My name is Lynn Hunter and I am a senior Photography major. During the summer of 2016, I
was an Exhibitions Work Scholar for the Aperture Foundation based in New York City. The Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides photo books, exhibitions, and educational programming as well as being one of the leading photography publishers in the world. The MICA
Photography department has an internship program connected with Aperture that elects one
student each year to complete an eight week, paid internship with the company. In order to obtain the
internship, I researched the company further then applied to the MICA Selections committee
with a resume and cover letter. I, long with two other students, were selected to have online
interviews with two Aperture administrators, who would then choose which of us would fill the
internship position.
My supervisor was Annette Booth, the Director of Exhibitions Management. She's in charge of Aperture’s gallery, meaning she schedules, budgets, installs, curates, designs, lights, and anything
else needed to put up an exhibition. She also runs the traveling exhibition program which allows
for Aperture shows to get rented out to institutions and galleries around the world. While I
worked at Aperture, I was given tasks mainly concerning the Summer Open Exhibition, which is
one of the biggest annual shows put on by the foundation. I handled art work included in
the show, took inventory, and emailed artists about the status of everything. This experience left me feeling accomplished for being able to hold my own in not only a new big city, but one of the biggest art
capitals in the world. Managing transportation, housing, and work related projects all on my own really
gave me confidence that I could survive in the world after college.
