INTERNSHIP STORIES

Summer Internship at the BMA The first time I heard about this position was through a MICA email announcing that BMA was open for Summer intern applications. I had been actively looking for internship opportunities and had a strong interest in the BMA, so I immediately decided to apply. I was responsible for drafting proposals for grants and sponsorship applications, communicating with colleagues in various departments, and gathering information to strengthen the proposals. One challenge I faced is how to effectively translate creative ideas from the programs I hear about into compelling proposals for potential funders and donors. I was also assigned the task of creating forms to track potential funders, which involved using specific software for data collection. Overall, the work is both challenging and rewarding, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. So far, I am most proud of my growth in writing, research, and communication skills. I have become more confident in both re...

  Curatorial Practice at Pazo This fall, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at Pazo Fine Art, a leading contemporary art gallery in the Washington metropolitan area. I discovered this opportunity through my program director, who encouraged me to reach out to the gallery’s owner and director. From the very beginning, the owner was warm, welcoming, and supportive, setting the tone for an enriching and inspiring experience. Pazo Fine Art , founded in 2020, has quickly established itself as a dynamic presence in the art world. With locations in Kensington, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.'s historic U Street corridor, the  gallery is dedicated to showcasing innovative exhibitions across  various media while amplifying the voices of underrepresented  artists. Under the owners thoughtful leadership, the gallery  explores influential movements like Neo-Geo, Color Field, and  Light and Space, blending historical reevaluation with contemporary abstraction. I w...

Blue Light Junction is a natural dye garden and artist collective situated in Station North, Baltimore. They are committed to preserving natural dye techniques and crafts through workshops, residencies, and support of local artists. I discovered Blue Light Junction through the legacy of the Baltimore Natural Dye Initiative and various community events hosted at the space. This opportunity was secured in part due to my previous experiences in similar work environments and my eagerness to learn and benefit Blue Light Junction as a company.  During my time at Blue Light Junction, my responsibilities encompassed supporting community outreach, managing the concept store, and supporting the administrative proceedings of the center. I organized the studio’s library, drafted emails and newsletters, and helped maintain a smooth workflow. Additionally, I helped organize and market the residency exhibition showing in the fall.  I am most proud of my proposal to transform the concept stor...

 I first found out about this opportunity through the Gallery’s instagram page. I was already following them because I had some artwork in one of their previous shows, and so I emailed them and said I was interested in the intern position that they had open. They asked for a resume and an interview, and I ended up getting the position. The owner of the gallery was my direct supervisor, who organized all of its events and coordinates with artists in order to hold shows at the gallery. I also did some work with another supervisor, who handled a lot of the gallery’s more technical work involving spreadsheets and advertising. On slower days, I worked the front desk at the gallery, and helped talk to other artists and potential customers, and helped to sell artwork. I also helped some with setting up their website and stock-keeping. Additionally, I was able to help out with some of the remodeling and setting up for their latest exhibitions, namely, I helped to organize the resident arti...

Women and Their Work is a nonprofit organization and arts space in Austin, TX. The space was founded in 1978 with the purpose of uplifting and supporting female artists in Texas. Women and Their Work provides education programming, has events, and helps women artists have solo shows. I was interested in Women and Their Work because it feels like such a unique gallery space and has a great legacy in Austin.  Women and Their Work had a summer internship program listed that seemed really interesting to me and I thought it would teach me skills I wanted to learn, such as gallery installation, day-to-day, and what it’s like to run a nonprofit. I applied, was interviewed and then accepted for the Gallery Assistant intern position. My consistent responsibility was being the first point of contact for people visiting the gallery. I would answer any questions about the gallery, talk to guests, and survey the demographics of visitors of the gallery. My other responsibilities would vary. I as...

The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation is dedicated to sustaining, expanding, and preserving the legacy of Valerie J. Maynard, her art, and her ideals. I got started with this internship through an initial connection with a photographer at a show opening in New York in February. We later connected in May through Instagram where I eventually interviewed for a position. At The Valerie J. Maynard Foundation I worked alongside board and foundation members as well as other legacy interns. Some of what my role and responsibilities included was cleaning, organizing, and archiving art materials, sculpture, tools, and photography within the home studio space. I also helped with creating an archival organization system to preserve archival artwork materials and worked on administration aspects like file naming and archiving. I attended group meetings to work with board and foundation members, and legacy specialists and interns to assist workflow and give updates. After a work session each day I would...

Hamiltonian Artists' mission is to build a dynamic community of innovative artists and effective visual art leaders by providing professional development opportunities and advancing their entrepreneurial success. Through a two-year fellowship program they produce group shows and solo shows to help build a solid foundation for emerging artists. A professor from one of my courses works at Hamiltonian Artists and reached out to me at the end of the course if I would be interested in an internship. During my internship I would report back to my supervisor with tasks I was assigned to and we would discuss program planning for the future. I was involved in a variety of projects like managing donor and board member Thank You letters and learning about the Bloomerang database. I also helped plan programs for kinetic members which is a sales and lending program on cultivating the next generation collectors. The mission of the program is to connect artists and collectors in such ways as cond...

Creative Alliance is a non-profit arts organization with a location in Baltimore, Maryland. They host exhibitions, resident artist programs, workshops, live performances and community events. I found out about this internship opportunity through a MICA Career Fair. There I talked to the someone from Creative Alliance. After our short conversation, I sent my resume and cover letter to apply to the curatorial internship position. I had a second meeting with them and we decided to move forward with the internship.  My supervisor oversaw the operations of exhibitions and its related programming, including managing the resident artist program. The resident artist program is a housing/residency program. Artists apply to the program, pay subsidized fees for housing and studios in the Creative Alliance building and receive professional support and exhibition opportunities in return.  As a resident artist coordinator, I interviewed resident artists about their needs and used this infor...

I found out about this internship as I was scrolling through the website for my school work. The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) holds a strong place in my heart, but I never thought about interning there as it doesn’t have a connection to my major. It was a stroke of luck that I manage to secure it as I found it three days from the application deadline date.  My amazing professors were extremely kind and helped me write a letter of recommendation (I found out later it was my letters of recommendation that pushed me ahead of everyone else). Otherwise, using the 3 days, I asked as many people as I could to read through all my materials, including Career Development and my Academic Advisor.   NMWA in Washington, DC champions and supports women artists. It is the only museum in the world solely dedicated to women artists. They feature a variety of art forms, mostly focusing on contemporary art. The department I worked in was Digital Engagement, this applied...

This summer, I interned for the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Media (PCA&M) an organization dedicated to the promotion of the arts. This non-profit hosts an exhibition space that showcases anywhere from one to three exhibitions at a time, in addition to a school that offers a wide array of classes to both children and adults. The school offers a variety of classes, including ceramics, metalworking, screen printing, photography, and more. While researching internship opportunities in Pittsburgh, I came upon a posting for an Exhibitions Intern. I was unaware that the posting was from 2016, however, I was able to get in contact with the Gallery Programs Manager who was enthusiastic about my interest. After some correspondence and a phone interview, I was offered a position as an Exhibitions Intern. I was supervised by the Creative Director. The focus of my internship was on preparing and assisting with the upcoming exhibition, which featured seven sol...