Internship Report

Internship Report

Silvija Daniūnaitė S2719509

Subbacultcha Belgium, Ghent

Period: 03.06.2019 – 31.07.2019

Placement supervisor: Herlinde Raeman, Editor-in-chief University supervisor: Jonathan Groubert

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ... 3

1. INTERNSHIP BACKGROUND ... 3

1.1. M

... 3

1.2. S

B

... 4

2. INTERNSHIP AT SUBBACULTCHA BELGIUM ... 5

2.1. T

... 5

3. SUPERVISION DURING THE INTERNSHIP ... 8

3.1.

P

... 8

3.2.

U

... 9

4. EVALUATION OF THE INTERNSHIP ... 9

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 12

APPENDIX ... 13

1.

P

... 13

Introduction

As part of my Journalism MA programme at the University of Groningen, I was required to complete a two-month internship at a news organization of my choice. After sending a spontaneous inquiry about internship opportunities at a cultural media platform

Subbacultcha Belgium, I was offered an 8-week writing/editorial internship in Ghent,

Belgium. Considering that Subbacultcha Belgium’s mission statement spoke to my passions as a cultural journalist, I immediately accepted their offer. I started my internship on June 3rd _{and finished it on July 31}st_{, 2019.}

This internship was a wholesome learning experience, enabling me to practice and improve the skillset I have gained during the MA programme as well as acquire new knowledge and develop new practical skills for my future career as a cultural journalist. Serving as an excellent integration to the MA programme, it allowed me to become a more confident, skilled, creative and professional journalist, taking on more responsibility within the organization as my internship progressed. Working within both the digital and the print industry, the internship at Subbacultcha Belgium has enabled me to gain invaluable

knowledge about the ins and outs of magazine production in different mediums.

1. Internship background

1.1. Motivation

When choosing an internship, the most important pre-requisite for me was finding a place with a focus on arts, music or culture more generally. I have always been passionate about exploring the cultural fabric of our society, and doing an MA in journalism has allowed me to do that in the most fulfilling way – by breaking down the barrier between the works that I admired and the people who brought them to life. When I stumbled upon Subbacultcha

Belgium, their mission of giving a voice to creatives that keep pushing societal, cultural and

artistic boundaries spoke to me both on a personal level as well as an aspiring cultural journalist. This was without a doubt the primary reason for choosing the Subbacultcha

Belgium magazine.

Having spent a large part of my life in Belgium, I felt like I had a bit of basic knowledge about the area, which I thought would have allowed me to transition into a more relaxed work routine much easier. It has indeed helped, but there was also quite a bit

of exploring along the way. I knew that me not having an established contact network in the country as well as the industry would definitely be a challenge upon my arrival to the

internship, but I also saw it as a great opportunity to build a new network in a different country as well as a great real-life preparation for similar experiences as a journalist in the future.

Moreover, by joining Subbacultcha Belgium, I knew I would be able to observe and dip my fingers in the production of print magazines. With increasing digitalization, it is perhaps only natural that the MA programme was largely focused on online journalism; an internship at Subbacultcha Belgium, however, provided a unique opportunity to work in both the print and the digital industry, allowing me to simultaneously apply, practice and improve my acquired skills as a journalist in both mediums. It therefore also served as an opportunity to fill the gaps left by the MA programme and gain new knowledge about the practical side of print magazine production.

1.2. Subbacultcha Belgium magazine

Founded in 2012 by Herlinde Raeman and Kasper-Jan Raeman, Subbacultcha Belgium is a cultural media platform based in Ghent, which promotes underground arts, music and performance, mostly within Belgium, but also internationally. With its primary aim to bring forth emerging artists, genres and cultural movements to a larger audience, Subbacultcha

Belgium has grown into a prominent brand within the Belgian cultural landscape, having

established a wide network of partners both in and outside of Belgium as well as built a large community of art and music devotees all over the country. Its Amsterdam-based Dutch counterpart - Subbacultcha! – was founded first in 2005, with a similar philosophy to celebrate alternative music and culture. Subbacultcha Belgium was officially a part of its Dutch counterpart for the first year of its existence. While still in cooperation with the Dutch branch, Subbacultcha Belgium is now an independent and autonomous source of cultural news and content, which consists of two interconnected platforms: a monthly print magazine and an online webzine.

