Cultural Affairs Intern (Marketing & Social Media)

Position Duties

The City of San José, in coordination with the Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA), is seeking an intern to support the Create and Connect programs #WeCreate408 and Make Music San Jose in the first half of 2025.
 
The #WeCreate408 creative challenge is a campaign aimed at building public will for the arts in San José with a call to action introduced on social media in the form of a daily prompt of creativity. This multi-lingual campaign coincides with Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month in April and includes dozens of partners around San José. Each daily prompt is shared via website, email, and social media, with contributions coming in using the #WeCreate408 hashtag and through email submissions. See the campaign at wecreate408.org.
 
Celebrated each year on June 21, Make Music San José coincides with festivities in more than one thousand cities worldwide as part of Make Music Day. The whole idea for the day is to share the joy of making music with everyone who wants to participate, from students, hobbyists, and professional musicians as well as the musically curious. Events will be throughout San José at community centers, parks, restaurants, museums, and more. See past Make Music San José events at www.makemusicday.org/sanjose. 
 
Duties And Responsibilities
 
The essential duties of the Intern for the Office of Cultural Affairs position include, but iare not limited to:
 
 

• Develop engaging short-form content for the #WeCreate408 Creative Challenge, crafting prompts that inspire public creativity.
• Manage daily posts on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, to promote the challenge and engage the community.
• Interact with the public by responding to submissions and comments related to the #WeCreate408 challenge.
• Collaborate with partners and participants to coordinate giveaways, ensuring a smooth and exciting experience for all involved.
• Represent the City of San José at select festivals and events, engaging with the community and promoting arts initiatives.
• Ability to attend events and meetings around San Jose with a passion for networking and connecting to communities and people.
• Promote musicians and performances for Make Music Day through engaging social media content.
• Communicate with musicians and venues to ensure seamless coordination for Make Music Day events.
• Support the logistical scheduling for Make Music Day and assist with on-the-ground event coordination on June 21st.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Currently enrolled as an advanced undergraduate or graduate student.
• Experience: Proficient in using social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) for content creation and engagement.
• Strong written communication skills, with a knack for creating compelling content
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to manage multiple tasks while meeting deadlines.
• Comfortable making phone calls and reaching out to partners and participants.
• Availability to work at least 1.5 hours per day throughout April for the #WeCreate408 challenge.
• Ability to work on Saturday, June 21st, if the internship extends through June.

Other Qualifications

• Multilingual proficiency in English, Spanish, or Vietnamese.
• Experience with website content management systems.
• Basic understanding of data analytics to track social media performance.
• A passion for local events with a desire to stay plugged into the San José arts and culture scene.
• Creative thinker who can bring fresh ideas to the table and execute them.
• Love for music, arts, and community-driven initiatives.
• Skilled in using a phone camera and content creation apps to capture compelling visuals.

Competencies: 

Job Expertise: demonstrates a knowledge of and experience with digital marketing and social media management.  

Communication Skills: effectively conveys information and expresses thoughts and facts clearly, orally, and in writing; demonstrates effective listening skills; displays openness to other people’s ideas and thoughts.  

Creativity: Addresses objectives and problems while questioning traditional assumptions/solutions in order to generate creative ideas and new ways of doing business; exhibits creativity and innovation when contributing to organizational and individual objectives; seeks out opportunities to improve, streamline, and reinvent work processes. 

Selection Process:
The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's training and experience based on the application and responses to all the job specific questions. You must answer all questions to be considered or your application may be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Only those candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Additional phases of the selection process will consist of one or more interviews. 

If you have questions about the duties of these positions, the selection or hiring processes, please contact Lori Venzon at lori.venzon@sanjoseca.gov.