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NYU Shanghai Students Give the Scoop on Summer Internships

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From Shanghai to New York to the Netherlands, NYU Shanghai students were busy this summer filling internships in everything from fintech, marketing, robotics/AI, environmental conservation, international relations, law and connecting charities with local businesses. The Career Development Center Summer Service Grant supported several students who chose to work for non-for-profit organizations.

Shanghai: Yiming, Arjun, Josh, Daisy, and Justin offer a glimpse of what they’ve been doing here in Shanghai to jumpstart their futures.

Yiming Huang ’21
Major: Math
Internship at: SUNTECH, a Shanghai-based robotics and AI start-up.

What she does:

“I am currently working on app and web development for our newest product, which means I spend most of the day coding according to a project timeline. Our team’s UX/UI designer will send me an initial design and discussions about the project are dotted throughout the day, as well as snack breaks and bubble tea treats. Development strategies, marketing ideas, funny cat videos, anything that comes to mind is welcome as a topic for discussion.”

Arjun Tisseverasinghe ’21
Major: Finance
Internship at: VCREDIT, a micro-loan fintech company

What he does:

“As soon as I get in around 8:30AM, I make a cup of coffee and I practice Python—I’m learning the syntax and how the risk team creates their models. I help process data that helps the company’s AI system (Hummingbird) learn what to look for to accept or decline people applying for a loan. Sometimes my team and I end up staying till after 10PM to finish a report, but I don’t mind because I love the working environment—it feels like working with friends.”

Josh Jensen ’21
Major: Global China Studies, Summer Service Grant Recipient 
Internship at: Alliance for Water Stewardship Asia-Pacific; promotes water conservation and transparent water practices with companies throughout the world. 

What he does:

“From 10AM to 6PM, we can work from the office, from home, or wherever we are most productive. I work on proposals and am assisting in the creation of a water management module that can be attached to college courses and increase awareness of water conservation. We are all passionate about the social impact that our work has and its critical importance, and that has been truly inspiring to see and makes me want to continue the work as best I can.”

Daisy Bugarin ’21
Major: Economics
Internship at: WeChatNINJA, a marketing company that helps cross-cultural companies analyze their social media platforms and audience to create a specialized branding strategy. 

What she does:

“I help organize events and write and publish articles on Official WeChat accounts for clients as well as on our own social media. I work on ideas to promote WeChatNINJA to potential clients, and I’ve been learning a lot of marketing skills—digital advertising strategies, basic spreadsheet skills, event planning, and fluency in contemporary digital tools. I think my Writing as Inquiry course really prepared me for this specific position. It taught me how grueling the process of creating SEVERAL written drafts really is, weeks before your final deadline.”

Justin Zotos ’21

Major: Marketing, Global China Studies
Internship at: consumer product F&B brand “Baozza!” in Jing’an.

What he does:

“The cool part of this marketing internship at Baozza is that there is no such thing as a ‘normal day.’ Some amazing experiences I’ve been able to have are: taste testing potential new products or ingredients, joining my bosses in meetings with some of Shanghai’s biggest F&B players, designing our Taobao page and Eleme store, taking charge of planning events, building a sampling program for Shanghai grocery stores, receiving a sponsored trip to Beijing for a product release party, and getting chicken wings every Wednesday while shooting pool with my bosses.”

Around the World: Frank, Viktorija, Clare, Adele, and Matthew share their experiences in NGOs around the world.

Frank Mattimoe ’22
Major: Social Sciences (International Relations) with a minor in Chinese, Summer Service Grant Recipient
Internship at: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya.

What he did:

“At UNEP, I was responsible for conducting research on the environmental impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative on developing countries in Asia and Africa. I compiled news articles and drafted research papers about environmental factors. Professor Dan Guttman’s class, Law, Culture and Politics in China, inspired my interest in this topic, and was the foundation for my research. The best part of working at UNEP was connecting with the talented team of co-workers and mentors in the field. They made my internship such a rewarding experience.”

Viktorija Ruzelyte ’20
Major: Social Science (Political Science), Summer Service Grant Recipient
Internship at: Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations, New York

What she did:

“I learned a lot in a short period of time–from assisting with writing memos and doing translation work, to sitting in on the Security Council General Assembly meetings and events at the European Union delegation. The environment at the UN is stimulating and ever-changing, so adapting quickly is key in order to have a successful experience. It was important to establish trust, which may take a while but being diligent and hardworking will get you there eventually. NYU Shanghai really honed my ability to talk to people from different backgrounds and find common ground.” 

Clare Ren Yixin ’19
Major: Social Sciences, Summer Service Grant Recipient
Internship at: International Development Law Organization – IDLO, The Netherlands

What she did:

 “I worked as a research intern at IDLO in The Hague to assist the team on various projects, such as promoting the popularity of electronic legal assistants in Somalia and training legal staff in Tunisia. The work we do is more than theoretical research, it’s closely connected with field work. The team at IDLO is quite diverse, with colleagues from the Netherlands, France, Canada, Austria and Indonesia, and we got along very well. IDLO is the only international organization in the world that focuses on promoting the development of the rule of law with a goal of ‘Creating a Culture of Justice,’ which resonated with me. I owe this internship opportunity to my four years’ experience at NYU Shanghai and support from the Career Development Center. ”

Adele Kramber ’20
Major: Social Science (Environmental Studies)
Internships at: Institute of Documentary Films in Prague, WILD Film Festival in New York

What she did:

“While I was in Prague I helped with the International Documentary Film Festival, which highlights creative documentary cinema. At the end of my internship, I was able to attend the festival in the Czech highlands and organize filmmaker panels. In New York, I volunteered for my third year with the New York WILD Film Festival. I watched some fantastic documentaries and aided in the general organization. This summer, I worked as a pre-screener for films that are being submitted to next year’s festival. I had the amazing opportunity of watching and providing comments on a handful of environmental documentaries. I also have been writing pieces based off of recently published academic texts for earth.org–a growing media source based in Hong Kong that was searching for volunteer contributing writers.” 