While the print magazine is available to Subbacultcha Belgium’s paid members exclusively, with some magazines distributed for free across the country, the webzine does not have a paywall and is thus accessible to everyone. In addition to promoting the

alternative cultural scene through news media content, Subbacultcha Belgium organizes, curates and gives access to a series of concerts, shows and exhibitions, which are free for paid members. The magazine is thus largely based on membership contributions, also offering a platform on which organizations can advertise their work. Its member community is constantly growing, with approximately a thousand paid members at the moment.

The content between the print magazine and the webzine does not differ per se; the print magazine is just a much more condensed and focused version of the webzine. The content of Subbacultcha Belgium’s print magazine revolves around a certain theme, which changes each month, except for a couple of constants, which reappear every year. For example, the yearly ’20-something’ issue in June, which is dedicated to profiles of 20

emerging artists leaving their mark in Belgium’s cultural landscape. The features in both the print and online magazine are various – Q&A interviews, written features, reviews,

overviews, photo essays, news, and other editorial content.

Subbacultcha Belgium does not have staff writers per se but is largely based on a

wide network of freelancers across the country and internationally, which together build its editorial content. This model corresponds to Subbacultcha Belgium’s philosophy of

providing opportunities to young, creative talent to grow both personally and

professionally, with journalism and writing only one amongst the many other internships it can offer. The internships are not officially displayed on the website; I, for one, tried my luck by sending an email to editor-in-chief Herlinde Raeman and was welcomed immediately with open arms. This is also not an internship where one is asked to bring coffee and do other menial tasks; it is very hands-on in terms of content production as well as other responsibilities with regards to both print and online magazine production.

2. Internship at Subbacultcha Belgium

I started my internship on June 3rd _{and finished it on July 31}st_{, 2019. During these two}

months, I worked as a writing/editorial intern alongside two editors-in-chief, Herlinde Raeman and Kasper-Jan Raeman, who is also responsible for partnerships and sales of

Subbacultcha Belgium. My time schedule was quite regular – from 9AM to 5PM every day

from Monday to Friday. While there definitely have been times when I worked weekends, there was always an offer on the table to compensate for overtime with a free day

throughout the week. I was allowed to choose a time schedule which suited me most, so there is quite some freedom and flexibility when it comes to developing your own routine within the organization. Overall, my daily tasks at Subbacultcha Belgium included pitching ideas, researching, interviewing, editing, writing articles in various genres and other editorial content for print and online platforms, coordinating photographs as well as

managing Subbacultcha Belgium’s Instagram account. Lastly, I was also invited to help out in

Subbacultcha Belgium’s events as well as its yearly festival Different Class, held at the

beginning of August.

At the beginning of my internship, I was introduced to the different platforms that

Subbacultcha Belgium uses for internal communication, workload distribution, pitching

potential content for both print and online magazines as well as setting and coordinating deadlines. From day one, I was designated to take care of some basic tasks, such as

proofreading and editing copy for Subbacultcha Belgium’s new upcoming website as well as producing editorial content to get a grasp of the magazine’s tone, structure and layout. For example, I was assigned to write short pieces for the ‘Events’ section, which promotes upcoming shows, and the ‘Recent finds’ section, which is dedicated to new discoveries within the cultural scene in Belgium and abroad. All the events’ descriptions went into print, and so too did the Recent Finds piece (see Appendix, p. 13-15). I was also assigned to

manage Subbacultcha Belgium’s Instagram account, updating, writing and publishing posts daily according to the established schedule.

After the first two weeks of my internship, I was given more responsibilities, which included writing actual articles for the online magazine. One of the first pieces I produced, for example, was a feature on a multidisciplinary artist Astrid Gnosis for the

‘Up-and-coming’ section, which is dedicated to in-depth articles about an emerging artist and his/her work. This piece was a particularly important one as the featured artist rejected her

previous interview with the magazine on the grounds that the end product did not do justice to her work, to herself and to what she had said during the interview. The

relationship was quite tense and there was quite some pressure as to how to navigate this situation best. Thankfully, the MA programme taught us extremely well about the

importance of research and honest communication with your interviewee, skills that came in handy not only while writing the feature itself, but also upon meeting Astrid Gnosis and (re)establishing a healthy relationship between her and Subbacultcha Belgium.

