Internships

Internships offer hands on experience in curatorial, museum, and other research settings that can provide training for disciplinary skills and for future careers. In the context of doctoral study, internships should provide students with meaningful, impactful work that allows them to grow while contributing to the host site. 

The Smart Museum of Art’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Curatorial Internship provides mentorship, opportunities, and resources for a graduate student to conduct substantive collections research and contribute meaningfully to museum projects and initiatives. Creatively and critically integrating the Smart’s collection into campus and community life is a central aim of the internship, and applicants are encouraged to bring their individual background, scholarly interests, and disciplinary experiences to the position. The internship is open to advanced graduate students who have finished their coursework and, ideally, are in the late stages of the dissertation. Applications are announced in the Spring of the preceding academic year. For more information, contact the Director of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry.

Mellon Curatorial Internship at the Smart Museum

The Smart Museum of Art’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Curatorial Internship provides mentorship, opportunities, and resources for a graduate student to conduct substantive collections research and contribute meaningfully to museum projects and initiatives. Creatively and critically integrating the Smart’s collection into campus and community life is a central aim of the internship, and applicants are encouraged to bring their individual background, scholarly interests, and disciplinary experiences to the position. The internship is open to advanced graduate students who have finished their coursework and, ideally, are in the late stages of the dissertation. Applications are announced in the Spring of the preceding academic year. For more information, contact the Director of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry.

External Opportunities

UChicagoGRAD can help students receive funding for internships that are unpaid. Students who have identified an unpaid internship to pursue should contact UChicagoGRAD to find out if they can work out a paid arrangement. 

Chicago art and cultural institutions that offer internships:

Institutions in other U.S. cities: