The Museum of the City of New York seeks an Internship Coordinator from the beginning of April 2017 to the end of August 2017 to oversee 13 to 16 interns who will be selected from community based organizations committed to job training for young adults. The interns will be ages 18-24, who are at a turning point in their lives and have either lacked previous direction in school or job training or having been unable to afford post-secondary education.
After receiving intensive training from the Co-Coordinators, the interns will help lead the Schwarz Center’s Summer Programs: content-rich field trips offered to groups of children from summer camps, summer schools, community centers, and homeless shelters.
The Co-Coordinators will design and implement a program for young adults whose education and job training have stalled. Their internship experience will enable them to gain necessary skills for their future education and professional lives—including public speaking, communicating with people of varying ages and backgrounds, performing historical research, and interpreting material culture. Interns benefiting from this training will in turn serve the 2,000 children—many from low-income families or from at-risk communities—who will participate in the Center’s Summer Programs during the grant period. Two of the 16 interns will be selected from a previous cohort to mentor the new cohort joining us for the 2017 internship. The Co-Coordinators will also be responsible for implementing leadership training for these intern mentors.
Internship training for the new cohort will take place in the months of April through June, 2017 (mentor interns will begin in March 2017); the Center’s standards-based, 60-minute field trip Summer Programs will be presented in July and August.
Programmatic Goals and Outcomes
The goals of the program are to introduce young adults to the study and practice of museum education and to provide them with professional experience working in a museum that focuses on their city’s history. Regardless of their future career paths, the internship is designed to steer nontraditional students back to school or career training and to provide practical and academic skills that may be applied across a range of endeavors. Over the four months of the internship program, interns will receive training from the Co-Coordinators; activities include reading assignments relevant to exhibition content, practice presentations, and team-building exercises, spend multiple weeks observing the Museum’s educators lead School Programs field trips, practice co-teaching programs alongside their coordinators/mentors, and learn about other museum related careers by meeting staff from other departments. In July & August, interns will co-teach every day.
Responsibilities
The Co-Coordinators will facilitate workshops based on content relating to the City Museum’s mission, pedagogy and career readiness. The Co-Coordinators will also observe all interns’ teaching during their training period and provide feedback after each lesson they lead. They will encourage the interns to reflect upon their learning and teaching experiences through required writing assignments and feedback.Interns will also meet individually with the Coordinators each week to discuss his or her progress, accomplishments, obstacles, and difficulties.
The Internship Co-Coordinator will work approximately 30 hours during the training period (Monday – Wednesday, plus an additional administrative and planning day), including learning and leading fieldtrips. During July and August, the Co-Coordinator will work roughly 30 to 40 hours each week. The Co-Coordinator and the interns must be available every weekday in the summer months.
The Co-Coordinator must have experience working with underserved young adults. Candidates should have a Masters Degree in Education or Museum Studies or have a Bachelor’s degree in related fields plus over 2 years of experience in the Museum Education field. Previous experience teaching in a museum setting is required. Candidates who have provided leadership and support to young adults with team building, resume building, and interview practice are preferred. Submitting recommendations stating the candidate’s ability to work with underserved young adults is also a plus.
The Co-Coordinators will take full responsibility in creating the training program that will ensure success for young adults who are new to the field, implementing the training, working directly with the interns, evaluating the interns and the program, and liaising with staff at the each community based organization partner.
The Co-Coordinator will be supported by the Director of the Center and work closely with some of the Center’s staff.
The salary for this temporary position is $15,000 over the 5 month period.
Interested candidates should email a cover letter, resume and any recommendations to llima@mcny.org. Please write “Internship Coordinator” in the subject line. The Museum of the City of New York is an equal opportunity employer.