Pros
the tribeca area is beautiful so it is a nice area to work in. the interns that work there are very smart, dedicated and hard working individuals who dedicate a lot of time to the work that is set before them - all of them are pretty much overqualified for the internship position. the coffee shop at the corner is absolutely amazing - I recommend a brownie cookie.
Cons
to begin, the responsibilities listed on the internship description does not reflect that of the actual internship position and experience as a whole. an internship is suppose to allow an individual/student to apply their skills and knowledge to the internship, as well as to acquire a new set of skills so that they may be able to add it onto their resume. however, interns are not allowed to use or display any of the material that they've worked on after the internship since it is a set rule in the studio. in addition, interns don't really acquire a new set of skills since the tasks that are given to them are basic and monotonous. these "internships," unfortunately, do not benefit the intern since the tasks that are assigned to them appear to be the responsibility of someone with more authority: research, photography, personal legal issues, etc. second, it doesn't seem as though the interns dedication and hard work is recognized since they receive negative and unhelpful feedback, as well as unnecessary and rude side comments when interns try their best to perform tasks to the best of their ability. interns are embarrassed by comments on their minute grammatical errors when they speak in morning meetings and when interns may have not performed a task to a perfection. these interns work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, without money for food or transportation, and arrive home late - when asked to leave just 30 minutes earlier to catch an earlier train, interns are questioned about their commitment when their valuable work clearly speaks for itself. ironically, there's no real "collaboration." theres a lacks patience and understanding and poor communication skills - instead of encouraging interns and helping them, interns are put down and there just a lack of professionalism; it truly creates a hostile working environment. lastly, to run an internship program or to obtain volunteers, legally, there must be an existing staff to oversee the interns and to supervise them... there's no existing staff within the studio. as stated previously, the interns are dependent on doing all of the work so there is no actual supervision going on in reference to the work itself - only critique. therefore, the students/individuals who "volunteer" or "intern" at the studio should actually be paid for the work that they do. there are multiple non-profit arts organizations that receive grants to pay for their facility and their workers/interns so the interns should actually be paid for all of their hard work, especially since it was seen by one of the former interns that there was money put to the side to pay employees/interns. the reviews listed previous to this are fully true to the internship and studio experience.