Opportunities for Students

Boston and New England

McMullen Museum of Art Student Ambassador Program (Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA). Paid. Student Ambassadors work five to ten hours a week at $12 an hour collaborating on student programs and exhibition openings, acting as museum greeters, selling catalogues, contributing to the McMullen’s social media platforms, implementing new digital initiatives, and assisting with research on temporary exhibitions and the Museum’s permanent collection. Student Ambassadors explore first-hand museum best practices while gaining experience in collections management, digital humanities, museum programming, and outreach.  

Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA): Paid. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers a limited number of college level (undergraduate and graduate) paid internship opportunities in fall, spring, and summer terms. MFA interns develop networks, gain hands-on training in specific Museum roles, and participate in professional development workshops to learn about a range of museum careers and practices.

Frederick Law Olmstead National Historical Site (Brookline, MA): Unpaid. The park offers real-world learning experiences in the following areas: Programming for school groups, Youth afterschool and summer programming, Interpretation and visitor services, Marketing and communications, Volunteer program management, Preservation Maintenance: historic buildings and grounds.

Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA): The ICA occasionally posts internships and other early-career job opportunities on their website. 

Leader Alliance Summer Research Early Idenfication Program: The Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) is a fully paid summer internship that provides undergraduates with training and mentoring in the principles underlying the conduct of research and prepares them to pursue competitive applications to PhD or MD-PhD programs.

MIT List Visual Arts Center (Cambridge, MA): Occasionally offers internships for undergraduate students. Check the Arts Intern website for openings.

Newport Mansions (Newport, RI): Paid and unpaid. Interns will work on various assignments related to department initiatives, ranging from administrative tasks and special projects, to research opportunities. Assignments are dependent on the Preservation Society’s needs and the intern’s individual strengths and interests. The Preservation Society hosts interns from a wide variety of academic backgrounds who have an interest in preservation, art, history, museums, and business operations. The type of internships vary from department to department.

Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA): Unpaid. PEM offers the chance to work side by side with professionals in diverse fields and make valuable contacts within the museum world. Be ready to bring ideas to the table, set goals and accomplish meaningful projects. You might shoot and produce a video for integrated media, write a marketing plan, coordinate a wedding or build part of an exhibition. Interns learn invaluable professional and time-management skills. Plus, a museum is an exciting and creative place to work! Volunteer internships are available with flexible hours in a range of departments.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) (Providence, RI): Paid. The RISD Museum’s Andrew W. Mellon summer internship program introduces students to museum work and offers in-depth experience working in a specific department of the RISD Museum. Interns contribute to departmental projects with Museum staff as supervisors. As a cohort, interns discuss museum practice, build professional skills for working in the arts, and learn about how museums live up to their missions. This is designed as an introductory experience for students without prior experience or access to similar opportunities.

Bonhams Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers (Boston MA): Occasionally seeks an auction assistant. This internship is an excellent opportunity for students interested in working at auction houses. Please contact careers@skinnerinc.com for more information.

Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT): Unpaid. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art offers a variety of internship opportunities to undergraduate, graduate, and recently graduated students during the fall, spring, and summer semesters. The Internship Program is designed to introduce students interested in pursuing a career in the museum field to the inner workings of an encyclopedic art museum under the guidance of experienced museum professionals.

USA and International

Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL). Unpaid. As an intern, you will complete various tasks related to department initiatives, while collaborating with industry experts. This includes, and is not limited to, assisting in daily departmental activities, taking part in special projects, and lending a hand with research.  

Brooklyn Museum (New York City, NY). Paid and unpaid. Learn from, and work with, experts from all areas of the Brooklyn Museum. As an intern, you'll be paired with a supervisor and integrated into one of our departments, participating fully in day-to-day workplace activities and projects with the guidance of full-time staff members. In addition to gaining extensive work experience, interns have the opportunity to attend seminars that focus on the role of museums in society today, and how they might imagine the future. Internship opportunities include unpaid positions (with the option for school credit arranged through your college or university) as well as competitive paid positions for undergraduates and recent graduates.

Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH). The CMA will offer a limited number of short-term internships in Spring 2021. Unless otherwise indicated in the position description, all spring internships will be remote only.

Cooper Hewitt Museum (New York City, NY). Paid (stipend). The Peter A. Krueger Summer Internship Program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain professional skills and learn about museum practices at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States that is exclusively devoted to historic and contemporary design. Interns will acquire in-depth knowledge and develop an enriched understanding of how the museum fulfills its mission to educate, inspire, and empower people through design.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR). Paid. The Havner Curatorial Summer Internship at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a paid internship and opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a curatorial department and exposure to the workings of a major American art museum. Havner Interns will work one on one with a member of the curatorial team and assist with exhibition projects, develop interpretation, including writing labels for collections objects, conduct research on objects in the collection. Interns are expected to work with the full scope of the collection, which spans the eighteenth century through today.

Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX). Paid. Each year the Dallas Museum of Art offers nine paid internship positions divided among the Museum’s Education, Curatorial, and Design and Interpretation Departments. McDermott Internships are open to individuals who have completed undergraduate or graduate degrees prior to the program's start date and are interested in exploring museum careers. Established in 1974, the McDermott Internship Program allows Interns to work closely with staff throughout the Museum and provides opportunities for individual contributions, resulting in an in-depth and well-rounded perspective on museum work.

511 Gallery (New York City, NY). Unpaid. We consistently seek interns who are strong researchers and writers, who have an expressive voice of their own when talking and writing about art, and who are passionate and curious about contemporary art and art history. Our internships are not paid, but many interns have received course credit from their colleges for their experiences at 511. Our interns have gone on from working at 511 to internships and full-time jobs at museums, galleries, and auction houses, as well as to top graduate programs in art history and curatorial studies.

Frick Collection (New York City, NY). The Frick offers internship opportunities throughout the school year and summer for undergraduate students with an interest in careers in art museums and libraries. Students with strong backgrounds in Art History, Museum Studies, Museum Education, or Library Science are encouraged to apply. These internships provide superb opportunities for participating in all aspects of museum and library work in small dynamic departments and interacting with staff across the institution and the public.

The Getty Foundation (Los Angeles, CA). Paid (stipend). Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internships The internships are intended for outstanding students who are members of groups underrepresented in careers related to museums and the visual arts. Students gain experience in key areas such as curatorship, conservation, education, publications, and related programmatic activities. Candidates are sought from all areas of undergraduate study at any higher education institution—including community colleges, trade schools, and public and private universities—and are not required to have demonstrated a previous commitment to the visual arts.

John and Marble Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota, FL). Paid. Summer internships combine practical, hands-on experience working on a project for a specific department with exposure to all aspects of The Ringling’s operation.

Jewish Museum (New York City, NY). Paid and unpaid. The Jewish Museum's year-round Internship Program provides an opportunity to participate in the day-to-day operations of one of New York City's leading museums of art and culture.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (Los Angeles, CA). Unpaid. The internship program is designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn about projects related to documenting the permanent collection, inventorying and cataloging objects,  incoming and outgoing loans, exhibitions, database management, and special projects. The interns will be exposed to all phases of registration and receive additional assignments focusing on archiving and museum ethics.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, NY). Paid. The Met has over forty department areas that host interns from a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) (Chicago, IL). Paid. MCA internships provide valuable opportunities to learn how nonprofits operate in the company of like-minded young professionals. Many of our former interns go on to careers in museums and other cultural organizations. On occasion, they even join the MCA staff.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (New York City, NY). Paid (stipend). Full-time, seven-month internships with stipends are offered at MoMA for recent graduates of bachelor’s or master’s degree programs interested in pursuing or exploring a museum career. Interns will be provided focused departmental training, complemented with regular activities designed for this cohort to receive greater exposure to the museum and art fields. Internships provide training in specific museum fields through close work with a professional staff member, familiarity with modern and contemporary art through seminars and discussions, and an educational program that exposes interns to the workings of the Museum as a whole, while considering the role of museums in the broader cultural context.

National Gallery of Art (Washington DC). Most NGA internships require graduate work but some are for graduating undergraduates, and nearly all are paid.

National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington DC). Paid and unpaid. Internships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture offer college and graduate students and recent graduates opportunities to work closely with professionals and scholars in the museum field. The museum provides a dynamic learning environment and access to supportive mentors that help interns reach their educational and professional goals. Interns can gain practical museum skills and program development experience in a variety of positions from education to collections to public relations.

National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC). Paid (stipend). Offers internships for students seeking valuable professional experience in the heart of Washington, D.C. Internship opportunities are available in the fall, spring, and summer in a variety of departments. Internship program is specifically designed for students who have completed their sophomore year of undergraduate study (or higher) and recent graduates. All applicants must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA). Paid (stipend). Every summer, the Museum Studies Internship Program offers undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a metropolitan museum. This nine-week, Monday-to-Friday program promotes an awareness of the broad range of museum careers through experiences not available in most academic settings. Museum Studies interns spend four days each week in a specific department. Placements vary from year to year according to departmental needs. The remainder of the week is spent in a Museum Studies seminar.

Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington DC). Paid and unpaid. Since 1968, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery have provided instruction and inspiration to over one thousand graduate and undergraduate students, as well as others seeking self-enrichment. Former interns have achieved success in professional positions in the art and museum fields, both nationally and internationally.

Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC). Paid and Unpaid. Offers a wide range of internship opportunities at the Smithsonian, sorted by unit. Follow this link to get a better sense about where you might like to pursue an internship at the Smithsonian.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York City, NY). The objective of the Guggenheim Museum Internship Program is to provide practical training experience to individuals interested in pursuing careers in the arts and museum fields. Interns gain a broad understanding of how a particular department functions within the context of a major museum, as well as specific skills related to that department’s activities. Interns are assigned based on academic background, professional skills, interests, and career goals. Under the supervision of designated staff members, interns participate in the ongoing work of museum departments, complete individual projects, and contribute to larger Guggenheim initiatives.