Read Adele’s article on climate change.

Matthew Fertig ’22
Major: Interactive Media and Business, with a minor in Global China Studies
Internship at: Pennywell, a Jerusalem-based start-up that connects national Israeli charities with local businesses

What he did:

“Through the TAMID group (a business club at NYU Shanghai), I landed an internship with Pennywell, a company that provides exclusive discounts to volunteers and donors to encourage repeat donations to charities. I planned and executed proofs of concept for one local and one international NGO.  Jerusalem receives tailored to the 4,000,000+ tourists annually, and I designed and implemented new discount cards and offers aimed at them.This project led me to build connections with local hostels and business owners, which meant I was also creating relationships for Pennywell, and enhancing my understanding of Israeli business culture.”

 

 

This post comes to us courtesy of NYU Shanghai. You can find the original here.

NYU Tel Aviv Student Taylor Bissey’s Article Published in Jerusalem Report

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NYU Tel Aviv journalist student Taylor Bissey recently had an article published in the Jerusalem Report. This was an exciting opportunity for Taylor. Her article and photos are republished below. Please enjoy!

In Jisr a-Zarqa, Arab families struggle to preserve traditional fishing

Text and photos by Taylor Renee Bissey

THE WARM sun shines brightly upon the group of men and a few women gathered in front of sheds on the beach. The first boats have already entered the small cove of Jisr a-Zarqa and, with them, nets full of a vari- ety of fish.

The men untangle the fish from the bright green nets and toss them into blue and yel- low buckets. When a new boat comes in, they move away from their nets or come down from their nearby sheds to help an- chor the boat and unload the new catch.

Locals from the exclusively Arab town as well as Jewish Israelis from the neighboring towns huddle around, filling plastic bags with the new catch to bring home. Halil Jarbon, 77, is the grandfather of this com- munity.

“People like to come here. They see the fishermen come out of the water with fish in the nets,” he says. “The people know they are the freshest fish around.”

The community gathers around to grill the new catch on the grassy platforms in front of the stone, wood, and metal sheds. They sit in plastic chairs enjoying tea and coffee with a large spoonful of sugar, a daily ritual for this small group of fishermen and their families.

The day before brown waves had crashed against the light poles in the bay. Under the shelter of the make-shift roof of his restaurant located on the beach front of Jisr az- Zarqa, Mussa Jarbon, 46, had watched as his brother pulled his boat out to cast the nets that evening. “This color, chocolate, the rain changes the water and brings many fish,” he explained.

Only two boats, maybe three, though, braved the weather. Mussa did not. He and the other fisherman buy many of their nets in Haifa, and they are expensive. While winter storms bring nutrients to the sea through rain, attracting fish closer to the shore, the storms also can tangle their nets on the rocks, leaving them useless. Each fisherman weighs the risks, a lost net or lost income from lack of fish.

Fishing has passed from father to son in this community. Unfortunately, each gener- ation has seen less fish. “I remember I would go fishing with my father thirty-five years ago. Daily we would come back to the beach with a hundred kilos, two hundred kilos of fish,” Mussa recalls. “Now I don’t see this.”

These fishermen now need motor boats because of the decrease in the amount of fish in the Mediterranean.

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“Once with a small net from the shore, people could get the same amount fish that he gets with eight nets he puts far away,” explains Jarbon.

The small artisanal fishing community sits proudly in front of the densely popu- lated Jisr az-Zarqa. It is the only remaining exclusively Arab town on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The residents are descendants of swamp-dwelling Bedouin known as Arab Ghawarina. They were joined by Sudanese slaves brought from Egypt in the 19th century and two families, Jarban and Amash, who fled from the Jordan and Hula valleys. A majority of the towns residents hold these names to this day.

In 1920, because of their surprising immunity to malaria, the residents of Jisr az- Zarqa relocated to their current location after helping Jewish settlers drain the nearby Hula swamp. This collaboration led to good relations that later preserved the community during the 1948 war. Halil Jarbon reports his father was told by the people of Zikhron Ya’akov, a nearby Jewish community, that the Arab residents of Jisr az-Zarqa did not have to move. In contrast, other Arab towns, like Fureidis, were moved further from the Mediterranean because the Israelis feared that the townspeople would aid an attack against Israel if other Arab countries approached from the sea.

Their status as “swamp people” and their relationship with the nearby Jewish commu- nities isolated Jisr az-Zarqa Arabs from the other Arab communities. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that they began to marry Arabs from other towns.

