putting an advertisement for the Bolz Center in my Instagram feed last fall.
A year ago I was in my final year of undergraduate studies at the WSB and it was finally time to figure out what I was going to do after graduation. Freshman year I had chosen to pursue a degree in marketing because I figured it was a practical choice as it could open many doors for future opportunities. After taking several marketing courses, I realized that although I found the field interesting, it was not something for which I had a deep passion. I learned that UW offered a digital studies certificate as well as a graphic design certificate and after deciding to pursue them both, I felt myself regaining some excitement about my potential career. I honed my interests further and came to the conclusion that I wanted to find a job where I could seamlessly merge my interests in creative practices and the field of marketing. I completed a few internships that I enjoyed, and researched potential jobs that I thought sounded compelling, but none of them felt like a job I yearned to have, a job that I would do anything to get, my dream job.
Then comes in the Instagram ad. I had never seriously considered going to graduate school, especially not immediately after I finished my bachelor’s degree, but for some reason, I clicked on the ad while I was scrolling though Instagram. I saw the other specialized master’s programs that are offered and they all seemed to involve a lot of complicated numbers and calculations, so just as I was about to return to my mindless scrolling, the name of the last program piqued my interest: Master’s in Arts and Creative Enterprise Leadership. I had no idea what that really meant or what the program might entail, but I decided to do some more research, reach out to the team at the Bolz Center, and then, next thing I know I was applying for a graduate program at my alma mater.
The mere discovery of this program helped me to refine my career goals by opening my eyes to the arts and nonprofit sector. It helped me realize it is possible to fuse my passion for the arts, a part of me I thought I would be leaving behind for the most part when I started my career, with my practical knowledge and skills in business. Pursuing a degree through the Bolz Center became the obvious choice.
This year, I am placed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and taking the skills that I gained as an undergraduate into their organization. I am working with their marketing department on communicating with patrons through various channels, writing copy for their website and social media, and assisting with a new audience development project. It’s been so exciting to see the intersection of the arts and business in practice.
So to whomever it was that got that Instagram ad in front of me, thank you for bringing me to the Bolz Center and my career in arts administration. You are helping to make my career dreams a reality!
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