Meet Alese Allen

As the temperature rises and the days get longer, the Harrison Center for the Arts welcomes a new set of interns, each of them given the opportunity to express their ideas in a specific area that catches their eye. Throughout the summer, we will be introducing each intern through these very blog posts. While we get to know who the are, we will also learn what brought them to the Harrison Center.In today’s post, we introduce Alese Allen, a college sophomore who will use her talents to assist in the planning of  Pre-Enact Indy.

Alese Allen was born in Atlanta Georgia then moved to Indianapolis, Indiana when she was just a kid. She is a sophomore at Indiana University Bloomington majoring in Psychology to later become a Neuropsychologist. As an intern for the Harrison Center , Alese is tasked with assisting with the preparation for Pre-Enactment Theater in the Monon 16 area. Through theater and community participation, this project will envision the neighborhood as what residents hope it can be.

One of the ways Alese is participating in this creative placemaking effort is by taking some of the hopes and dreams of neighborhood residents and sharing them with the broader community through an art installation on 16th St. (below). She has been part of a team that has interviewed long time residents of the neighborhood and people who attended School 26. Some of those neighbors include Center Township Trustee Eugene Akers and City County Councillor Vop Osili. These interviews are helping us to learn more about the neighborhood and will inform the Pre-Enactment script.  

Alese got involved with the Harrison Center one day when Joanna Taft visited her church, True Victory Church of God in Christ, to spread information about Pre-Enactment and informed the teens about a summer internship that the Harrison Center has. True Victory is one of many community partners involved with the Pre-Enactment Theater event taking place on October 7, 2017 along 16th from the Monon Trail to Andrew J. Brown.

She loves the welcoming environment of the Harrison Center and hopes to expand her knowledge on art in general and learn how to run a successful business. As for her interest in art, she loves photography and music as well as theater.

Some of  Alese's favorite things:

I love music of all kinds. My favorite movies and tv shows include The Temptations and the Backyardigans.

I love any kind of pasta but can't stand spinach!

Bonus Question:

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized elephants or 1 elephant-sized duck? Why?

100 duck-sized elephants- because I love baby elephants!