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The town’s growing population is squeezed against the sea by the Nahal Taninim Nature Reserve and Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael to the north, Highway 2 to the east, and upscale Caesarea to the south. An attempt by Cae- sarea, home to Prime Minister Netanyahu, to build a “sound barrier” to block the call to prayer between the two cities was start- ed but never completed. The partial wall is now covered with vegetation, but is a clear boundary between the two communities.

Despite residing adjacent to the highway, only recently has there been talk about put- ting in an exit to serve the town. There are only two entrances and the main entrance is only one lane wide. Currently, Israelis can simply drive past this town. Halil Jarbon has watched the relationships that existed previously change. “It’s not only in Israel, but all the world,” Halil recognizes.“But here we don’t really have relationships between ourselves, the Arabs and the Jewish.”

Jisr az-Zarqa is one of the poorest towns within Israel. The population of 15,000 has more than doubled within the last two decades. About sixty percent of the community’s population is under the age of 25. The town has a high unemployment rate, and low matriculation rates.

Over the past decade, there have been several initiatives to foster change within the community. One example of these is the “social business”, Juha’s Guest House, established by an Israeli Jew along with a local Israeli Arab from the community. In collaboration with this guest house, the Middle East

Partnership Initiative has begun to establish programs such as vocational training for local women instructing them in traditional weaving and other skills that have been lost. The fishing village has also been targeted for economic development within the city through tourism.

Israel’s Park and Nature Authority (PNA) began a clean-up on the beach front of Jisr az-Zarqa and the Nahal Taninim Nature Reserve. Its stated goals were to attract more tourists to the area as well as to decrease the ecological impact of the pollution. The Parks and Nature Authority employs three local fishermen to pick up trash.

Hamama, the only woman fishing in the community, however, sees problems with the PNA getting involved.

“People are afraid that in a few years they will take this place from them because they know how things work in Israel and with this department. Just like every place that is beautiful and has the potential to become touristic and have money, they take it over,” she said. There is uncertainty about the future of the sheds, too, whether they will be allowed to stay or if they will be torn down. Hamama wants to preserve the beach and fishing community.

During the day, the sheds serve as gather- ing places for local families. In the warmer months, the sheds and the beach are hum- ming with activity. Fishing, biking, swim- ming and surfing can all be found within this small cove. Hamama, who broke away from the conservative standards of the village and the community by establishing herself as a strong girl when she was young, believes the development efforts should be focused instead on empowering youth and women. She has established youth groups and sports clubs for women to help them become em- powered.

At the same time, it is becoming more difficult to make a living from fishing. Halil Jarbon recognizes the tie between the growing amount of litter in the sea, and the de- creasing amount of fish. “There is no more fish in the sea nowadays because the waters are polluted,” Jarbon said. “Either there is the power plant, all the garbage, and all the rivers going to the sea are polluted with sewage.”

He recalls that when he was a child that there used to be so many fish that collecting them was like agriculture. “Like a farmer used to go to his field and take as much as he wants and he had plenty. This was the same as going to the sea.”

It is only recently that Israel began taking steps to help reestablish the marine ecosystem. Israel attributed much of the decline in the fishing yields to the large commercial boats that moved down the Israeli coast.

“They just take everything in their way and they don’t care where it’s a big fish or a young fish that could grow equal to the size of the others,” Halil said. “Once they catch the fish, and they don’t use them, they are throwing them back into the sea. But they are already dead, so they are destroying the population of the sea.”

In 2014, Israel began to place restrictions on trawling activity after they saw a severe decline in fishing yields. The Ministry and Agriculture established far-reaching amendments of the fishing regulations to help with the overfishing. The amendments would be overseen by the Parks and Nature Authority beginning in 2016.

In addition to restricting commercial trawlers, another amendment stops fishing during the spawning period. Halil Jarbon agrees that if this was implemented, in a few years the situation would improve.

“It’s actually a good idea, but the problem is that if we are not fishing for two months, we don’t have income” he said. “If the Park and Nature Authority would pay us for the two months, it would be fine. But, it is not working, because this is the first year we are trying that, and we didn’t fish for two months, and we haven’t seen the money yet.” For the fisherman, fishing is their main income. But, even with fishing, according to a survey done in 2017, many of them still rely on economic aid from the state.

In addition, there are other restrictions that have been implemented whose rationale is not clear to the fishermen of Jisr az- Zarqa. It makes sense to not fish near the military base to the north or the power plant to the south, but Halil says doesn’t understand the restriction on fishing near Tantura, which used to be an Arab fishing village prior to 1948.

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The fishing community not only struggles with challenges from the Israeli government but also the local council. The fishing community lacks a paved road all the way to the sheds. There is no electricity running to the beach. Everything there is run by generators. Many fishermen still feel the local government is not meeting the needs of this part of the community.

For these and other reasons, there is still a lot of division and distrust when it comes to the government and the local council. “Israel’s eyes are on us because we are situated in the best location,” Hamama says. “There are a few families in the village doing fish- ing and it moves from father to son. The sea is a source for earning money. Not only for families but for the entire village, it is part of our tradition and legacy.”

Unless something changes soon, Jisr a-Zarqa’s tradition and legacy of living by and from the Mediterranean are threatened. The decrease in fishing yields threatens the future of the profession here. Thirty years ago, Mussa Jarbon recounts there being forty men and, sometimes, up to a hundred men fishing. Now there are only six families engaged in fishing. “Now we have 15 boats [that can] work daily”, Mussa, says. “If the weather is good, you will see. Sometimes only two boats go out depending on weather and the fish.”

