Long before the Philadelphia Fringe Festival sets up shop for 18 days in September, bringing hundreds of artists to perform in dozens of locations across the city, FringeArts, its organizer, is hard at work preparing. And this summer, Courtney Lau ‘17 is interning with the team that makes it all happen.

Thanks to funding from the John B. Hurford '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, Lau is organizing the Festival catalog, which will include logistical information as well as more in-depth essays about the performers. She is also, as part of her internship, working on her own projects at FringeArts, such as drawing her own maps Philadelphia neighborhoods.

“At first it was overwhelming, however, after doodling parts of the city, I began developing a more personal relationship to Philadelphia,” says Lau.“Ever since beginning my map project, I have felt empowered to venture to new places.”

Last summer Lau interned (also thanks to HCAH funding) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, but this year she decided she wanted to experience the inner workings of a smaller organization. Inspired by a performance she saw as part of a course with Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jaclyn Pryor last year, she set out to intern at FringeArts.

“I wanted to feel deeply involved in the mission of a small arts nonprofit and close to the members of the organization,” she says.“I am drawn to art and expanding the ways in which I think about visual culture, so the Hurford Center's Philly Partnership Program enabled me to continuing challenging my perspective on art as well as link me to a tight-knit community.”

The history of art major has been applying what she's learned in class to everything she does at FringeArts.“I am interested in the ways in which artists build objects, the social landscapes that determine meanings of artwork, and the artists/artwork that get included/excluded from history,” she says.“At work, I get to not only watch performing artists create work, but also observe what is socially significant to include and what gets excluded.”

—Jack Hasler '15

"Summer Centered" is a series exploring our students' Center-funded summer work.