As the internship progressed, the number of pieces I produced increased as well as the number of pieces which got included in the print magazine for the month of September. For example, I was trusted to secure and conduct an important interview with a South African artist Angel-Ho, whom we wanted to feature in the September issue. After three long weeks of constant back-and-forth and intense conversations, I managed to secure and conduct the interview with the performer for both our print and online platforms. However, situations like these have not always played out positively. At the beginning of my

internship, my editor-in-chief assigned me to do an interview with quite a known figure within the festival industry in Belgium. The feature was supposed to be published on

Subbacultcha Belgium’s website, but not included in print. I have done my preparation only

to get a reply from the interviewee that doing the interview simply for the website does not suffice, as he also wanted the piece to go to print. Even after being informed that the website is accessible to a lot more people than the magazine, the festival organizer refused to speak to me. There are definitely successes and downfalls along the way.

Since a lot of Subbacultcha Belgium’s content is curated around a wide variety of upcoming events, the process of seeing the pieces actually getting published takes a bit of patience, as it also depends on the date of a given event. For example, a large number of interviews and features that I have been working on throughout the whole of July will only see daylight in late August and September, along with the new print magazine. Overall, I have produced multiple Q&A interviews with musicians, composers and bands, artists, dancers, actors, theatre directors, and so on. I have also written features combined out of multiple interviews, such as Love at First Sight #4 and KONVOOI, which present a selection of artists and performers as well as their work (see Appendix, p. 16-17). Moreover,

overview/selection pieces have also been part of my editorial contributions, mainly in the form of lists (e.g. Festival Focus/HORST Selection, see Appendix, p. 16).

My work also consisted of editing and publishing stories online, my own as well as those of other freelancers. I have encountered no difficulties in this department as online journalism was a large part of the MA programme. I could always rely on the skillset gained during the online journalism course, which includes adding photos, galleries and videos, embedding links and playing around with visual layout. However, I have learnt a lot more tricks at Subbacultcha Belgium, including how to make online photo essays, embed

Facebook links in form of a logo rather than a link as well as other valuable tools to make online content much more attractive and interactive.

Working on a piece at Subbacultcha Belgium means you are responsible for its execution from start to finish, which includes contacting sources, organizing interviews, coordinating photographs with Subbacultcha Belgium’s freelance photographers – or others, at times – editing, putting the piece together, and publishing it on the website with the editor’s approval. In that sense, I definitely feel that my daily tasks have allowed me to dip my fingers in a lot of different pots, which gave me invaluable knowledge about the ins and outs of magazine production, both online and in print.

3. Supervision during the internship

The supervision I received throughout my time at Subbacultcha Belgium was fantastic. During my internship, I received constant feedback and support from my placement

supervisor, Herlinde Raeman, as well as other team members, Kasper-Jan Raeman and Lisa Wallyn (digital coordinator), with whom I worked together at the office. As the organization is not big in terms of actual size, we did not have (editorial) meetings per se; the office was more like one open space which encouraged a constant exchange of ideas and discussions around the table, as well as resolving disagreements, providing feedback, asking for advice and getting updates on everyone’s agenda and work progress. The environment was thus quite flexible yet still highly effective and collaborative. I was always encouraged to ask questions if I was confused, lost or unsure how to solve a problem or perform a certain task. This was definitely one of the most rewarding aspects of working for Subbacultcha Belgium – having continuous support and encouragement from all team members, which made me feel as if I was a part of a small community.

I was always complimented for my efforts and my work as well as congratulated for my progress, which was truly motivating, reassuring and heart-warming, both personally and professionally. I received guidance on how to improve my writing, editing and interviewing skills, which was always done in a conversational and respectful manner. Moreover, Subbacultcha Belgium has always made me feel as part of their team, which I will forever be grateful for as it made going to work a pleasure each day.

3.2. University supervisor

In short, the supervision I received from my university supervisor Jonathan Groubert was absolutely wonderful. I contacted my supervisor every week on Sundays in the form of journal entries, which recounted my weekly achievements at work day by day. I would then receive in-depth feedback on my journal entries, which helped me throughout my working experience both on personal and professional grounds. Jonathan Groubert has always shown interest in my working experience and my achievements with kind words of support and encouragement, which I am truly grateful for. He has helped me through moments of difficulty and doubt as well as celebrated my progress together with me. I am truly grateful for eight wonderful weeks of guidance, support and valuable lessons, which will definitely help me as an aspiring journalist in the future.

4. Evaluation of the internship

The internship at Subbacultcha Belgium has been a truly wholesome learning experience, which helped me become a more skilled, creative and professional journalist as well as opened doors to further build my career within the media industry. My expectations for the internship have definitely been exceeded, and I believe I am coming out of this working experience having achieved a lot more than the initial goals I have set out for myself in the internship report.