Halil admits now that he is older, he doesn’t go out to sea anymore, but the sea is still his passion. Every day the first thing he does in the morning is look at the sea. “I give my wife an insulin shot and her breakfast, and then I come straight to the sea” Halil says. “Thirty years ago, you couldn’t have sat here with me, because I would have been in the sea all the time.”

Mussa, who has eight children, six girls and two boys, is encouraging them to pursue their education. He is able to sustain his family through fishing and opening his restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays, but he says life is still difficult. As one of his sons tells him he would like to be a fisherman, a wave of concern washes over his face.

“I would like my children to go to university,” he says. “The sea isn’t going anywhere.”

Commedia dell’Arte and the Art of Invention

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The 2019 cohort performing.

Devin Shaket

“It was enlightening to do work with Commedia dell’Arte, a centuries old style of performance, and then use it as a pathway to help us grow as actors in the modern world,” says Ian LoCascio, a rising senior, Tisch School of the Arts, of his experience studying this summer at NYU Florence. Having toured with a Commedia group early in his career, James Calder, head of movement, Tisch Graduate Acting Department, and founder of the Commedia in Florence program, created a forum for learning the inventive theatrical form in its birthplace.

With a long and rich cultural heritage, Commedia dell’Arte (comedy of professional players), is an Italian theatrical tradition that originated in the Middle Ages. It is a genre, explained Calder, that combines mask making, circus skills, and lazzi (bits and specialty acts) and is still visible in the “modern-day theatrical and cinematic works of Dario Fo and Roberto Benigni.” An integral part of Italy’s collective imagination, imagery rooted in Commedia, said LoCascio, “pop[s] up everywhere from museums to souvenir shops.”

A defining feature of Commedia is its focus on character driven narratives in comedic situations, and masks represent this concept, said Calder. During the summer program at La Pietra, students learn to create their own using traditional techniques, under the guidance of sculptor-in-residence, Joan Harmon. “When we did work with the Commedia masks, we were embracing the same characters and scenarios that have been associated with those masks for centuries,” says LoCascio. “ We did not, however, merely stop there and only approach the Commedia work from a classical perspective. A heavy emphasis of the program was taking the brutally honest, gleefully imperfect humanity at the root of those Commedia characters and channeling that honesty and vulnerability in the work that we do with any text.” Students  applied Commedia’s highly theatrical approach in “nuanced ways while acting texts from contemporary television in front of the camera,” explained LoCascio.

“To do this program anywhere would be amazing, but I don't think it would be anywhere near as life changing if it weren't in Italy"
 Ian LoCascio

Unlike traditional theater’s use of a memorized and rehearsed script, Commedia’s plot is chosen first and then the actors develop the story in spontaneous ways as they play off of one another, said Calder. A successful performance hinges on one’s ability, explained LoCascio, to “embrace discomfort and uncertainty” while quickly building upon the unforeseen and transforming any given stage props and coperformers’ dialogue into one’s own scenario. 

Calder noted that it is the uniqueness of each performance that generates a sense of excitement among the audience, as they follow characters through a story. And the inventive nature of the performance calls attention to the actors themselves as they navigate obstacles that arise during the act. There is a sense of uncertainty, he said, as the Commedia troupe attempts to steer the performance to a successful and entertaining finale.

This form of acting allows performers to weave together, often satirically and polemically, old texts and current social issues. As LoCascio explained, “with our final Commedia performance of “Buffo Tartuffo” (funny truffle) – a riff on Moliere’s play “Tartuffe” – we took a very old text and approached it from a modern perspective, using it to address such highly relevant topics as abuse of power and the #MeToo Movement.” Turning to the early history of Commedia when sensitive topics were not allowed in the theater, improvised performances could avoid censorship, and enabled open discussion about social and political issues.

“In addition to plays performed for the Florentine community on La Pietra’s amphitheater, the Continuum Theater stage, students are also involved with a summer theater festival.” For over a decade, Calder has directed the La Pietra Summer Theatre Festival. Sculptors create huge masks and giant puppets and students join a procession through the town, he explained. Delivering works, such as the Odyssey and the Iliad, in ancient courtyards, accented by the talents of the many renowned artists who join the program every summer, the festival has “quite a regional and expat following,” said Calder 

Further enriching the program, a grant from the Dean of Tisch, Allyson Green, said Calder, has brought the Continuum Company, a group of Tisch graduate acting alumni and other artists, to Florence to develop classical and new works. Artists-in-residence this summer include many award winning alumni, such as Nina Arianda, a Tony Award winner for Venus in Fur; Sterling K. Brown and Susan Kelechi Watson from This is Us; and André Holland from Moonlight, Selma, High Flying Bird, and The Knick. For the past 13 years, he explained, undergraduate students have worked alongside the alumni in La Pietra’s immersive and intimate learning environment, providing “an experience that isn’t possible in New York.” The alumni also offer, said LoCascio, “unfiltered insight into what life is like as a working actor.”

Studying Commedia, explained Locascio, and learning a style of acting “radically” different from his training at his primary studio in New York, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, which is very intellectual and heavily text-based, pushed him to “embrace uncertainty. With Jim and Jacob’s [teacher of acting, stage presence, Commedia dell’Arte and clown] ceaseless support, encouragement, and provocation, I challenged myself in entirely new ways and think that I am a far better and bolder actor for it.”

