Recent Lighting Design grad wins prestigious 2023 Hemsley Internship

The internship honors the legacy of Gilbert Hemsley by providing a unique professional training experience to young designers as they begin their careers. Interns work at professional arts organizations with resident and guest designers, and receive a monthly stipend of $3,000 in addition to travel expenses.  

"I'll be spending July-November at the San Francisco Opera and then November-February at the New York City Ballet and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater," Carlson says. "I am really looking forward to the experience of working at those places and meeting new people."

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Carlson found her passion for lighting design in high school. She came to CCM to pursue her studies within the college's renowned Theatre Design and Production department, while also minoring in German. Through UC's College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) she traveled to Germany with a study abroad program. She received scholarships through A&S and through the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC), a non-profit organization originally founded by universities to provide quality, immersive study abroad experiences at an affordable price.

From December 25-May 5, Carlson studied in a small German town called Lüneburg, where she took three German language classes, a class called "Government and Politics in Germany and Europe" and a class called "1933-1945: Culture, Society and Politics of Nazi Germany."

"It was really interesting to talk about global politics and events from a perspective other than that in the US," Carlson says. "I learned a lot more about the global environment and relationships between countries. It was also very interesting to talk about the events of WWII from the German perspective and see how they take responsibility and hold themselves accountable for that time period."