I chose to work at the CUCA as the organisation ethos matches clearly with my own as the organisation places a large focus on having an inclusive and tolerant space, the work that the CUCA completes also has a large impact on the lives of people in the community and is providing amazing opportunities, so I was extremely happy to work for an organisation like this.
I found my placement through my work outside of University, I create short documentaries about political and cultural topics, I had sent one of these videos to the organisation I went to intern for and they sent me an email saying they enjoyed it from there I asked if it was possible to come and work for them and they agreed.
One of my favourite things about the placement was that I had the opportunity to explore different aspects of the company, allowing me to explore various policy areas and creative fields, as I was lucky enough to attend meetings with municipal governments and events such as the organisations music festival. However, I was largely based in the videography unit seeing as this was my field of expertise; I spent most of my time working on a documentary project on the organisation and there work empowering women in sports.
My day varied from day to day as I was move between the organisations hubs in the city, as well as attending outside events and programmes such as a political rally held by young people in different political factions or aiding the organisation of the music festival. Despite the changes a typical day would consist of me arriving at one of the centre and beginning work in the videography studio either aiding the production of the YouTube channel of the organisation JUVETV or working on my documentary either editing or conducting interviews and shots.
One of the largest challenges I faced was the cultural and language barrier as the internship was in Brazil, while I had a rudimentary knowledge of Portuguese, I did not initially have the vocabulary to interact with some people working and attending the CUCA but this was great learning experience as my language and communication skills increased drastically.
My time at the CUCA was eye opening in terms of my future career plans as not only did I get the opportunity to combine my two career fields of interest NGO work and videography, I was also able to develop life skills of working abroad, which is a great learning experience at a young age!
Form completed: 30 Oct 2019