“Living in a new place with a new group of people, many of whom I did not know before,” LoCascio said, “and learning a whole new approach to acting was such a rewarding combination.” He added that “to do this program anywhere would be amazing, but I don’t think it would be anywhere near as life changing if it weren’t in Italy.” 

New PragueCast Podcast Focuses on Our Lives Online

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The latest PragueCast from NYU Prague is now live and available for a listen here. Launched in 2015 by Prague’s BBC correspondent, Rob Cameron, PragueCast is a podcast with stories of Prague told through the eyes of NYU Prague students. The 20-minute editions, each with a different theme chosen by students, are distributed to an audience beyond NYU Prague. Students write, record, produce, edit, and market the episodes – all as non-credit extracurricular program that meets in the evenings. We hope you’ll enjoy this latest offering!

Tisch Student Cat Heinen on Her Time at NYU Berlin

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Tisch Special Programs offers study abroad opportunities in eleven locations around the globe during the academic year, January Term, and in the summer. We recently caught up with two students who studied abroad with us last spring.

Cat Heinen, a Drama major, spent her semester training in Berlin through the Stanislavski, Brecht, and Beyond program. A rising senior, Cat describes her experience in Berlin and how it’s motivated her to explore other acting studios and disciplines and imagine her future beyond graduation (and New York City).

Why did you want to study abroad?

I came to NYU because of the tremendous study abroad opportunities. I knew I wanted to go somewhere I knew nothing about, a place I could discover as my own. 

Why did you pick your particular program?

Stanislavski, Brecht, and Beyond is one of the two semester-long acting abroad programs, and it’s much newer than RADA [Shakespeare in Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London]. It’s close in style to what the Experimental Theatre Wing might offer, and that’s very different from the training I received at both Meisner and Stonestreet.

How did the location enhance the work you were doing there?

Everything we talked about in the classroom was present in the national, professional theatres. We were studying how the Third Reich influenced Berlin’s theatre scene and then experiencing it first-hand. We read Brecht’s plays and then saw them (in German!) at the Berliner Ensemble. We studied Epic Theatre in studio and then saw it demonstrated at the shows. Theatre in Berlin is wildly different from theatre in New York and I never expected to like it more than I do now. This program made me realize that you don’t have to stay in NYC to make amazing theatre. 

How are you using/will you use techniques or skills you learned abroad in your work?

We did so much devised work that it inspired me to transfer to Playwrights’ [Horizons] for my senior year. Watching my fellow classmates who came from Playwrights’ and their ability to adapt as writers, directors, designers, and actors was inspiring. We studied Lucid Body technique in this program, which can only be taught by 12 different teachers internationally! It’s a movement style that easily helped me deep dive into character work and provided many exercises which I will continue using. 

The staff at NYU Berlin, and particularly this program, care for the students in a way I’ve never experienced in New York. You’re learning a new language, intensively studying Epic Theatre, and are constantly in studio — it’s natural to get overwhelmed at some point. But we were never condemned for needing a break and were always encouraged to take care of ourselves.

How do you think your study abroad experience will shape future projects or career choices?

Everything about my artistry has been changed by the things I learned this semester. I’ve been opened up to international connections, some of which are keeping me in Berlin for the summer for work. I consider Berlin a viable location to live post-grad, whereas before I never thought I’d leave New York. 

Because of the acting classes we took, I’m easily and healthily able to get in and out of character, and leave my scene work at the door. I want to continue learning about devising, a skill I never thought I could possess. I never thought I’d be capable of being in Playwrights’, and yet I’m transferring there strictly because of my experiences in the Stanislavski, Brecht, and Beyond program. I can never say enough good things about this program.

What was special about the location where you studied abroad?

Berlin is a city in development, a multicultural artistic haven that’s still finding who and what it wants to be. It’s special to be a part of that, even to just watch it happen.

What did you learn about yourself while studying abroad?

I have the capacity to be a multi-hyphenated artist. I love working in ensembles. I am an artist, and will always be a student. I have good ideas! And it’s important to kill your darlings when making work with other people. Everything is for the sake of the piece.

This piece comes to us thanks to Tisch Special Programs and the original can be found here.

Leaving a Bright Spot: Practicing Therapeutic Arts with Underserved International Populations

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Interns lead a painting session in Ghana.

Stemming from her own experiences delivering art therapy workshops around the world, Ikuko Acosta, director of NYU Steinhardt’s Graduate Art Therapy program, and clinical associate professor, wanted to offer her students the invaluable experience of practicing art therapy internationally.

More than a decade ago, Acosta established a global internship program at Steinhardt to provide “the opportunity for students to develop racial and cultural self-awareness, work with diverse communities, hone critical thinking skills, and explore the role of art therapy in another culture.” Says alumna Krystal Atwood of her decision to enroll in the internship in Buenos Aires, “I wanted to learn everything I could to provide the most nuanced and culturally fluent art therapy services possible to a range of client populations.”

