Studio Museum Institute

The Studio Museum Institute (SMI) is a professional development, curatorial, and arts education initiative created to foster a spirit of incubation, ideation, and support.

Fellowships Internships Arts Leadership Praxis Museums as Systems Museum Education Practicum FAQs

<p>First cohort of the Studio Museum/MoMA fellowship program, 2015–2017. (L to R): Henry Murphy, Adeze Wilford, Dessane Cassell, Alexis Gonzalez. Photo: Alani Bass</p>

First cohort of the Studio Museum/MoMA fellowship program, 2015–2017. (L to R): Henry Murphy, Adeze Wilford, Dessane Cassell, Alexis Gonzalez. Photo: Alani Bass

SMI is a suite of programs that reflects the Museum's vision and commitment to training and mentoring leaders in the art world from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

Fellowships

The Studio Museum provides paid, year-long fellowships that support the professional training of curators, scholars, archivists, and educators historically underrepresented in the museum field. Fellows work alongside some of the most innovative practitioners of museology across the Museum, engaging in intensive scholarship opportunities, program development, and professional exposure.

Internships

The Studio Museum’s internship program offers emerging professionals insight into the operations of a leading institution dedicated to artists of African descent. Interns are placed across departments where they support key projects, engage with the Harlem community, conduct research on the Museum’s collection, and gain firsthand experience with the day-to-day practices that shape contemporary, culturally specific museums.

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Arts Leadership Praxis

The Arts Leadership Praxis is an annual six-month program that provides professional development and cohort-building opportunities to mid-career cultural professionals of color and those deeply invested in Black cultural production.

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<p>Studio Museum in Harlem Arts Leadership Praxis 2025 Cohort at the Studio Museum’s Headquarters. From left to right: David Lisbon, Devin Malone, Taylor Jasper, Naiomy Guerrero, Dhyandra Lawson, Ade Omotosho, Kendyll Gross, and Antoinette Roberts. Photo: Justin French</p>
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Studio Museum in Harlem Arts Leadership Praxis 2025 Cohort at the Studio Museum’s Headquarters. From left to right: David Lisbon, Devin Malone, Taylor Jasper, Naiomy Guerrero, Dhyandra Lawson, Ade Omotosho, Kendyll Gross, and Antoinette Roberts. Photo: Justin French

Museums as Systems

The multi-day, annual Museums as Systems symposium gathers together arts workers to discuss alternative approaches to museum structures.

The symposium creates a space of multivocal, multigenerational, circular learning about how museums currently function, what never was, and what could come next.

Museum Education Practicum

The Museum Education Practicum provides an in-depth look at museum education with the guidance of the Studio Museum’s knowledgeable educators. Participants gain firsthand experience and develop strategies for working with adult, school, youth, and family audiences.

While exploring both theory and practice, participants will engage in specific conversations around artists of African descent, contemporary art practice, and programmatic strategies.

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FAQs

Applications are welcome from undergraduates, graduate students, and early-career professionals seeking opportunities to broaden their knowledge of the field in the midst of a shifting employment landscape.

The Museum Professionals Seminar is a professional development program, for which participants will receive a certificate of completion for their records. It is not a formal academic course and does not confer a diploma or academic certificate.

The seminar will meet via Zoom, and continuing discussions will take place on Google Classroom. Participants must be able to access Google Classroom and Zoom for Tuesday evening meetings.

The Museum Professionals Seminar will meet online once a week for three hours on Tuesday evenings. The program entails five sessions. Participants must attend all five sessions to receive the full stipend. The program includes five formal sessions followed by independent writing that is completed at the participants' discretion.

Fifteen applicants will be selected for this program. There will be additional participants from the Studio Museum intern season, all of whom will participate equally in the program and create the larger Museum Professionals Seminar cohort

Individuals may apply for both programs; however, selected candidates will only be accepted to one program. Participation in the Seminar is included in the internship program.

Each cohort is unique, and opportunities are competitive. Please do not be discouraged if you aren’t accepted. We welcome you to re-apply in the future.

Internship cycles are in line with the academic year, and are offered in the fall, spring, and summer semesters. The fall internship application is posted in late July, the application for spring opens in September, and the summer application opens in February.

We understand that people come to this work with a variety of interest areas and backgrounds. Competitive applicants clealy identify why they are interested in the specific internship to which they are applying, articulate how their experience connects with their interest in museum work, and make a compelling case for what they might gain and contribute if selected.

Yes, all internship positions are paid. Only individuals authorized to work in the United States will be accepted into the internship program. The Museum will consider expressions of interest in providing volunteer services to the Museum from individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States.

Interns are paid a stipend based on the hours required for the program. Any additional time spent working beyond the required hours is considered voluntary. Intern supervisors take the interns’ time and commitment seriously, and design projects based on how much time interns can reasonably dedicate to working on them.

You may receive credit for participating in the internship; however it is the intern’s responsibility to initiate the process with their academic advisor or professor, and shepherd any required administrative materials between your university and Museum. Please be sure to communicate your interest in receiving internship credits to your supervisor immediately upon acceptance to the program, since many academic programs require supervisor information, evaluations, and/or other materials to award credit.

Only candidates who have been selected for interviews will be contacted directly regarding their application status by the posted notification date, due to the volume of applications we receive each season. If you have not heard back before that date, you have not been considered for a position and we encourage you to consider re-applying in the future.

No, the internship program requires a full commitment, and does not make allowances for vacation. Interns are expected to be present for the duration of the program to work meaningfully toward project goals, and to avoid missing out on the variety of programs and workshops throughout the course of the program that are designed to enhance interns’ professional development. Submitting an application affirms your availability for the duration of the program as listed.

For any questions not addressed here, please feel free to contact [email protected]