Meet Silkroad's 2023 Spring Interns
We are ecstatic to introduce our five new interns who have already been working hard supporting the Silkroad artists and staff! Ayiana, Claudia, Natalia, Sabrina, and Sarah were picked from a pool of 55 applicants in our third round of BIPOC interns at Silkroad.
Please join us in welcoming them in our post below!
AYIANA DAVIS POLEN
Artistic Programs Intern
Ayiana Davis Polen is a junior at Spelman College, where she is double majoring in Sociology & Anthropology and Music Performance with a Spanish minor. Davis Polen has lived in several locations, but she now lives in Puerto Rico with her family when she is not at Spelman. After graduating, she plans to study law in hopes of contributing to change within the African American and Latino communities. Davis Polen is also a musician who has been studying the piano since she was eight years old and is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, along with other art institutions. With her training in the arts, she also wishes to achieve social change within arts education.
“What moment in your life led you to realize the importance of advocacy for social impact through art?”
“I have been guided through arts since I was a little girl; it has been my way of life regardless of it being as an audience member, a student, or the performer. I realized I wanted to become involved with social impact through the arts around middle school. Being brought up through an artistic pedagogy that only emphasizes Western European classical art forms and undermines the importance and prestige of other cultures made being a student of the arts unenjoyable at times. No other student that is not passionate and nor connected with western classical art should never feel that way about their craft that they work tirelessly on. One can most certainly be a trained artist through learning art that fills their passion. With this, I hope to eventually start an arts institution that has a diverse way of teaching students, especially students of color. I hope to begin to show the artistic world that including other cultures in art education is not only possible, but it is necessary.”
CLAUDIA LEE HORNA
Operations Intern
Claudia Lee Horna is a composer, violinist and educator. She holds a Bachelor and a Master of Music in Film Composition. Hailing from Peru, Claudia began learning violin at a young age, developing in the classical style. As she grew up, she also developed a passion for movie soundtracks and began delving into composition, eventually studying Film Scoring after high school.
Moving to Boston to study at Berklee, Claudia was exposed to different musical styles and traditions, giving her a new perspective as a composer and performer. Ever since then, Claudia has aimed to learn as many musical styles as possible and has been an advocate for diverse music learning.
Currently, Claudia is based in Seattle where she teaches violin lessons and works as a freelance composer for film and media. She recently launched a piano composition book along with three other female composers.
“What moment in your life led you to realize the importance of advocacy for social impact through art?”
“The arts, particularly music, have always been a way for me to connect with others. When I moved to a whole new country for college, I noticed how many things were different; from the food, to the slang and even mannerisms, but, I still found a way to connect with others and make dear friends through music. It became special to me how people who come from different backgrounds and many different parts of the world, can bond through music, and relate to each other in a way that perhaps wouldn’t be possible verbally. I think that because of these small but significant experiences that started almost as soon as I started college, I have wanted to keep connecting with people through the arts, while also using them as an avenue to promote important messages to a wide audience.”
NATALIE STRICKLAND
Development Intern
Natalie Strickland is a graduate student, Board- Certified Music Therapist, and classically- trained vocalist from Denver, Colorado. She graduated from Denver School of the Arts as a vocal performance major and earned her Bachelor's degree in Music Therapy at Colorado State University. She is currently studying for a Master of Business Administration at Louisiana State University. Natalie has held many leadership positions at Colorado State including Social Chair for Mosaic A Cappella, Social Media Chair for Concert Choir, and Primary Liaison for the Music Therapy Student Association. Currently, Natalie is a board member of the Wild Beautiful Orchestra based in Denver. As a music therapy student, Natalie has worked with many diverse individuals including children with developmental disabilities, adults with neurologic disorders, and older adults receiving hospice care. As a vocalist, Natalie has sung with multiple vocal ensembles, performed in studio class recitals, and produced her own remote holiday concerts. Most recently, Natalie interned at the Sing Me A Story Foundation where she wrote a song for a child in need, assisted with a capital fundraising event, and developed weekly social media posts. She is honored to be joining the Silkroad team and she looks forward to learning from such an incredible organization.
“What moment in your life led you to realize the importance of advocacy for social impact through art?”
