History & Art History

The Washington, DC, area is one of the most exciting places in the world to study Art History. George Mason University is proud to offer students both traditional and innovative ways to explore art and the art world: in the classroom; independently, with guidance from its own Ph.D. Art History faculty; and through exciting internships with local art professionals. With all the great museums, galleries, and organizations nearby, opportunities abound. We encourage all our advanced Art History majors to cap their college experience with an internship, and hope that this handbook will point the way.

What is the ARTH 393/593 Art Internship?

An internship is an off-campus, introductory training or study arrangement to work with a professional in a field related to the student’s interests. This is an old tradition in crafts and professions. A good internship benefits everyone: it provides valuable assistance to the professional person or organization, and valuable on-the-job training for the student, who also receives academic credit. Our students have had exciting internships at all the major DC museums, including the National Gallery, the various Smithsonian museums, the Phillips Collection, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the National Building Museum. Others have interned with non-profit arts organizations, historic houses, art restorers, and private sales galleries in Virginia. They have been involved in everything from interviewing artists to archival research; writing catalogues and rewriting bilingual exhibitions; restoring films at the National Gallery to restoring First Ladies’ gowns at the Smithsonian; and pre-professional work in public relations, photo archives, information technology, public education, and conservation. Increasing numbers of our students are finding their Art History internship experience an important first step to graduate study or to a career in the arts.

The Art History program’s Art Internship, ARTH 394/594, is for advanced majors or minors in Art History, working under the direction of a field supervisor at the host institution. It is the responsibility of the student to locate and arrange the apprenticeship project, with the guidance of the Art History internship coordinator or other faculty internship advisor. The student receives from three to six hours of academic credit for the semester-long internship. Credit depends on the number of actual working hours spent at the internship during the semester, from a minimum of 80 contact hours (about one day a week) for three academic credit hours, to a maximum of 160 contact hours (about twice a week) for the full six credit hours. Students normally register for the number of hours desired before the internship begins, though this can be flexible. All of the details are set forth in a learning contract, signed by the student, the field supervisor, and the internship advisor. At the conclusion of the internship, the student produces a portfolio of his or her work, according to a format agreed upon with the internship advisor. A grade is assigned by the internship advisor, after consultation with the field supervisor.

Most internships are unpaid. However, some do come with stipends, and occasionally students arrange to be paid an hourly wage for their internship work. These are all fair arrangements as far as the Art History program is concerned; we have no objection to paid internships. Do note the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act: The Department of Labor has indicated that internship programs are exempt from regulations under this act, thus making it unnecessary for apprentices to be paid. Such exemption is based upon the assumption that:

• Both the employer and the apprentice are aware from the outset that no salary is involved in the program, and they both jointly agree to participate on that basis;
• The apprentice will not be displacing existing staff;
• The apprentice’s work will not result in economic gain for the employer;
• The apprenticeship is a credit-bearing, learning experience.

Why Do an Internship?

In recent years, most of our graduating ARTH majors have done an internship in their junior or senior years. Several internships have led directly or indirectly to post-graduate employment. There are a number of good reasons to consider setting up an internship:

• You may be considering a career in the visual arts, but you want to know more about the opportunities in the field.
• You may be active in both Art History and Studio Art; experience in a gallery might help you decide which to pursue as a major or career.
• You may want to become a museum curator or an exhibition designer, but you are not sure you have the aptitude, or that you understand the actual work involved.
• You may be certain that you want to restore paintings or sell art in a gallery, but you are not certain what college background is expected in entering those fields.
• You have a specialized career interest, but find no course at GMU or elsewhere in the consortium that will give you the necessary training.
• You may or may not want to make a career in Art History, but you would like to cap your college education with a real-world experience in which you can put your classroom learning to work.
• You would like to get access to, and practice using, primary sources such as historical documents, archival photographs, and artifacts stored in local research collections.
• You’ve spent years as a consumer of public culture in DC; now you want a closer look behind the scenes. You think it would be challenging to get involved in producing, not just consuming, the public cultural fare. This would be a way to get college credit while performing stimulating volunteer work in the arts community.
• You might want to get a foot in the door at some particular institution—somewhere you’ve volunteered, somewhere near home that you’d like to know better, somewhere with a network of professional contacts you’d like to be plugged into.
• You have a full-time job outside of your schoolwork. This is a way to explore a career change and make some contacts, while keeping your current job and earning college credit.
• You have some studio art experience, and would like to try hands-on art restoration as an apprentice to a professional art restorer.
• You’ve heard of other students’ exciting internship experiences; now you’d like your own.

Important considerations regarding graduation credit:

• In general, undergraduates will be directed to take the Art History Internship as ARTH 393, not as ARTH 593. By special arrangement with your internship advisor, you may register for graduate-level credit by signing up for ARTH 593: Art History Internships.
• The Art History program will accept no more than six hours of Internship credit— 393 or 593 —towards the total 39/40 credit hours required for a major in Art History.
• ARTH 593 may count towards no more than three hours of the Art History Major’s six-hour requirement of work at the 400+ level. Art History internships are not a way to avoid taking any 400 level Art History seminars!

