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Internship Program
SITE Santa Fe’s Internship Program is structured so that interns are provided with meaningful opportunities to learn in a working environment within a contemporary art museum. Meetings with all departments are arranged to familiarize interns with the spectrum of daily activities behind the scenes at our institution. Interns work in various departments and can receive college credit for their internship experience.
Applications are accepted year round for internships.
Departments that offer Internships at SITE Santa Fe:
Education and Public Programs
SITE’s education, outreach, and public programs seek to make contemporary art accessible to a wide and diverse audience, stimulate a high level of discourse, and explore multiple perspectives of art and culture on an international scale. Through SITE’s education programs, we seek to be a platform for empowering and educating the next generation of museum professionals, artists, and advocates of art and culture. In order to bring greater understanding of our exhibitions, SITE presents a broad scope of educational programs. These include lectures, panel discussions, dialogues, and performances with well-known artists, poets, and musicians. Additional programs include exhibition tours with SITE Guides, SITE’s Young Curators Program, and collaborations with organizations and schools in the community.
An Intern in the Education and Public Programs department must have a knowledge of contemporary art, strong organization and communication skills, must be computer savvy, and must be ready and willing to learn. Tasks include, but are not limited to: researching current and upcoming exhibitions, working with the SITE guides (give tours to guests, answer guest’s questions and monitor the galleries), working at the front desk (cash register, handling incoming calls, etc.), assisting with public programs, proof reading, social networking, updating the library catalogue, updating the website, making posters, community outreach, and assisting with our Young Curators program. A working knowledge of Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, and social networking sites (Facebook, Tumblr, etc.) is preferable.
External Affairs
The External Affairs department focuses its energies on marketing and promotion. We employ a variety of marketing and promotional tools to ensure international, national, and local visibility for SITE Santa Fe including the management of an organizational website, media outreach, and the design, production and distribution of print materials.
The Department of External Affairs is looking for public relations interns with excellent writing and critical thinking skills who are organized and detail-oriented and can work independently in a fast paced environment. Microsoft Word, Excel and Photoshop computer skills are necessary as well as fluency with social media. Photography, video and design skills are a plus. Tasks could include: monitoring press coverage from traditional and online media outlets, researching possible media outlets for special exhibitions, assisting in the drafting of short media advisories, fact sheets and bimonthly media calendars, website work, database work and compiling press kits.
We are a very small office so there would inevitably be other tasks as assigned.
Events/Development
SITE’s Event staff is within the Development department and works closely with External Affairs, focusing its energies on benefit fundraising events and a broad scope of public programs, including lectures, panel discussions, dialogues, and performances with well-known artists, poets, and musicians.
An intern within the Development department would work directly with the Events Manager, providing critical support and receiving hands-on experience while working on the details and logistics that go into special events, including auctions; SPREAD, a community dinner that funds artists’ projects creative initiatives; Art & Culture public programs; and membership events. In addition to events, there will be opportunities to assist with other fundraising and promotional projects, giving the intern in-depth knowledge and experience in this important area of non-profit arts management.
Exhibitions
SITE Santa Fe provides year-round exhibitions of cutting-edge contemporary art with regional, national, and international significance. Envisioned as an art exhibition space similar to the European kunsthalle, SITE originates and organizes exhibitions and is a major venue for national and international traveling exhibitions. An internship with the Exhibitions department would involve working directly with the Assistant Curator and Chief Preparator, curators, and artists. Areas of emphasis would include registrarial duties, installation of exhibitions, assistance with planning for upcoming exhibitions, packing and shipping of artworks, researching artists, exhibits and other art institutions, and maintaining exhibition archives.
Quotes From Past Interns
I see myself as confident knowing that I can pursue a career in the art world and not be confined to only a few opportunities. SITE Santa Fe has provided me with the incomparable knowledge of understanding the tasks and responsibilities of an art venue as well as a marvelous introduction into the world of contemporary art. I look forward to the many years to come when I will return both to my home and to SITE, for I know it is there that I will be forever discovering new ways of challenging my assumptions about art and the way it creates a new personal experience.
-Maya Siler, Intern, Fall 2010
As I identify my future career and academic goals, this internship has given me concrete knowledge of what it means to work with a small, non-profit arts organization. What struck me the most was not just the opportunity to use and develop a whole range of new skills, but also the necessity of that broad skill set.
-Monica Butler, Intern, Summer 2009
My experience at SITE Santa Fe showed me the ins and outs of Arts Administration in a way I could have never understood through classroom learning or independent research.
-Heather Hall, Intern, Spring 2011
SITE encourages interns to learn and be comfortable and somehow kept everyone happy and busy. Many of us volunteered for long days leading up to the auction and I rarely heard complaints because people are happy here. I was happy here. While I’m sad that my internship is ending, I will definitely visit SITE whenever I’m in Santa Fe.
-Kate Cygan, Intern, Summer 2011
I gained solid insight into art, its showcase, and the art world. Additionally, assisting with preparation for the biennial was tremendously exciting, and each person I worked with was fun, interesting, and enjoyable.
-Ian Erickson-Kery, Intern, Spring 2010
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