Senior Internships

Each year, the Hood Museum of Art offers internships to Dartmouth students, generally entering their senior year. All majors are welcome! Research and promote art and exhibitions, create student programs, and learn from museum professionals.

Applications for the 2024-2025 school year are now closed. The deadline is typically early in spring term.

Internships are available in the following areas:

• Curatorial
• Native American Art
• Programming
• Campus Engagement
• Coin
• Registration

These internships are designed to give an overview of the work of the museum. Interns meet as a group with staff members over the course of the year to learn more about the museum profession as a whole.

Curatorial interns work closely with a curator responsible for a particular area of the museum's collection, doing research, writing, and helping with aspects of exhibition development.

Native American Art interns work closely with the curator of Indigenous art, doing research, writing, and helping with aspects of exhibition development. This internship is open to first-year through senior-year students.

Programming interns work with the education staff to create programs that engage Dartmouth students in learning about original works of art. They develop and lead museum events such as tours, gallery/studio programs, discussion groups, and parties.

The Campus Engagement intern works with the campus engagement manager to run the Museum Club student program and the Hood After 5 event series, and to develop and promote new student engagement initiatives. 

The Coin intern works with the museum's coin collection and is supervised by a member of the Department of Classics faculty.

The Registration intern collaborates with members of the registration team on collection care and documentation projects.

In addition to working within their respective museum areas, some interns organize a unique A Space for Dialogue installation. Working with Hood staff, interns determine a theme and identify objects, help design the installation, write labels and a brochure, and deliver a public gallery talk.

Commitment and Compensation

Hood internships require a commitment of ten hours per week during the fall, winter, and spring terms and are paid at a rate of $17.25 per hour.

Applications

The next deadline for applications (cover letter and resume) is Sunday, March 31, 2024. Please indicate in your cover letter which internship(s) you are interested in. Please address and email your cover letter and resume to Ms. Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood senior curator of academic programming and Dr. Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon associate curator of academic programming, and cc Mr. Randall Kuhlman, Center for Object Study coordinator.

Students who plan to do a senior thesis are strongly discouraged from applying for these internships, due to the significant time commitment that each entails. Art history majors who intend to complete a thesis during their senior year may apply during their sophomore spring to participate in the program as juniors. For questions about the internship program, feel free to email Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood senior curator of academic programming and intern supervisor.

What do interns gain from their experience?

Read a June 2019 The Dartmouth newspaper article about our 2018-19 interns.

Career Inspiration

"The blend of practical experience, academic enrichment, and personal growth has prepared me for futures related to and outside of museum work. I really value the relationships with staff I cultivated and all of the experiences I accumulated over the course of the year."—Anthony Ball '23/'24

"The Hood internship functioned as an opportunity to practically learn about museum work through numerous casual and scheduled conversations. It was in the Hood that I was given the freedom to think, ponder, and ask about a career in museum work. I now know that I want to be a lot more forward facing in my career and I have a particular passion for diversifying museum staff and collections. Looking back, the Hood was exactly where I needed to be to think about museum diversity."—Victoria McCraven '19

Insight into Museums

"I really valued being in a real working museum space doing the same kinds of work curators do. Before, I hadn't thought of the differences involved in the work of museums of different scales. Working at the Hood has not only shown me what it's actually like to do museum work, but what that specifically means in a college museum context. I was exposed to some of the politics of working in a museum setting and gained real skills, such as writing about art for large audiences. I very much valued the mentorship I received and am grateful for that above all."—Kimberly Yu '18

"I feel like this internship is one of the few "real" jobs on campus that students can have because it's rigorous, I worked with many of the full-time employees of the Hood, and I am walking away from it with concrete projects as well as countless skills that I will take with me."—Jules Wheaton '19

"Working at the Hood was an incredible experience for me in finding ways to connect with my identity but also find where my passions lie and understand the inner workings of a museum. As a STEM major, this experience helped me find ways to find the intersectionality between STEM and the humanities."—Noor Najeeb '25

The Freedom to Work Independently

"I loved getting to do our own space for dialogue projects because it was a way for me to bring my own thoughts and individuality to the internship. I could have focused on anything I wanted so having that opportunity was a good experience for me to really think about and develop my interests in art. I changed my topic several times because I was pushed to explore my interests for myself and to really think about my opinions of art in a museum setting."—Ashley Dotson '18

"The independence I had over the internship is something I really valued because it gave me the ability to figure out how to create something entirely from the ground up. Whether it be the programs I worked on or the space for dialogue, I really was thrown in the deep end, although there was an abundance of guidance along the way, making the experience a challenge and immensely rewarding."—Amy Zaretsky '23

What are former Hood interns doing now?

Many former Hood interns have gone on to graduate programs and academic and museum careers at prestigious colleges, universities, and museums. Other former interns have gone on to pursue careers in galleries, to conduct research with museum evaluation firms, and to work as practicing artists. Read interviews with past Hood interns.

Press and Related Stories

• "Constructing the Ideal Soldier" questions gender and patriotism," The Dartmouth
• "Student-curated exhibit portrays movements through an artistic lens," The Dartmouth
• "'The Politics of Pink' explores notions of femininity, fragility," The Dartmouth
• "Senior interns work to make the Hood Museum inclusive," The Dartmouth
• "Student-curated Hood Museum exhibit explores consent through photography," The Dartmouth
• "Hood Museum internships give Dartmouth students professional arts experience," The Dartmouth

The Hood Museum of Art thanks the generous alumni and parents who have given endowments that fund many of the museum's senior internships: the Class of 1954 Internship, the Homma Family Internship, the Kathryn Conroy Internship, the Levinson Internship, and the Mellon Special Project Internship.