Coordinated in collaboration with several of NYU’s global sites, Acosta’s interns have practiced therapeutic arts in a wide array of foreign settings, including Florence, which welcomes its third cohort in July 2019. Some of this year’s group will serve a geriatric population that has worked with two different intern cohorts. Acosta recalled that this population was especially receptive to engagement in creative activities, noting “their facial expressions became cheerful, moods were boosted, and their social interactions improved.” In Accra, Ghana, students have worked at a rehabilitation center for young men with mental, cognitive and physical disabilities. A grouping, Acosta said, that contrasts with “facilities in the US where patients are usually separated based on the nature of their disabilities.” The men are also provided with “job training and various types of skills to survive in society” explained Acosta. During the three weeks that the men worked with interns, she emphasized that “they are not treated in a clinical sense, yet a very positive change can be seen in their self-esteem due to their increased ability to express themselves freely without being judged. Their general attitudes became more positive.”

Returning to NYU’s global sites offers faculty the opportunity to observe the long-term impacts of programs. In Ghana, when the van entered the driveway to the rehabilitation center one year later, Acosta and her students were greeted by shouts of “art therapy!” “And,” she added, “the young men went right back into making art as if they had done so yesterday.” When returning to the geriatric facility in Florence two years later, the demeanor of the residents immediately became “uplifted,” and they “even remembered the names of some interns from prior years,” providing “evidence,” that the “experiences were etched in their memories.” Acosta says that “while what we do may be little, at a basic human level, the experience leaves a bright and memorable spot in their minds.”

“There is an amazing resilience that each location reveals. The internship leads to a questioning of one’s values in a way that can’t be gained inside a classroom." Ikuko Acosta

Indeed, Acosta notes that “the program is not geared toward addressing mental illness directly” and that “it would be unrealistic to treat a patient in three weeks.” Furthermore, she explained that “applying a western concept of art therapy to non-western societies can create tension with local attitudes around mental illness. And therapeutic techniques that are not adapted to the culture situate the therapist as a colonialist.” But while mental illness is viewed in various ways around the world, she emphasized that “the symptoms and behavioral manifestations of mental and psychological disturbances are very similar.  What differs are cultural attitudes and treatment.” Yet she has observed that art therapy brings together commonalities in international settings. “Art is universal and so too is human suffering.”

Regardless of location, Acosta says, art therapy students work to build a “human connection.” In every country in which the course has been held, Acosta has seen “students establish relationships despite not speaking the local language. They learn to become highly receptive and attuned to the subtleties of body language and other non-verbal cues.” She added that her students “thoroughly enjoy getting to know each client’s personality beyond his/her disability through creative communication.” Inevitably, explained Acosta, “basic human bonds are formed during experiences that are not bound by a singular form of expression. Connecting in this way is a universal phenomenon.”

Other skills that students quickly acquire, said Acosta, are “flexibility and adaptability, because their clinical training does not translate directly in foreign locations.” She went on to say that “outside of the US, concepts of boundaries between patient and client are much different, particularly those that are physical – it is common and natural for patients to openly and physically express affection to their therapists in many cultural contexts. Another example is corporal punishment, which seems to be an acceptable form of discipline in some countries.” Therapists in the US, Acosta explained, are trained to report signs of “abuse,” so it can be “difficult to set aside feelings of confusion about roles and responsibilities during the internship.”

Reflecting on her experiences in Buenos Aires, Atwood explained that she “felt humbled by the grace and dignity with which Dr. Acosta acknowledged our interpersonal struggles while maintaining hope for all of the involved parties and, ultimately, guiding the student interns toward providing life-changing art therapy services to the clients.” The level of care delivered by the interns is possible, says Acosta, because they “very quickly, learn to take a humanistic perspective and adapt to local mores.” “Interns observe, learn, and respect the host country and are not there to negate or impose their cultural norms,” she explained, and added that “after we leave, they resume their own lives, yet are instilled with memories of the brief but undeniable human connections that we all shared.”

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Creating stick puppets in Florence.

“Students also learn to adapt their planning process for clinical sessions,” said Acosta, as “they develop activities appropriate to the population […] and seek out locally available art materials.” During an early iteration of the program in India, coordinated by Cross-Cultural Solutions, a New York-based non-profit that provides volunteer service to communities around the world, Acosta said her students “found beautiful textiles with which they made dolls with women at a shelter for victims of domestic violence. They also collected many found objects from the streets, which they incorporated into a piece of artwork.” In Florence, a capital of the art world, “students find low cost materials at art stores and unusual items from junk shops.” Acosta elaborated that “these experiences too contribute to students’ creative growth and help them to become more flexible and less confined in their practice of art therapy.”

“Through exposure to how others survive amidst adversity,” Acosta noted, “with very limited resources and significant hardship, students gain a sense of humbleness.” For Atwood, her work with refugees and asylum seekers in Buenos Aires provided a glimpse into individuals’ experiences – many had fled war and violence, and struggled to live with uncertainty in the confines of refugee centers. During the internship, explained Krystal, she saw increases in “self-efficacy and a reduction of isolation as they connected with other refugees and asylum seekers in art therapy groups.”

“There is an amazing resilience that each location reveals,” said Acosta. “The internship leads to a questioning of one’s values in a way that can’t be gained inside a classroom. And that is essential as a therapist because personal value systems can’t be brought into clinical sessions.”

NYU Sydney Hosts MLK Scholars

Posted on by Martha J Bekink

This March, NYU Sydney proudly hosted the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars Program Travel Colloquium.

