The Frist Art Museum (FAM) is committed to equity and inclusion at all levels. One of the primary goals of FAM’s board-approved strategic plan is ensuring that the museum is stable, sustainable, equitable, and a great place to work. This includes recruiting, developing, and retaining museum professionals, with a focus on encouraging mentorships and providing supervised internships to build a pipeline for emerging professionals and future museum leadership that reflect the demographics of Nashville-area communities. FAM’s internship program is designed to introduce college students to the many career pathways offered within a noncollecting art museum.
Internships are offered to students currently enrolled in an academic institution during the school year, or recent graduates, with internship periods coinciding with the fall and spring semesters and summer break.
Any student or 2022–2023 graduate may apply. Preference is given to juniors and seniors majoring in art education, art history, business, communications, design, education, fine arts, museum studies, and/or related areas, and recent graduates with degrees in these fields.
Successful candidates for all programs must complete a background check and submit all application materials.
Interns will be paid $15 per hour on a weekly basis.
Summer 2023 Internship
Interns are expected to fulfill a maximum of 160 hours to successfully complete the program. They are generally expected to complete a minimum of 16 hours per week, but this expectation is flexible with the agreement of the supervisor.
Applications for the summer 2023 semester will be accepted until April 3, 2023. No late applications will be accepted after the deadline.
Application Process
To be considered for an internship, you must submit a PDF to internships@FristArtMuseum.org containing all the following documents:
- A cover letter explaining why you would like to participate in the selected internship at the Frist Art Museum, and how it fits into your long-term career goals
- A letter of recommendation from a faculty member
- The completed Intern Application
All applications must be submitted with the following filename format:
LastName_FirstName_Summer2023app
You will receive a notification when your application has been received. We will contact those whom we wish to interview.
Please note that this is a competitive program and submitting an application does not guarantee an internship.
The following departments/areas within the Frist Art Museum offer internships for the summer 2023 semester:
- Communications
- Education and Engagement
Summer 2023 Internship Schedule:
Application deadline: April 3, 2023
Internship start date: May 19, 2023
Internship end date: July 28, 2023
Length of internship: 10 weeks
Required commitment: 160 hours (16 hours/week minimum)
Project Uplift Summer 2023 HBCU Internship
Project Uplift is an internship offered to a student or 2023 graduate from a historically Black college or university (HBCU) in Nashville. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to curate, design, market, and create programming for an installation featuring a local BIPOC artist. The piece, a vinyl cling showcasing an assemblage of the artist’s work, will be installed in the elevator accessible on the Frist Art Museum’s Main Level outside the Auditorium. The intern will be mentored by our curators as they develop the foundation of the exhibition––creating the title, artist bio, and other written materials. After working with the Curatorial team, the intern will work with a designer to design the title treatment, exhibition layout, and supplementary graphics.
The student will also work with the Education department to create a public program that accompanies the exhibition and the Communications department to create a campaign to promote the exhibition and related programming. The installation will be completed by the end of the internship. This project will be fast paced with fixed deadlines—we strongly recommend choosing artists who have existing artwork(s) that could be comfortably reproduced within the elevator space.
The Frist Art Museum (FAM) is committed to equity and inclusion at all levels. One of the primary goals of FAM’s board-approved 2017–2021 strategic plan was to ensure that the museum is stable, sustainable, equitable, and a great place to work. This includes recruiting, developing, and retaining museum professionals, with a focus on encouraging mentorships and providing supervised internships to build a pipeline for emerging professionals and future museum leadership that reflect the demographics of Nashville-area communities. FAM’s internship program is designed to introduce college students to the many career pathways offered within a noncollecting art museum.
This intern will be paid $15 per hour. The artist will receive an honorarium of $1,500. This internship runs from May to August.
Successful candidates for all programs must complete a background check and submit all application materials.
No late applications will be accepted after the deadline.
Application Process
To be considered for an internship, you must submit a PDF to internships@FristArtMuseum.org containing all the following documents:
- A letter of recommendation from a faculty member at the HBCU you are enrolled in or recently graduated from.
- A completed Intern Application
- A resume
- A list recommending 1–3 Middle Tennessee BIPOC university student artists for inclusion in the project, with images or links to their work. Applicants are responsible for confirming the artists can participate and commit to the timeline before applying. Because of the compressed schedule, we recommend selecting artists who have existing work that could be featured.
All applications must be submitted with the following filename format:
LastName_FirstName_HBCU2023app
You will receive a notification when your application has been received. We will contact those whom we wish to interview.
Please note that this is a competitive program and submitting an application does not guarantee an internship.
Project Uplift Summer 2023 Internship Schedule:
Application deadline: April 3, 2023
Internship start date: May 19, 2023
Artwork Selection: June 5, 2023
Internship end date: August 11, 2023
Required commitment: 192 hours (16 hours/week minimum)
Project Uplift is supported in part by Amazon.
Fall 2023 Internship
Applications for fall 2023 will be available soon.
Interns are expected to fulfill a maximum of 128 hours to successfully complete the program. They are generally expected to complete a minimum of 8 hours per week, but this expectation is flexible with the agreement of the supervisor.
Applications for the fall 2023 semester will be accepted until July 11, 2023. No late applications will be accepted after the deadline.
Application Process
To be considered for an internship, you must submit a PDF to internships@FristArtMuseum.org containing all the following documents:
- A cover letter explaining why you would like to participate in the selected internship at the Frist Art Museum, and how it fits into your long-term career goals
- A letter of recommendation from a faculty member
- The completed Intern Application
All applications must be submitted with the following filename format:
LastName_FirstName_Fall2023app
You will receive a notification when your application has been received. We will contact those whom we wish to interview.
Please note that this is a competitive program and submitting an application does not guarantee an internship.
The following departments/areas within the Frist Art Museum offer internships for the summer 2023 semester: To be determined
Fall 2023 Internship Schedule:
Application deadline: July 11, 2023
Internship start date: August 25, 2023
Internship end date: December 15, 2023
Length of internship: 16 weeks
Required commitment: 128 hours maximum (8 hours/week)
The Frist Art Museum is deeply dedicated to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion at all levels of governance, management, and operations.
The Frist Art Museum is an equal opportunity employer that values and seeks out a diversity of perspectives.
Frist Art Museum Internships and Fellowships are supported in part by:
