Name: Ayantae Cunningham
Class Year: 2025
Major: Sociology & Dance
Hometown: Houston, TX
Internship Organization: AMADEUS International School Vienna, IES Abroad
Internship Title: Marketing Intern
Location: Vienna, Austria
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
I worked in the marketing office at Amadeus, a Pre K-12 private international school in Vienna specializing in the performing arts and classical music. I created designs for flyers or advertisements promoting school events including the school's annual Gala and the Amadeus Festival Vienna, a four-day event featuring the school's most talented students, hosting elite guests who contribute financially to the school, and televising annual classical music competitions. During the events for which I provided promotional designs and flyers, I was part of the stage production crew and work closely with the students and teachers. I learned the layout of the entire venue to equip myself with the knowledge to answer anybody's questions.
For the Amadeus Festival Vienna, I rehearsed and performed a piece and facilitated a dance workshop, where I taught a traditional West African movement form, Dundunba. Other festival productions included a puppet show the other interns and I put together, and two concerts that I moderated alongside one of my supervisors. Outside of the large events we prepared for, I also worked for the school's everyday needs. I was tasked with ensuring classrooms had the materials needed, organizing documents, and preparing diplomas for the upcoming graduation. Lastly, I drafted a published article, highlighting Amadeus' accomplishment, receiving the HMC Accreditation.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I wanted to experience the work culture in Vienna and after meeting with my soon-to-be colleagues, I was excited to work at Amadeus. They were very nice and welcoming. I knew the internship placement was a good fit. I especially looked forward to gaining education, marketing, and production experience centered around the arts, which is the industry that I'm in.
Was there anything special about how you found this internship?
I applied to IES Abroad independently with hopes of obtaining funding from any and every source I could, as well as working to make extra money for travel costs. I was accepted into the program and awarded the Summer Social Impact Internship Scholarship. This covered all of my fees, and funding from two other summer aid programs allowed me to work overseas, comfortably. My determination paid off in ways I never could've imagined.
What was your favorite part of this internship?
My favorite part of my internship was becoming close to all my supervisors, having an in-depth conversation with one of the dance instructors, getting insight into the dance/dance education scene in Vienna, and being the first intern to receive a 100% evaluation score from Amadeus.
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn't expect?
Learning new online organization skills, especially on a Macbook, was something I didn't expect. I learned that taking the time to learn the software that your company uses and how that company organizes things first is going to set the tone for how easy or difficult your time will be there.
Can you talk about the skills you learned and why they are important to you?
I learned a lot about how to convey a message through advertisements. How to say everything in only a few words paired with the right set of colors and font design. There was a lot about marketing that I never really thought about until my internship with Amadeus. This is important to me because my career is going to demand that I market myself and what I've learned this summer is definitely going to contribute to that.
Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience?
Amazing, insightful, life-changing.
Art, travel, culture.
What is most rewarding about your internship?
It was very rewarding to work with children, seeing them get happy to see me, and seeing their teachers happy to see me because they know it's going to be an easy day.
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
Not at all, however in many ways, it was better. I loved being there, my supervisors were amazing, I got free lunch which is always a plus, and the working environment was what I would strive to recreate in the future.