Looking back at the internship report, I specifically wanted to improve my interviewing, writing, editing, research and communication skills as well as improve my adaptability to different work settings. I am convinced that my internship at Subbacultcha

Belgium has drastically improved these skills. Doing thorough research in preparation to

interviews has resulted in-depth, eye-opening conversations with a wide array of people which has enabled me to represent these individuals in a much more accurate and professional manner. This was noted by many of my interviewees, who felt a lot more appreciated, and sent me personal thank-you emails both after the interviews and the publication of the articles themselves. These were truly rewarding moments, which have allowed me to track my own development as a journalist outside the professional

supervision at the office.

My interviewing technique has become much more conversational and organic, instead of me simply relying on a list of previously prepared questions in fear of missing out

and losing track of the interview itself. For example, a large part of the interview with the band Shht resulted out of spontaneous conversation, which was, of course, edited to give it a smoother flow (see Appendix, p. 16). While working largely within the genre of writing features, I had a chance to explore a variety of different ways to approach feature writing, which has been a big boost to my creativity as well as a great exercise to improve my writing skills. For example, the Up-and-coming feature mentioned previously is entirely written out by me, giving more freedom to explore creative approaches to writing, while Q&A features allowed me to play with different story angles rather than the text itself. I have also

witnessed my vocabulary and writing style evolve greatly over the last eight weeks, as well as the time required for me to complete an assignment. Over my time here, I have also been in contact with people from all walks of life – from Muslims to Christians, from local Belgians to South Africans - which has further contributed towards improving my cross-cultural communication skills. My communication skills within the office environment have also largely improved over time as I got a bit more settled in at Subbacultcha Belgium.

As mentioned beforehand, editing was also a big part of my daily work at

Subbacultcha Belgium, a skill I did not have a chance to practice during the MA programme

that much. Apart from some moral dilemmas while working with text written and compiled by someone else, this did not represent a problem, but rather an advantage, which has allowed me to gain a very valuable skill for my future career as a journalist as well as to test my understanding of what journalistic integrity stands for. Finally, with increasing workload, came a lot more responsibility and organization, which has allowed me to better understand the importance of planning, thus improving my time-management skills and overall work ethic, both of which have already been tested during the MA programme.

The aspect that I struggled with most during my internship was definitely pitching ideas to the editors and the rest of the team, which had everything to do with my

personality rather than the working environment in which I found myself. However, the team has always welcomed my ideas and suggestions, and eventually I felt much more comfortable to bring them forth myself. I accepted this as a challenge and tried to push myself out of my comfort zone as much as possible only to watch myself gradually grow both personally and professionally.

In terms of master’s preparation, I believe that I came to Subbacultcha Belgium with a highly developed skillset, especially in terms of dealing with deadline pressure,

organizational and time management skills. Moreover, I can say with great confidence that online weeks and all news writing courses - especially those dedicated to more creative approaches to journalistic writing as well as research seminars for the investigative

reporting course - have been invaluable to me during my internship. They have prepared me for my journey at Subbacultcha Belgium both professionally as well as mentally. I do not think I would have been able to produce quality content as well as transition into a valuable member of Subbacultcha Belgium’s team without the preparation of the MA programme.

I would have definitely benefited from deeper knowledge about the role of sub-editors in journalism, an aspect which has been a major part of my own work at

Subbacultcha Belgium as well as a skill that is included as a must-have in a large number of

job applications nowadays. Another aspect relates to the increasing importance of

technology and social media in the field of journalism, which we have been introduced to in theory, but not in practice. Having received training on how to effectively use social media not only to benefit our own work, but also that of our organization would have been invaluable throughout my time at Subbacultcha Belgium. Not only was managing social media output amongst my daily tasks, but it has also become a prerequisite for most job openings within the media industry. I am glad to say that this is a skill I had a chance to gain throughout my time at Subbacultcha Belgium.

On a different note, I also strongly believe that the university should take a bit more responsibility and provide more assistance in helping students who follow the English track of the MA programme to find internships. I have watched the international group struggle greatly – and struggled myself - in finding and getting the internships we aspired to be accepted to, which was quite a crushing, demotivating and demoralizing experience for quite a few in the group. As finding and completing an internship is a requirement to

graduate, I believe international MA students deserve a bit more support in this area, having in mind, of course, that universities also face challenges in building and establishing a

network of internship providers.