How Does This Work? Procedures and Paperwork

Please review the general description of ARTH 393/593 above. The key elements are:

• An art-related project that will involve from 80 to 160 contact hours in a semester working with a field supervisor;
• Registration for academic credit, through the Art History internship coordinator or another designated faculty internship advisor, with all parties signing a learning contract;
• A portfolio detailing the experience, presented to the Art History internship coordinator or designated faculty internship advisor upon completion of the internship;
• A grade assigned by the internship coordinator or designated internship advisor, based on the field experience and portfolio, in consultation with the field supervisor.

Here are the details and steps:

A. Locating a Project

It is your responsibility—and part of the educational experience—to locate the internship opportunity. This is not as hard as it sounds; area institutions, from the grandest to the smallest, are dependent upon a steady stream of student interns to help get projects done. Most of the well-known local institutions have in fact dealt with the GMU student interns in the recent past. As far as we’re concerned, almost anything goes as a valid project, as long as it is educational, it is serious, it is supervised, it involves 80 to 160 hours of work in a semester, and has something to do with art. Most internships are volunteer positions. For our purposes, internships may be paid or unpaid; in specific cases, you might even set something special through your job (but please do clear this with your faculty advisor first!).

Professor ffolliott maintains internship opportunities on the following website.
INTERNSHIP LINK
It is also always a good idea to search local museum websites for internship openings.

There are two sorts of “internship” we will not allow:

• Routine office work. Being exploited as a volunteer secretary is NOT sufficiently educational, however worthy the organization. Be on guard against getting stuck typing and filing, unless this is a very small part of a much more exciting project. Professional training is the idea. Since most arts professionals have done internships themselves, they know this and wouldn’t dream of doing it to you.
• Your regular job. You cannot get internship credit for doing the same old thing, even if it is art-related. The idea is to do something different and acquire new skills. If you want to do a special internship project through your job, talk the idea over with the internship advisor.

So how do you find the internship in the first place?

• Talk with the internship coordinator, who can tell you about recent and ongoing internship opportunities for GMU Art History students.
• Ask other Art History faculty and majors about their recent experiences. Word of mouth can be very helpful.
• The History and Art History Department office keeps a file of internship announcements, as does the Career Office on campus.
• The office also has copies of handouts such as “Careers in Art History” which may give you ideas.
• Search the announcements posted on the various History and Art History bulletin boards. Those with a stipend attached, such as internships at the National Gallery or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, are usually nationally competitive. We’ll be glad to help you compete for one; GMU students have gotten them before.
• If you’re unfamiliar with the local arts institutions, use the Washington Post’s Friday “Weekend” list of local museums and galleries to give you ideas.
• Check web sites.
• Call around. Most art professionals probably have had internship experience themselves, so your inquires will not surprise or puzzle anyone. There are usually two ways to get internships in large institutions: the front door and the back door. Try calling the general number, ask for the internship or volunteer or education office. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. Often, however an individual needs help with a specific project, and you will eventually be connected by a knowledgeable co-worker. Keep your ears open; don’t be afraid to ask.

B. Preliminary Advising

Make an appointment with the Art History internship coordinator, Dr. Carol Mattusch (mattusch@gmu.edu) to talk over what you’ve found, and to plan the formalities. Read this handbook thoroughly and bring questions. If you would like another faculty member to be the internship advisor of record, then bring him or her into the process now.

C. The Interview

When you think you’ve found a suitable project, it is time to formalize the negotiations. Set up an interview at the organization, and approach it professionally. Have a resume, dress appropriately, take notes, use formal business manners. If you’ve never done a job interview before, get help! Take advantage of the Career Center’s library and resume-writing workshops. At the interview, be sure you understand the duties and responsibilities. Be sure they understand that this must be an educational experience, something much more that typing, filing and phones.

If you intend to get three hours of academic credit, you need to arrange for 80 hours of work, roughly one day a week for ten weeks. For six hours of credit, you need to arrange for 160 hours of work, or roughly two days a week for ten weeks. In-between numbers are OK too—work it out with the internship coordinator. Precisely how you set up your schedule is up to you and your field supervisor, as long as it adds up to the right numbers.

D. The Learning Contract

When an internship position has been offered and accepted, and faculty internship advisor has been found, the terms of the agreement must be described in a Learning Contract which outlines your objectives, proposed activities, and responsibilities. Study the learning contract attached to this Handbook. The objectives of the internship are to be clearly stated in terms of your educational experience. All the details regarding days, hours, skills required, jobs performed, and standards expected must be spelled out. This contract is you best guarantee of a good experience. It is in everyone’s best interest that the nature of your duties and theirs be clearly defined. Plan to write a rough draft of the contract. Run it by both your faculty advisor and field supervisor to make sure everyone agrees to the language. Then, type up a final copy, one that all three parties will sign. Make three photocopies:

• One for your field supervisor;
• One for yourself;
• One for the internship advisor’s files.