A group of 30 students from across all undergraduate divisions of NYU were accompanied by staff and faculty as they embarked on an intensive five days of education, discovery and service. This all-University scholars program was initially proposed by NYU’s Association of Black Faculty in 1986 with the first group of Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars beginning their studies in 1987. The program brings together students with a demonstrated commitment to further the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through excellence in academic achievement and distinguished leadership and community service.

The week officially began on Monday March 18 with a Welcome to Country performed by esteemed Aboriginal Elder and representative of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Uncle Charles “Chikka” Madden. Madden welcomed the group to Gadigal land and discussed his own life and Aboriginal life and culture more broadly. The Welcome to Country was followed by a brief introduction and orientation from the NYU Sydney team before the scholars participated in their first academic lecture of the week.

Facilitated by Dr. Laura McLauchlan, this class served to provide the platform of information by which learning throughout the week would be built upon. During this session the scholars explored the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture; the relationship between Australian settler culture and Aboriginal Australians; Australia’s experience of migration and multiculturalism; Australians’ relationship with their environment; and Australians’ sense of national identity. After lunch at Science House the group made their way to Customs House at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour. At Customs House the scholars met with their walking tour guide and spent the next two hours walking around the city and learning about the economic and social forces that shaped modern Sydney. This tour included commentary from above a scale model of Sydney’s Central Business District and surrounding area.

The second day began with a tour of the First Australians Gallery at the Australian Museum. This tour was facilitated by a Wiradjuri woman and it gave students a brief but comprehensive exposure to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture, customs and tradition. At Science House, Australian Historian and NYU Sydney instructor Justine Greenwood’s class examined immigration and multiculturalism in Australia. The day concluded with a visit to the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence. At NCIE the group learned about the history of the organization, some of their current challenges and the services they provide to the local Indigenous community. A highlight of this visit was the opportunity to meet with Wiradjuri woman and NCIE Aunty-in-Residence Glendra Stubbs.

Stubbs serves as a mentor for Indigenous young people from across Australia that are invited to stay at NCIE. Stubbs has worked with a number of state and national bodies including: as an Aboriginal Engagement Advisor for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the National Stolen Generations Alliance, and Metro Migrant Resource Centre. She is also a member of the advisory group of the NSW Government child protection and wellbeing program. Stubbs led the group to the NCIE child care center where she discussed her own lived experiences as an Indigenous person growing up in Australia as well as the experiences of members of Australia’s Stolen Generation.

A special treat was arranged for the scholars on their third day in Sydney. On the way to the Blue Mountains a quick stop was made at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. At Featherdale, the students fed kangaroos breakfast and watched with amazement as koalas, dingos and wombats woke for the day. Following their trip to the wildlife park the group made their way to the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains to hike and learn about the region. The area is the traditional home of the Darug and Gundungarra peoples and for decades this location has been a “must see” for visitors to Sydney.

The Blue Mountains are home to 400 species of animals and some of Australia’s most breathtaking landscape. Charles Darwin crossed the Blue Mountains in 1836 and the students walked along the track that carries his name. At the conclusion of the hike the group met National Parks and Wildlife Service Aboriginal Discovery Ranger, Yamindirra Newton and learned about his experiences as sn Indigenous elder living in the region.

On day 4, Drs. McLauchlan and Greenwood co-facilitated a class that served as an opportunity for the group to reflect on their experiences thus far. The fifth and final day of the program was the day of service. The group travelled to Bradley’s Head on Sydney’s lower north shore to participate in a weeding project to protect the habitat of the red-crowned toadlet. The red- crowned toadlet is only found in the Sydney region and the group was charged with protecting its habitat by identifying and disposing of invasiveexotic weed species.

The MLK Jr Scholars Colloquium was a fantastic week in Sydney and the NYU Sydney team cannot wait to host future special programs.

Article by Marcus Neeld.
Images: MLK Scholar Kori Selwyn Vernon

In Conversation with NYU Shanghai Senior Yang Xiaohan

Posted on , modified on by Martha J Bekink

When she looks back on her time at NYU Shanghai, Yang Xiaohan ’19 says her four years here have been dominated by two themes: Her community service and  efforts to expand opportunities for poor children in China, and her work toward a double major in Finance and Data Science.

Yang is a native of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province. During her sophomore year, Yang co-founded the NGO FutureChina with some high school classmates to connect teenagers from economically disadvantaged families in southwest China with educational resources.

“We run a training camp where we invite 50-70 high school students from poor areas of Sichuan Province to workshops run by college students who have a proven record of academic excellence,” explains Yang. “We cover topics like business, computer science, and economics.”

As the group leader for students interested in business, Yang shows them how to create a business plan one step at a time, and encourages them to put their ideas to paper in a creative, yet methodical fashion. Most of the students end up writing business plans with ideas about how to give back to society and serve others, says Yang. “That really touched me. Many of them want to do something about the environment. They want to build companies in garbage sorting and reuse and they need some help developing the ideas and sorting out the impracticalities.”

Yang Xiaohan (first from left) with high school students who participated in training camp.

