Opportunity: Getty Marrow Multicultural Undergraduate Internships

This year the CSRC will host two paid summer internships structured around current and ongoing CSRC projects. In addition to contributing to the CSRC’s mission to provide information resources on Chicano history and culture, the interns will gain career-relevant archival experience. To apply for either internship, please send a resume, cover letter, and one to three professional or educational references to Xaviera Flores, CSRC archivist and librarian, at xflores@chicano.ucla.edu.

Application deadline: Friday, April 24 at 5:00 p.m. For more details about the MUI program, visit the Getty website.

• Be of a group underrepresented in museums and visual arts organizations, including, but not limited to, individuals of African American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander descent;
• Be currently enrolled undergraduates. Students must have completed at least one semester or two quarters of college by June 2020. Students graduating in May or June 2020 are also eligible. (Students who are enrolled in a second BA or BS program are not eligible.)
• Reside or attend college in Los Angeles County; and
• Be a United States citizen or permanent resident.

Terms
The internships are full-time (40 hours/week) positions, each with a stipend of $6,000, for a consecutive ten-week work period between June and August 2020.

The internship will introduce an intern to archival principles and theory (10%), processing of art archives and cultural heritage collections (40%), digital preservation (15%), research and description for art objects (25%), and other museum activities that the CSRC staff performs daily to manage and provide access to the center’s art collections (10%). The intern will be working on a project to preserve the Gronk Papers, an extensive collection comprising the artists’ personal and professional papers, including notes and working drafts, collected research, and final products. The purpose of the project is to rehouse the materials more appropriately for their condition and format and to create item-level descriptions that will allow researchers and curators to more easily identify the materials. There will be a digital component in which the intern will contribute to providing access and better descriptions for the materials on the CSRC’s online archival management portals.

• Learning archival principles and theory within a museum setting and museum studies principles and theory within an archive setting.
• Best practices for digital preservation for cultural objects (FADGI).
• Basic preservation and conservation skills for physical and digital objects.
• Cataloging rules for describing complex-level objects at the item-level.
• Researching provenance and writing descriptions for art objects, plus artist statements and historical notes.
• Learning about museum services such as the CSRC’s registry and tracking workflow for museum projects.
• Inventorying and rehousing works, preparing artwork for museum loans and pickup; and sales acquisitions.

The internship will introduce an intern to all aspects of curating an exhibition for an art and cultural heritage organization. These include conceptualizing themes and pursuing research (25%), selecting pieces and meeting with artists (50%), and designing and installing a library-based exhibition (25%). The intern will learn about the day-to-day activities involved in developing an exhibition, including managing workflows, setting policies and procedures, and securing acquisitions and loans. There will also be opportunities to meet with CSRC staff who promote CSRC exhibitions through social media, press releases, and fliers and to learn about the CSRC’s award-winning press, which publishes exhibition catalogs (e.g., Home—So Different, So Appealing and Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell). The intern will assist with this year’s scheduled summer exhibition on the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the CSRC and the fiftieth anniversary of the National Chicano Moratorium.