Art & Art History
Department

 

Art and Art History Student Resources> Internships and Volunteer Opportunities

Internships and volunteer work are a great way to gain real-world experience, develop your career interests, make valuable professional contacts, and build your resume for future employment. Everyone should do one! The very best way to figure out what internship might best suit your goals and interests is to talk it over with any one of your art and art history faculty.  The Washington-Baltimore area is chocked full of fabulous internship opportunities of all sorts. There are also some great options in the immediate southern Maryland area and even opportunities right here on campus for those that might want to consider an internship while taking classes at SMCM.

There are so many types of art organizations and programs to choose from. Public galleries and community-based art organizations tend to focus on contemporary exhibitions and artist community membership and so can be a great way to build connections with area artists. Working at non-profit art organizations can also mean learning about fund raising and writing grants. Working in a private gallery or with an art consultant is a good way to learn about the commercial side of the art business. Working with public arts administration organizations such as state and county arts councils can be a great way to learn about public arts policy and how art interfaces with civic governments. Museums often consist of many departments, each with their own area of specialization including curation, collections management, and education. Students wanting to orient their internships toward studio production can choose to work as an assistant to an individual artist, work for an arts workshop organization, or work in an applied art area such as graphic design, commercial photography, or decorative painting. Art education experiences also come in many forms. This sort of experience can be had through the education department of a museum, working in schools, or working with summer youth programs. Below is a list of some possible internship sites. Again, the best first step to figuring out what is right for you is to talk to your faculty. Besides, many of us have personal contacts at most of these sites which can be invaluable for making a successful application. 

Some prime options and past examples are listed below but there are endless possibilities that can be unearthed by visiting the SMCM career center, searching online, and talking to faculty and other students. Each link will open in new a browser window.
 

Non Profit Galleries, Organizations and Community Art Programs
Anne Marie Gardens, Solomons, MD 
Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC 
Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC 
International Arts and Artists/Hillyer Art Space, DC
Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD 
School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD 
Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD 
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA 
1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA 
International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), NYC
International Child Art Foundation, DC (opportunities vary - contact directly)
Independent Curators International, NYC (jobs, internships in curation, education, admin)

Arts Administration, Policy and Advocacy
Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore MD    
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, MD 
Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts (Artscape) 
Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC 
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC   
Arlington Commission for the Arts, Arlington, VA 
College Art Association, NYC 
ArtTable Summer Mentored Internship for Diversity in the Visual Arts Professions

Commercial Art Galleries, Art Fairs, Collective Exhibitions  
Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC  
G Fine Art, Washington, DC   
PINTA (The Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art Fair), NYC [every Fall]
Verge (Miami, NYC, Basel) [NYC every Winter]
Pulse (Miami, NYC) [late Fall]

Museums, DC  
National Museum of Women in the Arts  
The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC  
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 
Hillwood Museum, Washington, DC 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 
including Sackler/Freer Galleries (Asian),
The Hirshhorn, 
American Art Museum,
 Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, 
Archives of American Art,
 National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery 

Museums, Baltimore 
The Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD  
American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD  
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD 
Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History, Baltimore, MD  

Museums, Other 
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 
Historic St. Mary’s City, MD   
Museum of Modern Art, NYC

Individual Artists  
Jim Sanborn, sculptor, Piney Point, MD  
Jeanne Hammett, printmaker, St Inigoes, MD  
Greg Staley, Photographer, Tacoma Park, MD    
One of the SMCM studio faculty 

Art Workshops  
Pyramid Atlantic Print Workshop, Silver Spring, MD  
Women's Studio Workshop , Rosedale, NY  
Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA  

Applied Arts  
Maryland Public Television, Owings Mills, MD  
Winters Studio (decorative faux painting), Bethesda, MD  
 
Art Education  
Arts Bridge (contact Carrie Patterson)    
Flow After School Program for Kids, St. Mary’s County, MD         
Boys and Girls Club of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s County, MD       
St. Mary’s County Public School, Elementary Art (contact  Ms. Duke- Wilson)      
Sitar Arts Center, NW DC
Art for the People, Montgomery County, MD (adult and youth programs)
Arts for the Aging, DC and Montgomery County, MD

Art Libraries, Visual Resources, Art Information
Art Libraries Society of North America Internship List
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, DC

Architecture, Historic Preservation, Conservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation (jobs, internships, etc.) 
Preserve.net
Bell Architects, Washington, DC (contact about opportunities)
Arcitrave P.C. Architects, Washington, DC (woman-owned, Capitol Hill) (contact about opportunities)
National Museum of the American Indian Conservation Programs, DC

On-Campus Opportunities  
Historic St. Mary’s City, MD 
Arts Bridge (contact Carrie Patterson)
Boyden Gallery (collection management,gallery assistant/preparator) 
Media Services (web support, AV maintenance, video production) 
Office of Instructional Technology (instruction, tech support) 

Volunteer Opportunities
Catalogue for Philanthropy - Washington DC - database of vetted, high-success rate non-profits
Latin American Youth Center, Art and Media House - Washington DC
Art Enables, Washington DC (art education for people with developmental/mental disabilities)