The Association of Research Institutes in Art History Careers in Art History Internship Program and the Power of the Cross-Institutional Virtual Internship
Session will present: In-PersonAffiliated Society or Committee Name: Association of Research Institutes in Art History
In November, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH), an organization representing institutes of advanced research that promote scholarship in the history of art and related disciplines in North America and beyond, hosted two cohorts of 10 interns for a paid, four-week virtual internship program that took each cohort to four distinct member institutions, including the Archives of American Art, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Clark Art Institute, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through weekly curricula, individual mentorship, and project-based research the 20 interns, largely undergraduate students or recent grads, the majority from historically marginalized communities and/or attending institutions of higher learning with limited access to paid internships in art history, learned about the different professional pathways available to them at art museums and research centers, including collections management, conservation, digital communications strategies, amongst others. In 2022 and 2023 two further iterations of the program brought together another 30 interns to engage in meaningful dialogue with the aim of expanding the professional pathways of undergraduate students on the institutional margins of the field. This panel brings together former interns, mentors, and ARIAH internship convenors to reflect on the pasts and futures of virtual internships in the field of art history and its allied disciplines. It also addresses how to provide meaningful internship opportunities for undergraduates, particularly those from historically marginalized communities, with a view to having them engage meaningfully in discussions about professions in art history and museums.
Field(s) of Study:
Media: Interdisciplinary
Geographic Area: North America
Time Period: Survey
Topics: World
Theory / Practice: Conservation
Chair:
Caroline Fowler, Clark Art Institute
Discussants:
Peter M. Lukehart
,
Sana Mirza
and
Rafico Ruiz
Abstract Submissions Closed
