Internships and Fellowship Opportunities
Museum internships and independent research complement coursework in art history. We very much encourage students to pursue research and internship opportunities outside of academic coursework, because these will give you a broader and deeper understanding of art and its institutions. Below is a preliminary list of internship and fellowship opportunities for which you can apply during and after your college studies. These opportunities are valuable in and of themselves, and will also help strengthen any applications that you might make to graduate or professional schools. Beyond this list of formal programs, students should feel comfortable contacting cultural institutions in their home towns to inquire about informal internships that can provide very valuable experiences.
Museum Internships and Research Fellowships for Art History Undergraduates:
Art Institute of Chicago: June 9 - 14, 2025
The McMullan Family Foundation Summer Intensive is a weeklong immersive program introducing undergraduate students to museum professions. Application open through Friday, February 28, 2025. Priority given to those based or attending school in the greater Chicagoland area and the Midwest.
Brooklyn Museum: May 27 - August 8, 2025
Applications open in January and close in February. Questions? Email internships@brooklynmuseum.org.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: June 9 - August 15, 2025
Application deadline for the Peter A. Krueger Summer Internship Program is Monday, February 10, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Joffrey Ballet School 2025 Summer Internship
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: June 2 - August 8, 2025
Application deadline is January 15, 2025, 5 pm (ET)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: June 16 - August 22, 2025
Rolling application period: February 7 - March 14, 2025, early submissions strongly encouraged.
PENN Museum: June 2 - July 31, 2025
Applications close on February 2, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Philadelphia Museum of Art: June 2 - July 25, 2025
Application Deadline for the Museum Studies Internship Program is February 17, 2025.
Phillips Auction: June 2 - August 8, 2025.
Seeking interns in the Modern & Contemporary Art department. The deadline to apply is February 1st, 2025.
The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Including the Katzenberger Foundation Art History Internship Program, the Conservation Internship for Broadening Access (CIBA), internships at the Archives of American Art, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and more!
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: June 2 - July 25, 2025
The deadline to apply is Friday, January 24, 2025, at 11:59 pm Eastern Time
Summer 2025 Hearst Family Internship applications now open, submit materials ASAP.
Wesleyan:
James E. Lieber Art History Internship Fund
Fund provides grant support to Art History majors or minors for summer work experience as rising juniors and seniors through unpaid or underpaid internships with non-profit visual arts-related institutions in the United States or abroad, such as museums, cultural foundations, collections, publications, and visual arts education programs.
John T. Paoletti Travel Research Fellowships in Art History
Funds are available to support student research and travel in the summer following the junior year that will result in a senior thesis project. Only current juniors who are working with art history faculty and who will complete a senior thesis are eligible.
Wesleyan Paris Program/Terra Foundation for American Art Europe Internship in Paris
The fall semester internship is in the Terra Foundation Paris library. The year-long intern provides 15 hours per week of general assistance in the Terra Foundation Paris office, and the internship is particularly suited to students with a demonstrated interest in art, art history, communications, or museum or non-profit institutional management. You can read a former intern's impressions (in French) of her experience here. Students who wish to undertake these internships must be participants in the Paris program (and thus have met the requirements for admission to the program, including having passed FREN 215 with at least a B) and then apply for the internships after they have been admitted to the program. We have, unfortunately, only one internship for a fall-semester student and one internship for a full-year student at the moment, so there is likely to be some competition for the positions (which are open to all students on the program, not just Wesleyan students).
Post-BA fellowships to apply for:
American Rhodes Scholarships
The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honor the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes, provides full financial support for Rhodes Scholars to pursue a degree or degrees at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The Beinecke Scholarship Program
The Beinecke Scholarship program aims to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue graduate opportunities in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Blakemore Kingfisher Art History Language Fellowship
The Blakemore Kingfisher Art History Language Fellowship is awarded for nine to twelve months of full-time, intensive language study of Chinese or Korean in East Asia. These grants are open to students who have demonstrated intent to pursue an academic career in Chinese or Korean art history prior to the 20th century.
Fulbright: International Education Exchange Program
The Fulbright Program offers grants to study, teach and conduct research for U.S. citizens to go abroad and non-U.S. citizens to come to the United States.
Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship
(To be considered by the selection committee for the Mortimer Hays–Brandeis Traveling Fellowship, candidates must be nominated by the institution from which they received their undergraduate degree. The internal deadline for Wesleyan is February 17, Monday, 12PM. Please email your application materials to steoh@wesleyan.edu.)
The Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship provides support to students in the visual and fine arts, including art history, conservation, studio art and photography, for travel and living expenses outside the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii in accordance with a program of study or other activities approved by the fellowship selection committee.
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
A one year grant for independant study and travel outside the United States awarded to graduating college seniors nominated by participating institutions.