- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers a number of summer internships. They include the Lunder Summer Internship Program, which funds 3-5 Maine-resident college students each year. These paid internships are awarded as need-based financial aid grants to qualified and eligible candidates, as determined by the MFA.
- Open to Art History majors with departmental nomination, the Copley Society of Art invites submissions biannually to The Robert C. Vose, Jr. and Ann Peterson Vose Scholarship in American Art History. This $4,000 scholarship is awarded to one undergraduate or graduate art history student with an interest in American Art. Materials are due in February of an award year and winners are announced at the Annual Student Show award reception at the Copley Society of Art in Boston in March.
- The Rhode Island School of Design Museum offers paid summer internship positions to undergraduate and graduate students. The ten-week program (20 hours/week) offers students the opportunity to work on projects in curatorial, education, conservation or museum registration departments and to participate in a weekly seminar to learn about the museum and current issues in the museum world. Deadline in March each year.
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum offers internships to students of junior-year college level or above, recent graduates, graduate students, postgraduates, and mature professionals pursuing further experience in the arts. Internships are available within a host of different museum departments.
- The Museum of Modern Art provides students with practical experience in a specific area of museum work. In addition to departmental work, interns participate in professional development activities designed to increase understanding of the Museum’s various collections, exhibitions, and departments. The Museum hosts approximately 25 interns per season in just about every department.
- The Katzenberger Foundation Art History Internship Program is a need-based program supporting internships for undergraduates in research and collections projects at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The program is generously funded by the Katzenberger Foundation and administered by the Office of Fellowships and Internships. 6 internships are offered each summer and are all located in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian’s art museums and archives. Deadline in March each year.
- The Whitney Museum of American Art hosts interns across the institution who assist professional staff, interact with the public, conduct research, provide administrative support, and learn about modern and contemporary American art. Deadline in February each year.
Opportunities
Studio Art and Art History majors have many professional opportunities available to them. Thanks to the Mirken Family Endowment, the senior class travels annually to a major arts destination to meet with curators, artists, publishers, art historians, gallery owners, and auction house managers; there students learn about what it means to be in the arts profession and they make connections with people in the field (see the Senior Capstone). Majors are also encouraged to apply for research assistantships, internships, and other jobs designed specifically for Colby students.
New Opportunities, Summer 2018
Paid Summer Fellowship: Portland Museum of Art
The Lunder Foundation has generously funded a paid, full-time summer fellowship at the Portland Museum of Art. This opportunity is open only to rising juniors and seniors at Colby. The Homer Colby Fellow will work closely with curatorial and education staff on exhibition projects related to Winslow Homer. Specific tasks may include delving into Homer’s correspondence, researching works of art in the museum collection, and participating in the interpretation of the Winslow Homer Studio on Prouts Neck. This is a position ideal for a student with strong research skills who is interested in art, art history, public history, and/or the museum profession. Interested applicants should be in touch with the PMA’s Interim Head of Education, Phillippa Pitts, for more information and to learn about the application process ([email protected]).
Ongoing and Annual Opportunities
The Colby College Museum of Art maintains a list of the paid positions it administers here. Recent and annual opportunities include:
- Research Assistantships, Department of Art, Colby College
- Mellon Program Research Assistant, Colby College Museum of Art
- Education Intern, Colby College Museum of Art
- Collections Intern, Colby College Museum of Art
- Curatorial Intern, Colby College Museum of Art
- Lunder Student Internship Program, Francine and Clark Art Institute (includes one post-baccalaueate year-long internship and four undergraduate summer internships)
- Summer Internship at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, supported by the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies
- Summer Internship at the Art Institute of Chicago, supported by the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies
In consultation with their academic advisors, majors apply for outside fellowships, scholarships, and work opportunities. Here is a sample of the external opportunities to which Art majors have recently applied: