Our Winners
We could tell you about all sorts of things that our previous Cultural Challenge participants have gone on to do with their internships. But we’d rather that they told you themselves, as well as a little bit about the Cultural Challenge responses that got them those internships in the first place. Watch the clips from our 2016 winners or scroll down and click through the links to read more from our winners.
2016 Royal Opera House Intern, Amber Booth
2016 Roundhouse Intern, Anaelle Prioux
2016 Southbank Centre Intern, Eva Nelson
2016 Victoria and Albert Museum Intern, Cleo Anderson
2013 Royal Opera House intern, Mimi Doulton, on the Challenge and her internship.
'The Cultural Challenge gave me the unique chance to work at a world famous institution, an opportunity I may not have got on my own. My internship at the Victoria and Albert Museum has given me great insight into the cultural world and the skills necessary to get a job in it.' Stella Toonen – 2013 Winner, MA Student in CMCI
2015 V&A intern, Emma Lawrence, on Pinterest and her internship.
'I knew nothing about opera and ballet before I started at the Royal Opera House so it was quite a daunting prospect, but it's been fantastic. The building is full of inspirational people dedicated to creating art for the public and I feel very lucky to have been able to learn from that. The Cultural Challenge provides a really enjoyable and encouraging environment to explore your own ideas, that it can lead somewhere like this is a great bonus.' Ottilie Thornhill – 2015 Winner, Second Year Undergraduate Student in English Literature
'The Cultural Challenge was the perfect platform for me to test my cultural and creative capacities and present them to London’s cultural leaders. The pitching experience gave me great confidence, and winning an internship and Southbank Centre has opened up amazing opportunities.' Marie Ortinau – 2014 Winner, MA Student Education in arts and cultural settings
2014 Southbank Centre and Royal Opera House interns Talissa Makdessi and Lauren Holden talking about their Cultural Challenge experiences.
'Whether you're a challenge winner or not, taking part in the challenge is a great experience and the lucky finalists will all have the opportunity to participate in a pitching skills workshop. I still draw upon the skills I learned through this workshop when pitching to arts organisations and in general presentations for university. I would advise anyone who’s even vaguely interested in the arts to apply!' Lauren Holden –2014 Winner, Second Year Undergraduate Student in Music
2014 Royal Opera House Intern, Lauren Holden,talking about her disloyalty app project.
'Being part of the Cultural Challenge was quite surreal for me, in terms of the opportunities it opened up for me. I learned a lot throughout the process, about developing ideas and pitches and also a lot about public speaking. It was great to be a part of the discussion about cultural institutions and their audiences. The best part was obviously then getting to work for the RSC' Isabel Feeney – 2014 Winner, First Year Undergraduate Student in English Literature
2014 Royal Shakespeare Company intern, Isabel Feeney, talking about her experience of designing an exhibition for the Stratford-on-Sea festival