Brenna Clendaniel is an online LEAP Master’s student living in New York City, pursuing her dream of working for a New York City theatre company. Originally from the West, Brenna moved to New York City after completing her undergrad in Theatre Performance and French with a minor in Arts Cultural Management from Northern Arizona University. Even after receiving her undergraduate degree in theatre performance, Brenna knew that she did not want to be a performer. Instead, she knew she wanted to manage the administrative side of a theatre company, which she noted “you begin to learn as a practicing artist, but there’s so much more to learn to fully understand the ins and outs of how the organization operates.”

 

For her two required LEAP internships, Brenna worked with two New York-based theater companies. Her first internship was with the Acting Company, a New York-based national repertory theatre founded in 1972. During her time with the Acting Company, Brenna gained hands-on experience in arts administration and management, a topic covered in LEAP’s Arts Leadership course. The second internship was with the New York Theatre Workshop, an off-Broadway theatre that has been the starting point for productions such as RENT, ONCE, and many other well-known Broadway musicals. While at the New York Theatre Workshop, Brenna assisted the company with its marketing strategy and audience research, where she used skills learned in LEAP’s Arts Events Management and Arts Collaboration and the Community courses. Both experiences, coupled with her online education, provided a well-rounded understanding of what it means to be working in the business of the arts.

 

Brenna is currently seeking employment in marketing for a New York theatre company, with the goals of someday producing her own shows. The LEAP Institute has been honored to help Brenna grow and we can’t wait to hear what she’s doing in the future – we have no doubt it will be something great!