Undergraduate training programs, internships, and fellowships provide invaluable behind-the-scenes museum experience, offering access to museum resources and mentorship with staff and partners that are relevant for futures in the museum field and beyond.
Applications for the 2024 Summer Intensive are now open on our career portal.
The McMullan Family Foundation Summer Intensive
The McMullan Family Foundation Summer Intensive is a weeklong immersive program introducing undergraduate students to museum professions through workshops, behind-the-scenes tours, field trips, and networking events. This year’s program will run June 10–15, 2024.
The 2024 program considers the theme of “Confronting Time,” which looks into the ways art museums tell stories about history and draw connections across time periods. This theme asks us to consider questions including: How do our present values and considerations shape the stories we tell about the past? How do museums discuss challenging histories in the present? How do we understand the many lives that objects live? What do we want for the future of museums?
Students have the opportunity to meet with and learn from multiple museum departments and staff as well as develop a robust peer cohort. Summer Intensive participants also receive writing resources, training on presentation skills, and ongoing career advice and mentorship.
Alumni of our Summer Intensive remain connected with the museum through free events and receive guidance from the museum’s Academic Engagement and Research staff on emerging professional opportunities at the Art Institute and beyond.
The McMullan Family Foundation Summer Intensive and the McMullan Arts Leadership Initiative are supported by the James and Madeleine McMullan Family Foundation.