Overall, this internship has been a truly positive experience, both professionally and on a personal level. In addition to improving the skillset I acquired during the MA, it has allowed me to boost my self-confidence and believe that my contributions as a cultural journalist are valuable and worthy. Moreover, I have learnt to face and overcome challenges that arise in the field of journalism on my own as well as a part of a team through open

dialogue and compromise. I have grown to better understand my value, ability and talent as a journalist, which is a simultaneously a humbling and an empowering experience. Having spent the last two months at Subbacultcha Belgium has allowed to me to discover my greatest passion as a journalist, and start building my career in a way, which allows me to put my passion into practice.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

The internship at Subbacultcha Belgium has been a truly positive experience, on both personal and professional grounds, and I would definitely recommend it for every aspiring cultural journalist. It is an established media outlet and cultural platform within Belgium and abroad, with a noble mission of bringing forth emerging talents and their boundary-pushing work for wider audiences to discover as well as providing opportunities for young creatives like me looking to practice and improve their skills within the media industry.

I can say with confidence that the internship has been well arranged and organized in terms of supervision and continuous support from the team. Being in contact with the editors in such a small office on a daily basis helped me to overcome obstacles and issues much quicker and easier – perhaps a benefit that comes with working in a smaller, more slow-paced organization. The internal communication systems made time-management and organization of tasks really easy, and always ensured that I am tracking my own progress as well as meeting set deadlines. However, since I was also responsible for editing and

publishing online articles sent in by some of the freelancers, there were incidents where lack of organization resulted in overdue publications. I would not say it had done any damage to the magazine itself, as this was content for the website rather than for print, but I believe that communication on respecting deadlines could be improved within the

freelancer network in the future.

Before the start of the internship, I was completely sure that my future will be associated with online journalism and the digital media industry more generally, despite my love and admiration for print and its lingering aura of tradition. Now that my internship has ended, I have a bit more faith not only in reemerging appreciation of print by young

audiences, but also in such niche organizations as Subbacultcha Belgium, which breathe a bit of ‘ancient’ air into the media industry while still creating a modern, appealing and engaging look as well as content.

Appendix

An example of ‘Recent Finds’ section in the Summer 2019 issue of Subbacultcha Belgium. Also published online, July 2nd_.

Examples from the ‘Events’ section in the Summer 2019 issue of Subbacultcha Belgium. Some of these were also published online, but those events that have taken place disappear from the website.

Further examples of descriptions within the ‘Events’ section in the Summer 2019 issue of

Subbacultcha Belgium.

[To be published in September issue] – Art feature – Love at First Sight #4 [To be published in September issue] – Music feature/Interview – Angel-Ho

2. Online

News | Last names for Different Class 2019 [published June 5th_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/06/05/last-names-for-dc19/

Feature | Up-and-coming | Astrid Gnosis [published June 24th_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/06/24/astrid-gnosis/

Music | Focus | Festival Focus 2019 [published June 25th_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/06/25/festival-focus-2019/

News | Different Class 2019 afterparty

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/07/01/different-class-2019-afterparty/

Features | Recent Finds | Recent finds by Silvija Daniunaite (1) [published July 2nd_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/07/02/recent-finds-by-silvija-daniunaite/

Features | Recent Finds | Recent finds by Silvija Daniunaite (2) [published July 10th_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/07/10/recent-finds-by-silvija-daniunaite-2/

Features | Interview | Shht [published July 23rd_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/07/23/shht/

Features | Interview | Lore Borremans & Adam Vincent Clarke [published July 31st_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/07/31/lore-borremans-adam-vincent-clarke/

Features | Art | New Masters: Nelleke Cloosterman [published August 5th_]

https://subbacultcha.be/2019/08/05/new-masters-nelleke-cloosterman/

Feature | Focus | 15 Years of Hyperdub [To be published 12.08.19] / Still in progress as I had to start over due to interview falling through.

Feature | Art | KONVOOI Arts Festival [To be published 15.08.19]

Music | Focus | HORST Selection [To be published 19.08.19] – on both, Belgian and Dutch platforms of Subbacultcha.

Feature | Art | Love at First Sight #4 [To be published 02.09.19]

Feature | Interview | Angel-Ho [To be published around 06.09.19]

Feature| Style | Hannah Vanspauwen [To be published 16.09.19] / Interview scheduled for August 8th_.