partner with ArtS INTERN this summer

 Bring New Voices to the Arts and Cultural Field in Your City

Background | Details | Apply Now

Background

Studio Institute’s Arts Intern program provides early-career opportunities for skilled college students interested in arts careers, who may otherwise lack access to such vital experiences without this paid opportunity.

Since 1999, Arts Intern has placed undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need and diverse backgrounds in paid internships that can impact career paths in profound and lasting ways.

In addition to fully funding students’ stipends, the program includes an educational component that provides time for face-to-face interactions with seasoned professionals across the field, increasing students’ knowledge of, connection with, and investment in museums and cultural institutions.

 

Details


invitation to Non-profit arts & cultural organizations

QUESTIONS?

Contact Sophia Domeville, Manager of College Internships: artsintern@studioinstitute.org

Arts Intern Winston Kam with Supervisor and Mentor David Piurek, Conservation Technician of Paintings & Frames, (Photo Courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art)

Past Arts Intern Partners Have Included:

We believe in the power of internship-based learning. Through the Arts Intern program, interns meet experienced staff involved in all facets of an institution’s functions and apply new skills under a supervisor’s guidance. They learn how each department, in its own way, supports an organization’s mission. 

Within the scope of specific, time-bound assignments, interns are encouraged to take initiative and shape projects with a fresh approach. They are treated as professionals, and earn a competitive wage. 

In addition, Arts Intern also provides interns with opportunities to interact with their peers in the program. Through required special events and seminars at participating institutions, interns meet, compare notes, and learn from each other’s insights. 

Coming from many different backgrounds, interns bring unique perspectives that enhance and enrich cultural organizations. The arts professionals who mentor these students are helping to bring new faces and voices to the arts and cultural field. 

Arts Interns come away from the program having gained experience, skills, knowledge, and relationships that equip them for a future in the field. 

grants to arts partners

Studio Institute awards $5,040 grants to host organizations in cities where the interns' hourly rate is $20/hour and $5,670 grants to host organizations (in Boston, Newark, NJ, and New York City) where the interns' hourly rate is $22.50/hour. Grants fully cover each intern’s wages, to participating institutions at the start of the program. 

Interns are hired as temporary part-time employees of an institution and paid on the same schedule as other employees. An additional $500 stipend is issued upon completion to help offset administrative costs associated with hosting an intern. 

Interns receive a final stipend of $500 directly from Studio upon completion of the program and participation in Arts Intern’s educational components. Interns work at their host organizations four days per week, and are required to join a cohort of fellow interns one day per week to attend educational programming.

Internships must be department-specific, project-focused, and entirely or majority on-site. As internships progress, interns take on greater responsibility and agency, completing meaningful projects that are used by the museum. 

Studio prioritizes internships that are geared towards Visual Arts and Art History students who are interested in careers in the arts. Institutions may host one position in any department; additional internships should be designed for Art or Art History students in museum-specific departments (such as Curatorial, Collections, Conservation, or Exhibitions). 

internship program dates

Summer 2025 internship program dates vary by city:

  • Baltimore: June 13 – August 15

  • Boston: June 9 – August 8

  • Chicago: June 4 – August 7

  • Cleveland: June 16 – August 18

  • Memphis: June 13 – August15

  • New York: June 2 – August 4

  • Newark, NJ: June 3 – August 5

  • Philadelphia: June 11 – August 13

  • Providence: June 13 – August 15

Student Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for internship positions offered through the Arts Intern program, students must be pursuing a bachelor’s degree and must:

  • Be currently enrolled as one of the following: a full-time rising junior (a current sophomore), a full-time junior, or a full-time senior graduating by fall 2025

  • Either reside or attend college in the same city as the host organization. (Boundaries vary in each of Arts Intern's participating cities.)

  • We collect information about students’ Expected Family Contribution (EFC). (This number is on the Student Aid Report on their FAFSA form.) See a sample form here.

An Arts Intern staff member will contact students who are selected to move forward with the application process to schedule an interview with the host organization. Interviewing and hiring are conducted by host organizations to ensure that they screen and select preferred candidates themselves.

Baltimore: Evergreen Museum & Library
Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Science
Chicago: Bronzeville Historical Society, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, Field Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College, National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, Polish Museum of America
Cleveland: Art House, Inc., Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, Assembly for the Arts, Cleveland Clinic Art Program, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Foluké Cultural Arts Center, Rainey Institute, Waterloo Arts
Memphis: Art Museum of the University of Memphis, ArtsMemphis, Memphis Botanic Garden, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Metal Museum
Newark: AACA Creates, Gallery Aferro, GlassRoots
New York: Brooklyn Museum, El Museo del Barrio, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation*, The Kitchen, Madison Square Park Conservancy, The Noguchi Museum, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation*, Rubin Museum of Art, Staten Island Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Woodman Family Foundation*
Philadelphia: Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Founder’s Hall Museum at Girard College, Free Library of Philadelphia, The Rosenbach, Taller Puertorriqueño, Woodmere Art Museum
Providence: RISD Museum

* This organization is a member of the Artist-Endowed Foundations Consortium Advancing Next-Gen Leaders in the Visual Arts, a project of the Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative | AEFI.

I like to let students make mistakes and then provide feedback. I let them succeed by empowering them to make mistakes. They struggle, I provide feedback, and they learn from the experience.

David Piurek, Conservation Technician of Paintings and Frames, Cleveland Museum of Art;
Arts Intern Supervisor and Mentor