E. Registration and Academic Credit

You may register and receive credit for the internship at any time after the initial arrangements have been made and the Learning Contract drawn up and signed. The period of the internship does not have to coincide with the GMU semester calendar. You may register and pay for the course in the semester after you have actually started doing the work, as long as the work was begun with a proper learning contract signed by all parties. Whether or not pre-registration is a good idea may depend on the student’s own financial planning or academic standing.

The formal arrangements: You must register for ARTH 393 or 593: Art History Internship, paying the normal amount of tuition for the credit hours. It may be taken for 3, 4, 5, or 6 credit hours, depending on the number of contact hours contracted:

• 80+ = 3 credit hours
• 110+ = 4 credit hours
• 140+ = 5 credit hours
• 160+ = 6 credit hours

A three-hour internship may be extended for another three hours in a successive term, with advisor’s and field supervisor’s approval. Because the timing of the project may not exactly fit our semester schedule, or your financial planning, it is not always necessary to pre-register for Art History Internships; dates of credit should be worked out with your internship advisor.

Important graduation considerations for ARTH majors and minors, and their advisors:

• In general, undergraduates will be directed to take the Art History Internship as ARTH 393, not as ARTH 593. By special arrangement with your internship advisor, you may register for graduate-level credit by signing up for ARTH 593: Art History Internships.
• Art History Department will accept no more than six hours of Internship credit— 393 or 593 —towards the total 39/40 credit hours required for a major or minor in Art History.
• ARTH 593 may count towards no more than three hours of the Art History Major’s six-hour requirement of work at the 400+ level. Art History internships are not a way to avoid taking any 400 level Art History seminars!

F. Paperwork

Be sure you and the internship advisor understand the rules and limits stated above, and everyone has signed copies of the learning contract. At registration, the student needs to present an Individualized Section form signed by the internship advisor. The student and advisor both need to keep copies of that, and of the Learning Contract, for the duration of the internship. Here is the procedure:

• The internship advisor needs to fetch an Individualized Section form in the History and Art History front office.
• Advisor and student fill it out, listing the student’s name and ID number, course name, course number, semester of record, credit hours, and faculty advisor. Example: JANE DOE, ID#100-20-300, ART INTERNSHIP, ARTH 393, FALL 2000, 3 HOURS, ERWIN PANOFSKY.
• The internship advisor signs the form, makes a copy for the records, and hands the original to the student.
• Procedures change from time to time. If there is a requirement for a “department chair” signature, then the student needs to have the form signed by the HIST/ARTH chair or the ARTH Director. If not, not.
• The student takes the signed Individualized Section form to the Registrar’s office for course registration.
• The internship coordinator or internship advisor keeps copies of all forms and contracts. The internshipadvisor designated on the Individualized Section form will receive a grading form from the Registrar at the end of the designated semester, as for a regular class.

G. Your Portfolio

Your portfolio should be a finished and fairly slick production, self-explanatory, and suitable for presentation in a later job or graduate school interview. Remember, the point of an internship is preparation for a professional career, and the portfolio will be the final product. Work out the details ahead of time with your internship advisor. Prepare it by collecting materials throughout your internship. It should include:

• Copies of the signed Learning Contract and the other GMU paperwork.
• A description of your work. The form is up to you and your internship advisor.
• Examples of any written work you produced, such as pamphlets or announcements (except, of course, confidential internal documents!). Include the organization’s publicity flyers of shows or programs you worked on. Be sure to annotate these in some way so the reader knows why they have been included.
• Any other paperwork pertaining to your experience: letters from supervisors or visitors, publicity about your work, or general descriptions of the institution or program you worked on.
• Photos, maybe. They are a good way to document your work. Be sure to mount them securely and label them clearly.

H. Evaluation and Grading

After completing the internship project, submit the journal, portfolio, or final report to your internship advisor. He or she should consult with your field supervisor during and after the project to evaluate your work. The designated internship advisor will receive a standard grading form, printed with your name and project, at the end of the semester for which you have registered. He or she will submit the grade in the usual way, and you will receive your A, B, Incomplete or whatever, in the usual way.

On-the-Job Advice

Your art history internship may be the most exciting thing you do in your George Mason career; it may well be the gateway to your future. Perform every part of it as professionally as you can! Remember that you represent GMU to the world; how you perform may affect the future options of your fellow students. Respect institutional and professional standards: dress appropriately, follow procedures, perform agreed-upon duties, type all your written work. Don’t neglect basic office etiquette: keep dates, notes, and deadlines; return phone calls; arrive and leave on time. Even if you are not receiving a stipend, you are being paid in valuable educational experience, and will be expected to act accordingly.

If you have disagreements or problems on the job, inform your internship advisor. Do not hesitate to let someone know if you think you are being ignored or shunted into inappropriate duties (i.e. typing, filing, answering phones). Your internship advisor, armed with diplomacy and the Learning Contract, will be happy to try to mediate between you and your field supervisor. That’s why we’re here.