“In March 2016 at the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii, I experienced a moment that changed the way I look at music and performance forever. After finishing our choir concert, a tour guide’s comments spoke to me profoundly. Her eyes were filled with tears and she told us that our voices had touched the souls of all of the soldiers who had died in the WWII attack on Pearl Harbor. Before that moment, music making had only personally supported me. As an adopted Chinese-American who never felt like she fit in, music helped me find my identity. Yet it was the tour guide’s words that made me realize that music is not just helpful for individuals but for communities and for societal acceptance and unification. From that day forward, I’ve strived to use my passion for music and the arts to better society and to bring individuals together.”
SARAH BUZALEWSKI
Education Programs Intern
Sarah Buzalewski is a current Master’s candidate in both Music Education and Performance at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the studio of Dr. Miroslav Hristov, Professor of Violin. Previously, she received a B.M. in Violin Performance and a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship from Penn State in Spring of 2021. Most recently, she performed in the International Lyric Academy Opera Orchestra in Vicenza and Venice, Italy, during July of 2022. Sarah is employed as a violinist in the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Strings in Schools Graduate Teaching Assistant at UT. Through her GTA duties, Sarah both plans and directs the UT String Initiatives Project at Blue Grass Elementary School and co-teaches the YMCA/UT String Project class at Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Academy.
Sarah made the life-changing decision to pursue music education because of realizing how strong of a social impact she can make on young students through changes in curricula, such as including materials by underrepresented composers and introducing them to non-Western music. From growing up in the U.S. as an adopted Korean-American woman in a small rural community to her current work with diverse and racially impoverished students, racial justice and arts advocacy have always been her life’s priority. Sarah is most excited about working with Silkroad, because she strives to craft her future career in a way that allows her to nurture her love for music, inspiring and encouraging others to do the same, while improving the world where she can.
“What moment in your life led you to realize the importance of advocacy for social impact through art?”
“Since growing up in a small rural community as an adopted Korean-American woman, it’s become a common experience to be judged by my appearance in both professional and casual settings. While working to break through these barriers, I found my voice through music.
Serving a more distinct moment, my father’s passing from cancer in July of 2020 seemed to reset my entire life in many profound ways. Since then, I’ve made it my life’s mission to make my family proud and pursue a future that fulfills my own inner-peace. My parents Karen and Mike Buzalewski always told me I could do anything I set my mind to if I work hard enough and am passionate about my goal.
A culmination of these life events inspires me every day to pursue a career that shares my same values and passions. There would be no greater honor in this life than to have the opportunity to contribute to the future of arts education while implementing inclusivity and creating large-scale social impact. I’m incredibly thankful to Silkroad for providing me with the opportunity to work as their Education Programs Intern, allowing me to work towards all of my dreams and career aspirations.”
SABRINA GAMBOA
Social Media Intern
Sabrina Gamboa Herrera is a Mexican-American composer, arranger, producer, and writer: In short, she is a storyteller. Her styles of music include contemporary concert music, musical theater, pop, and rock. Her creative writing style varies greatly, but is currently focused on lyric-writing, theater, and other forms of fiction.
Sabrina is currently a student at Berklee College of Music where she is completing a dual degree in Contemporary Writing & Production and Composition, as well as a minor in Musical Theater Writing. During her time at Berklee she has been one of the winners of Berklee College of Music’s musical theater writing contest, Curtain Up!, twice, in 2018 and 2019. She was also the social media manager for the Berklee Musical Theater Club, and tripled its online presence in the span of a year. Additionally, she has interned for + Gallo Media, La Rioja Festival, and Pablo Sainz Villegas, and Beats by Girlz.
Currently, she is working on her first symphonic piece, titled Guápiles, inspired by her memories from living in Costa Rica in her early teens.
“What moment in your life led you to realize the importance of advocacy for social impact through art?”
“Growing up in Mexico City has allowed me to see the different ways that activism and advocacy can bloom. Though there have been many moments in my life in which I’ve realized the social impact that art can have, there is one that stands out to me the most.
One day, I received a voice note that was being shared by several people in Mexico: I heard a mother’s voice telling the story of how her daughter almost died on a night she didn’t make it home. Her concerned parents retraced all her steps, until finding her unconscious in the storage room of a popular restaurant in Mexico City, a restaurant that I used to frequently visit.
Angry at the situation, enraged by the fact that this was just one out of the hundreds of stories like this that exist in my country, I felt as though I had to do something. After that, I decided that my artistry was going to be dedicated to the victims of gender violence, femicide, and gender discrimination. Every day since then, it becomes clear to me that art has the power to touch, move, and inspire people to take action, and it is one of the reasons why I chose to intern at an organization as impactful as Silkroad.
