2022 PROGRAM TIMELINE

You must apply via the application of your first-choice location (i.e. New York City, New Jersey, Nashville, Boston, Sarasota/Manatee, or Wake Country/Raleigh). You have the option of being considered for any/all locations without completing another application.  Please note that by selecting additional locations, you are consenting to be placed in any of your selected cities. Location preferences will not be taken into consideration. The final date to apply is January 14, 2022 11:59 pm (ET). Late applications will not be considered.

Program Description

Through the Diversity in Arts Leadership internship program, students will have the unique opportunity to:

• Gain hands-on experience in arts management by working on projects that are designed to increase applicable skills, contacts, and future job prospects. Intern projects can be in marketing and communications, development and fundraising, event planning, audience development, community outreach, and more. 
• Benefit from the experience and skills of arts professionals. Mentors guide and advise the students throughout the internship, through regular meetings and conversations, and nurture an intern’s personal goals and interests. They provide insight into the arts world and demonstrate how individuals with varying careers and backgrounds can support the arts. Each intern's day-to-day arts host supervisor is an experienced and can also serve as a professional mentor.
• Participate in conversations and skills-building workshops about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, career development, and professional networks.
• Build a close network of peers who are also navigating a future career in arts management and have are interested in the arts across disciplines.

The internship is an intensive 10-week program in a host location, which includes a four-day work week with a locally-based arts organizations, opening and closing ceremonies, orientations, group site visits, professional development, reflection sessions, opportunities to attend cultural events, and weekly communication and/or meet ups with your mentor.

Schedule

All interns work for ten weeks in their respective cities and at local arts organizations. Interns will begin their first day on the job after the June 6th, 2022 opening ceremony. Specific daily work schedules will be set by individual host organizations, but interns should expect to work generally Monday through Thursday (6.5 hour days plus one hour unpaid lunch and 4 paid hours of DIALogues time per week).

DIALogues

On Fridays, interns will participate in DIALogues, a designated day to learn about the field through site visits, professional development activities, reflection time, and more!

During the program, all interns visit each other's arts host organization to learn more about the work of their peers and experience the mission, programming, and infrastructure of a broader cross-section of the local arts ecosystem. Site visits may take the form of tours, performances, workshops, panel discussions with staff, or whatever the intern and host organization feel best conveys the mission and work of that organization. Local arts coordinating agencies will provide interns with monthly networking opportunities and workshops on career-related and diversity, equity, and inclusion topics.

Evaluations

Interns will be expected to meet regularly with both host arts supervisors and mentors to define, review, and evaluate project and personal goals. Interns, host organizations, and mentors will each be required to complete mid-point check-in with staff as well as a final evaluation survey to assess the program.

Stipend

Each intern will receive a pre-tax stipend of $4,500 for the duration of the program’s ten weeks. Individual work and payment schedules are determined by the host organization and communicated to the intern prior to the start of the program. The intern will be subjected to the same personnel policies as the host organization’s staff.

Housing Information

Housing is not provided for interns. Interns are responsible for their housing arrangements and miscellaneous expenses for the duration of the internship. The local arts coordinating agency will provide a list of possible summer accommodations, but please note these have not been vetted nor endorsed by Americans for the Arts.

Academic Credit

Interns who wish to receive academic credit for their internships must make appropriate arrangements directly with their schools and inform Americans for the Arts of this arrangement before the program begins. At the student’s request, the local host agency will provide any necessary support materials to show successful completion.

Selection Process

Americans for the Arts and local arts agency partners select both interns and host organizations through a competitive application process. Typically, more than 100 students from around the country apply for 17 internship positions. We match students with local cities based on the preferences you indicate in your application as well as with arts host organizations based on students’ interests and experience/skills as they relate to the host organizations’ proposed projects.

A key feature of this program is Americans for the Arts' requirement that each project be preparation for leadership, challenging, and substantive. Prospective host organizations also must apply for selection to the program and are required to submit a detailed description of a proposed project that will afford students hands-on exposure to arts administration.

Host organizations, representing a diverse cross-section of the nation's nonprofit arts community, are selected based upon the scope of their projects and the existence of a positive, supportive environment in which the intern can gain experience in arts management. Individual organizations and projects will vary each year. For a list of past host arts organizations in New York City, please visit: http://bit.ly/ABCNYhosts.

The final date to apply is January 14, 2022. Late applications will not be considered. Applicants selected for an interview will be notified via e-mail about scheduling an interview with Americans for the Arts and/or local coordinting agency staff. Interviews will be conducted virtually via Zoom or RingCentral video platform.