Summer 2025 Internships and Funding Awards
The AECC program has two tracks: students may apply for internships that alumni employers offer in partnership with Penn Live Arts or for funding awards to support internships they have secured on their own. This year, students are pursuing opportunities in Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia, learning about disciplines ranging from entertainment law to arts education.
Students interning with employers who have an alumni connection to Penn include Chenyao Liu and Bea Hammam (C ’27), who will work at Hidden Pictures Media in Los Angeles, and Sylvia Erdely (C ’27), who will stay in Philadelphia to work with FringeArts.
Funding award recipients include Elliot Ross-Dick (C ’27), interning at Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions; Nicolas West (W ’27), interning at Lionsgate; Ellie Clark (C ’27), interning at Play On Philly; Kyndall Brown (C ’26), interning at Paramount; and Kaia Chambers (W ’26), interning at United Talent Agency.
In their applications, many students stressed that their interest in the arts came from a passion for theatre, film, design or other areas that formed in childhood and only grew more specific and intense as they got older. They also demonstrated ambition, not just for individual success, but also a desire to use their careers to pursue justice in their fields and the world.
Students selected for this year’s funding awards and internships come from across Penn with majors in mathematics, cinema studies, music, legal studies and more – proof that students studying any discipline can find a role in the arts and that the arts and entertainment industries need people with a wide range of knowledge and skill sets.
We applaud this year’s class of interns and wish them a productive summer full of discovery!
From left to right: Elliot Ross-Dick, Ellie Clark, Sylvia Erdely
