McMullan Arts Leadership Intern, Ryan Learning Center–Creative Spaces

McMullan Arts Leadership Intern, Ryan Learning Center–Creative Spaces

The Art Institute of Chicago shares its singular collections with our city and the world. We collect, care for, and interpret works of art across time, cultures, geographies, and identities. We are a place of gathering and learning, committed to fostering an inclusive understanding of human creativity.

Position Summary

The Art Institute of Chicago's Ryan Learning Center is excited to offer a McMullan Arts Leadership intern position to work with their team. This internship offers an aspiring museum professional the opportunity to explore and contribute to a range of activities within the area of Creative Spaces, a division of the Ryan Learning Center. The Creative Spaces team designs family artmaking programs and learning installations for visitors to the Ryan Learning Center.

This internship will support daily facilitation in the Art Exchange, our public drop-in space for multigenerational visitors; contribute to preparation of art-making materials; assist with live programs; and support the installation of educational displays.

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Learning Center is a platform for culturally responsive experiences that bring young people and the adults around them into dynamic and inspiring encounters with art. The department serves children, teens, families, students, and educators through a diverse array of programs, partnerships, and resources. These include field trips, workshops, studios, internships, events, neighborhood-based engagements, and professional development experiences;

and, we serve all museum audiences through our free, accessible public learning space, also named the Ryan Learning Center. Through these experiences, learners can engage in critical and imaginative thinking and activate the museum as a place of insight, expression, and community.

The intern will join a museum-wide intern cohort and have access to a range of programs to support their development in addition to their placement in the Ryan Learning Center. Mentorship is provided throughout the experience and connections with an intern alumni network will be established.

McMullan Arts Leadership Internship Program Goals

The McMullan Arts Leadership internship program is part of a museum-wide effort to provide students the opportunity to gain experience, career awareness, networks, and skills that will position them to thrive as future art museum leaders.

This program specifically aims to support students who encounter economic challenges when considering a career in the arts. Aligned with this goal, we aim to help shape a diverse group of leaders whose actions are informed by a wide range of perspectives, varying career paths, and values inspired by their own lived experiences.

Internship Outcomes

In this position, the intern will have the opportunity to:

• Learn about Ryan Learning Center's guiding pedagogy and teaching strategies for multigenerational audiences
• Become familiar with the tools and processes for designing large-scale art-making programs at a museum;
• Practice facilitating creative engagements that center the interests and needs of children and family audiences;
• Develop professional skills in a collaborative, creative, and supportive environment.

Responsibilities

With guidance from the position's mentors, the intern will:

• Contribute to the development of art-making programs for multigenerational audiences; attend design and planning meetings;
• Support monthly family events, assisting teaching artists and interacting with family visitors;
• Work regular shifts in the Art Exchange during public hours; welcome and assist children and their caregivers with art-making and play-based learning;
• Prepare art supplies for programs and large-scale events;
• Assist with the installation, care, and maintenance of interactive learning displays in the Art Exchange;
• Support with administration of evaluation tools to audiences, collect and analyze data;
• Participate in department meetings and museum-wide intern programming to expand their understanding of other departments and work across the museum.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate or graduate student; recent…