Many museums across the country pride themselves on their robust internship programs. Internships are a chance for students to learn about the cultural industry, gain valuable skills, and, for students of Museum Studies, earn credit towards their degrees. Stimulating and dynamic internships are also essential to ensuring that the cultural sector is cultivating top talent and attracting young professionals who are prepared to make an impact.
With the ongoing coronavirus closures, however, the state of many museum internship programs is uncertain. Many museums expect to be closed into the summer, potentially disrupting the ability to bring interns on site. As a result, museums may be considering initiating remote internship programs, which can be beneficial students while providing museums much-needed extra help. However, this is completely new territory for many organizations across the country.
On April 30, 2020 over 1,500 people joined Brendan Ciecko (CEO @ Founder @ Cuseum), Ahva Sadeghi (CEO & Co-Founder @ Symba), Phyllis Hecht (Director, M.A. in Museum Studies @ Johns Hopkins University), Sierra Van Ryck deGroot (Education Programs Manager @ Poster House), & Meagan Mahaffy (Education Associate & Internship Coordinator @ Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum) as they discussed how museums can successfully launch and manage remote internship programs in the age of coronavirus.
View the video recording here.
Read some of the top takeaways below!
What are the Benefits of a Remote Internship Program?
Remote internships provide an opportunity to break down geographic and financial barriers while allowing students to earn college credit and develop key connections in the museum sector. Instead of delaying their internship programs due to coronavirus risks, remote internships may be a viable alternative option to the physical experience.
Although they are a great option, they do differ from traditional internships. As Meagan Mahaffy explained, gauging your students and staff's level of comfort with moving to a virtual environment is the first step to a successful program. The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s internship program already welcomes students from across the country, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, they were forced to continue their entire program online. Meagan emphasized that virtual internships offer an opportunity to students who, for various circumstances, may not have been able to take part in an in-person internship.
“One positive I would say to including a remote or virtual option for our internship program is the possibility of hiring interns that may not have had the resources or been able to travel and live in New York City for ten weeks over the summer and work full time."
– Meagan Mahaffy
While giving institutions the benefit of recruiting students from new schools and places, a virtual internship also allows museums to recruit year-round. As Ahva explained, remote internships should be viewed as a way of creating accessibility and facilitating opportunities. They can help your staff and interns understand the advantages and challenges of working remotely.
How Do You Start a Remote Internship Program?
When considering a remote internship, all panelists agreed that starting a program from scratch is difficult. They recommended looking towards existing virtual internships and trying to understand how they could be applied to your institution. In looking towards other organizations and asking departments what their specific needs are, you will be able to recognize what departments’ internships are suitable to be reimagined for a digital setting and what programs are better tailored for a traditional in-person internship.
Once you have clear goals and a program in place, onboarding is a crucial step in helping students feel connected and welcomed. Ahva recommends having students and staff provide a 2-3 minute bio, sharing what they are excited about and what goals they hope to accomplish. Providing a calendar and outline of the program will help students gain a full understanding of what the internship will look like.
"The goal of onboarding from an internship perspective is to get them excited about their experience.
– Ahva Sadeghi
The onboarding process is also essential for your staff to help them understand what the remote internship involves and what expectations they should have of their interns. To further enhance the onboarding process, Ahva recommended having mentors submit their projects in advance, and breaking them up to have a schedule for students before the program starts. She stressed the importance of making it fun and exciting, but also informative.
How Can You Facilitate Communication?
As museums transition to remote internships, many are wondering what digital tools can be leveraged to help manage their programs and maintain a clear line of communication.
"One of our priorities in the program is that interns should not feel like they're sitting home alone at their computer."
– Phyllis Hecht
These last few months have seen many museums using digital tools to perform their daily tasks. Platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Hangouts have become popular in managing daily tasks and communicating from a remote setting. Our panelists all agreed that these same tools play a pivotal role in managing a remote internship program. As Meagan explained, her organization has had great success in communicating via Microsoft Teams. They have created a separate channel for interns where they share important announcements, connect in real-time, and share projects.
Another digital communication platform that has increased in popularity during this time is Slack. The Poster House has depended on Slack for their internal communication over the last few months and plans to create a separate slack channel for their interns. As Sierra noted, Slack provides an opportunity to promote dialogue between interns and staff outside of emails. She plans on utilizing the Slack donut app to facilitate short informal meetings to mimic in-person encounters. She also plans on using a Slackbot to conduct automated check-ins. She further explained that Slackbots are an automated tool that you can add to your Slack workspace, they provide a level of automation for your group and ensure that everyone is being asked the same question in the same space.
How do You Maintain a Successful Program?
As students from across the country can take part in remote internships, museums must consider that interns may be living in different time zones. Ahva suggested that creating a code of conduct and norms will help establish expectations around working hours and policies. She noted that remote internships are full of small nuances that need to be clearly explained. Making sure that interns have appropriate WiFi speed and all technical tools are correctly installed are small but critical steps in the beginning stages of your program.
All of our panelists agreed that check-ins are a key component to maintaining a steady line of communication. They recommended having three check-ins per week and stressed the importance of not overwhelming interns with too many meetings, but also making sure they have an outlet to express their ideas and concerns.
“The more questions you ask them, the more feedback you can ask them, the more they feel involved and engaged”
– Ahva Sadeghi
As many museums are experimenting with remote internships for the first time, gathering feedback is essential to adjusting and making improvements to your program. Ahva recommended getting feedback from interns, mentors, and managers and doing a mid-program and end-program evaluation, applying input as you go. Keeping your interns engaged with questions and feedback will go a long way in making sure your interns feel involved and will ultimately contribute to an overall sense of community.
Although many remote internships have been created out of necessity, they are proving to be an amazing opportunity for both students and institutions to further their reach. In the coming years, there is no doubt that remote programs will play a pivotal role in contributing to cultural professional development opportunities nationwide.
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