Yang has been engaged in social impact activities at NYU Shanghai since her first year. At first, she joined  the Stepping Stones Videolink initiative to give remote English lessons to fourth graders in Sichuan and Henan every week. Later, she joined the Deans Service Scholars, a university initiative to provide students opportunities to serve and study in disadvantaged communities in Shanghai and Asia, on a trip to Yunnan, planting trees and building a new habitat for the black snub-nosed monkey. While there, she noticed that most of the men and women in the area had left the region to find work, while only the old and young remained in the villages. The children had no parents to look after them, and had to walk for hours to school.

Realizing the inequalities in education resources in Henan and Yunnan spurred Yang’s  efforts with FutureChina.

Jiang Ying, the group leader for the DSS trip to Yunnan, recalls meeting Yang for the first time during the interview for DSS. “She spoke very simply, but one thing she said left a deep impression on me,” remembers Jiang. “She said she’d heard about DSS at NYU Shanghai in high school, and that’s why she came here. She seemed anxious throughout the interview, but when she told me about this, there was a light in her eyes.”

Anna Kendrick, Clinical Assistant Professor & Director of Global Awards, taught Yang in a Global Perspectives on Society section during her first semester at NYU Shanghai. Kendrick has witnessed her growth over the past four years. “I admire her positivity and deep sense of justice,” says Kendrick. “[She has a] thoughtfulness about how she can best leverage her skills to create change.”

Yang says she also has ambitions beyond China – and wants to bring the voices of China’s poorest children to the world stage. During the winter of her junior year, Yang attended the Youth Assembly at the United Nations to talk to youth leaders from around the world about the unequal distribution of educational resources. After listening to her speech, an UN official said to her that he wished that the children themselves could come share their experiences.  

During the winter of her junior year, Yang Xiaohan attended the Youth Assembly at the United Nations.

That official’s comment inspired Yang’s latest venture. Future China now also selects high school students from its training camps, and sends them to the UN’s Youth Assemblies. “Since the summer of 2018, we’ve sent five students to the UN assembly. It really impacted them, seeing so many peers on such a huge platform, actively promoting global issues,” says Yang. “These UN trips have gradually helped them transition from people who need help, to people who want to help others. Yes, abilities and resources are still limited, but the seed of wanting to help others has been planted.”

Yang says her drive to help others developed very early in her life. When Yang was in primary school, one of her grandmothers lived in a part of Sichuan that was stricken by a severe earthquake. The volunteers who poured into the area to help left a lasting impression.  “So many strangers helped them, selflessly. I also saw volunteers pitching in on disaster relief efforts,” remembers Yang. “That was when I decided I had to become like them.”

Though her interest in volunteering was set from the very beginning of her college career, Yang’s academic interests only became clear after a long process of soul-searching.

“When I started here, I wasn’t sure what I actually liked. I started taking finance classes because my family wanted me to try it,” Yang says. However, after interning at financial companies during the summers after her second and third years, Yang couldn’t see herself in the finance sector. In the meantime,  Yang had discovered a new academic interest. After taking the IMA course, Interaction Lab, to meet the science requirement of the core curriculum, Yang discovered a passion for data and coding.   

“Though it seems like I stumbled into data science, I think it was actually inevitable,” Yang says. “I was fascinated by the coding aspect. It was just so cool to realize an idea through code!”

While she was studying away in New York during her third year, Yang took the Introduction to Programming and Data Science course at NYU Stern. “It was a heavy course-load,” says Yang. “It was full-stack programming. We learned how to use web crawlers, construct databases, analyze data, and design websites.”

Yang says that the systematic nature of the course nurtured a love of data mining and analysis, and affirmed her decision to choose data science as a second major.

During study-away in New York, Yang Xiaohan also took the University Honors Leadership Course. In this class, the professor brought students to DC to visit the Supreme Court and interact with judges.

After returning to NYU Shanghai for her final year of university, Yang worked on a research project in her Machine Learning course under the direction of Enric Junqué de Fortuny, which uses linear regression, gradient descent, and neural networks. Yang and her team’s project involves concert pricing and venue selection, and is aimed at helping independent music groups set competitive ticket prices, and find the best venues.

Yang has learned to apply her data science know-how to other disciplines. She is assisting Assistant Professor Faculty Fellow of Engineering, Chen Zhibin in his work on transportation planning and new energy vehicles.

After graduation, Yang will return to Chengdu, and join a research project by the Institution of New Economic Development. “At this think tank, I will be doing research with Professor Zhou Tao, who is quite influential in China’s big data sector,” says Yang. “One of their ongoing projects is using information from CVs to analyze gender equality.”

Yang says her interest in this research topic is the real motivator behind her decision to return home. She recalls reading texts on topics of gender in her Global Perspectives on Society course during freshman year, and says this course introduced her to foundational feminist theories.

“Returning to Chengdu also means I’ll be on the ground for many of FutureChina’s efforts. We need people in Chengdu right now,” Yang says.

Kendrick says she is impressed with Yang’s determination to bring both the hard skills and ethical foundations she has built in school to her goals for social work. “She is not afraid to take risks and devote herself to her organization,” say Kendrick. “I wish her strength, courage and renewed dedication to her social efforts!”

Yang says she will miss the open and inclusive environment at NYU Shanghai. “This school is always encouraging everyone to think about who they really want to be. This gave me the courage to do what I’m truly interested in,” says Yang. “If I had gone somewhere else, perhaps I would still be adrift and unsure, afraid to make my own decisions.”

This post comes to us from NYU Shanghai. You can find the original here.