Museum Studies Internships at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Museum Studies Internship Program: June 2–July 25, 2025
Application Deadline: February 17, 2025
The Museum Studies Internship Program introduces students to the inner workings of a major metropolitan museum, promoting an awareness of careers in the field through experiences not available in most academic settings. An internship with the Philadelphia Museum of Art is an invaluable educational, professional, and personal experience. Through the internship program, interns develop an understanding of a professional workplace, receive one-on-one mentorship, learn practical skills, and participate in professional development sessions while networking with museum staff and peers. We welcome and encourage individuals of all cultural and academic backgrounds to apply. Ten students will be selected for the summer program taking place over eight weeks, from June 2 to July 25, 2025. Interns receive a stipend of $4,000 for living expenses.

Internship Format
The internship, which runs Monday–Friday over eight weeks, is made up of two parts.

Departmental Placement: Following a careful review of their experiences as well as their professional and academic ambitions, interns are placed in specific departments, where they spend four days per week. Placements vary each year; over the MSIP’s 40+-year history, nearly every museum department has hosted an intern. Through this aspect of the program, interns develop an understanding of a professional workplace, learn practical skills, and receive one-on-one mentorship.

Museum Studies Seminar: Roughly one day per week, interns participate in museum studies sessions, which include behind-the-scenes tours of the museum; presentations from professionals from across the institution; discussions of urgent issues confronting the museum field; site visits to cultural institutions in Philadelphia; and professional development workshops.

Eligibility Requirements
The Museum Studies Internship Program offers internships to applicants:
-From all cultural and academic backgrounds
-Who are currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students, or have graduated within the same calendar year as the Internship Program
-Who have completed at least their freshman year of college by the end of the Spring 2025 semester
-Who are eligible to work in the United States
-Who are committed to attending all program sessions

Departmental Placements
Assignments, projects, and placements depend on departmental and institutional needs and thus vary each year. The descriptions below are meant to give you a sense of the mission and core responsibilities of multiple departments in the museum; they do not represent specific opportunities for Summer 2025.

The coordinator of the Museum Studies Internship Program will outline a specific placement when contacting each finalist with an offer for acceptance into the program. Candidates will have the opportunity to ask questions before accepting or declining the position.

Advancement: Assist in nurturing relationships with donors and prospective donors to secure support-gifts, grants, sponsorships, and gifts-in-kind. Work with one of several departmental programs including individual giving, institutional support, donor engagement, or development operations.

Collections Information: Assist with standardizing and bolstering information in the collections database and assist with other technology-related projects.

Conservation: Observe conservation techniques for furniture, objects, paintings, works on paper, or textiles. Depending on their specific area of interest, interns may be placed in one department or shared between two. Interns with a science background may participate in chemical analysis of materials and other laboratory tasks.

Curatorial: Update the museum’s database and object files, conduct research, work on inventory projects, reorganize storage, and carry out administrative tasks in one of the museum’s curatorial departments
American Art
Asian Art
Costume & Textiles
European Art
Modern & Contemporary Art
Prints, Drawings, & Photographs

Executive Office: Support the Director and Chief Executive Officer to provide oversight and leadership to ensure the fulfillment of the institution’s curatorial and educational mission as well as the realization of its financial goals. The Director also works with the Board of Trustees to develop museum policies and long-range plans.

External Affairs: Assist the Press Office to promote Museum initiatives to the press and other local media; support the department’s efforts to sustain and expand the government’s support for the museum and its various programs.

Exhibitions: Support the development, communication, and tracking of project timelines and budgets for temporary exhibitions, traveling exhibitions, special projects, gallery rotations and reinstallations; assist in designing museum galleries so that they ideally communicate the themes of a given exhibition.

Facilities & Operations: ​​Assist in protecting the museum’s renowned collections and providing a first-rate visitor experience by understanding the requirements of the PMA’s diverse physical facilities; anticipating and planning for future needs; and delivering comprehensive building, collections, and security initiatives.

Finance: Support the Finance department, which is responsible for the maintenance of books, records, and financial statements.

Growth & Brand: This division oversees multiple departments. Depending on project needs, interns may assist marketing staff to develop and maintain outlets for paid advertising and coordinate social media and digital content; or they may work with editorial staff to copyedit exhibition texts as well as newsletters, brochures, invitations, and signs.

Human Resources: Review and update recruitment materials and assist with museum-wide initiatives in employee engagement, training, and benefits.

Learning & Engagement: Assist the division’s multiple departments—Community Access and Engagement, Family Programs, Interpretation, Public Programs, School and Educator Engagement, and Audience Research—in their efforts to find inspiring connections between art and life, promote the study of the visual arts as a rich resource for improving education, and extend the reach of the museum’s collections to a broad, diverse audience.

Library & Archives: Catalogue archival images, create metadata, conduct collection maintenance and development, and assist staff.

Membership & Audience Strategy: Assist with event planning and implementation, social-media marketing, gift entry and reporting, and membership activities.

Photography Studio: Prepare images for publications, interactives, and the website. Capture, edit, distribute, label, and archive photographs. Photograph events, behind-the-scenes installations, and publicity photo shoots.

Publishing: Contribute to the conception, editing, design, production, and distribution of the museum’s physical and online publications.

Registrar: Assist the registrar and other staff in tracking the location and condition of art objects in the collection. Help with object inventories, resolve loan issues, data entry for deaccessioned records, and review and update acquisition files.

Special Events: Support the Special Events team in coordinating and carrying out museum events; help organize electronic marketing efforts for special events; format the event marketing calendar; and update promotional materials and distribution lists.

Visitor Services: Assist in ensuring an excellent visitor experience by welcoming and orienting the public, providing wayfinding, and managing group experiences.

How To Apply:

Apply via Philadelphia Museum of Art website.

This job was sourced via MuseWeekly Newsletter.