The Virginia Festival of the Book’s Event Planning Interns will assist the Festival director and support staff in program development, outreach planning, marketing and promotion, and large-scale event implementation. Interns will perform target market research, assist in community grassroots promotional efforts, develop innovative publicity ideas, brainstorm and design marketing materials and social media content, and research both authors and the media. They will work on the back-end of the Festival’s WordPress website, help build out the program site and individual featured pages, update numerous Festival contact lists, attend meetings, and perform general office tasks. Each intern will be integral to the programming and development of the entire Festival, from the broad plans to specific details.

A signature program of Virginia Humanities and the Virginia Center for the Book, the annual Virginia Festival of the Book brings readers and writers together in Charlottesville for a five-day program of mostly free events including author readings, book signings, panel discussions, programs for children, and more. The 25th annual Festival will be held March 20-24, 2019. The Festival has consistently attracted audiences of more than 20,000 from more than forty states each spring, with an estimated local economic impact of $4 million annually.

Duties vary according to the interests and existing skills of each intern, plus the changing needs of the Festival during the year. All interns will have the opportunity to develop or enhance good interpersonal and communication skills; public relations writing and research capabilities; complex project management, including planning and scheduling; and specific computer skills that include MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and detailed work in our WordPress-based website that involve working with large amounts of data. Interns will also gain an understanding of working in a nonprofit organization.

The Festival operates with a small year-round staff and is dependent upon the help of interns and volunteers. We think the work is interesting and enjoyable, and we do our best to help interns add new skill-sets to their resumes. Interns will work closely with Festival staff in a small office, and upon occasion will be asked to change tasks as needed to meet the immediate needs of the organization. Students with an interest in books, publishing, marketing and communications, media, event planning, and authors especially enjoy working in the Festival offices.

As information, given the Festival schedule (usually the third week in March), peak periods in our cycle are from October through April. The internship site is not located on either University or public transportation bus lines, so all interns will need personal transportation to commute to the internship site.

Festival staff will work with each intern to determine a mutually agreeable and consistent schedule during the academic year, based on the intern’s schedule, the University calendar, and the Festival’s needs and open hours, which are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

To apply, please email Sarah Lawson at [email protected] with your cover letter and résumé. If you have any questions, you may also email Sarah with those.