Goa is home to numerous festivals, be it
music, theatre or film, making this vibrant state a great place to learn the
ropes of organising, managing and reporting such events. Students belonging to
these or related fields of studies make utmost use of such festivals to not
only rub shoulders with celebrities but also garner practical experience in
their fields of interest.
The colleges that feature media and mass
communication and related courses and degrees make it a point to send their
students for internship to these festivals. In this manner, students gain
practical experience and the festivals get trained assistance. From Goa,
students from institutes such as Don Bosco, Panjim, V M Salgaocar Law College
and Dhempe College, Miramar and St Xavier’s College Mapusa join these events as
festival executives. Karina from St Xavier’s College, who has worked as a festival
executive for one such festival, says, “It is great to be a part of such festivals.
It helps us in handling people. Secondly, we get to see celebrities. It is an
added feature to our CV. In order to be part of such festivals, we first have
to register our names along with college information. This if followed by an
interview and training session. As part of the festival, we can be shuffled
into various departments, including front desk, ushering celebrities, media
help desks, event coordination, etc. This gives us wide practical training.”
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What’s great is that due do the screening
process, event non media students can get into these events as volunteers and
interns, through proper channels, of course.
Last year, Ralph Rodrigues, a student of
Mass Communication and Journalism at St Xavier’s, interned with the Press
Information Bureau for a film festival in Goa. Recounting his experience, he says,
“As an intern, I had a really enjoyable experience. You hear stories about
internships and this being my first at a media organisation, that too PIB, was
very informative. Among the different tasks I was given, I used to be at the
press conferences held concerning the event,. That was very interesting as I
met a lot of notable people, few of which were international personalities.
Overall, it was a fun experience.”
Credit for encouraging students to intern
at such events also goes to their lecturers. Lecturer Claudia D’Souza from St
Xavier’s College, Mapusa says, “I do not know the job profile students handle,
but we have our students interning with NFAI and NFDC. We don’t send student
for volunteering work. We send them to intern.”
Ask her on how students respond after these
internships, and she says, “The students have shared their experiences with
regards to working for these events. Every year, we have students who are all
excited to work for these festivals. They provide them with the platform where
they communicate efficiently and effectively with people from the media and
film industry. This will help them in their future careers.”
