Internship and Fellowship Program Manager

The Peabody Essex Museum [PEM] has long recognized the importance of engaging students from underrepresented backgrounds in the exploration of career opportunities in art museums. Over the past 12 years, PEM has developed a successful Native American Fellowship program for graduate students and rising in-service professionals, supported by the Mellon Foundation. We welcome the opportunity to apply lessons learned from this fellowship program to develop a robust, cohesive Internship and Fellowship program.

Reporting to the Director of Learning & Civic Engagement, this is a new position funded by the Alice L. Walton Foundation through the Leadership in Art Museum (LAM) initiative to advance the goal of racial equity in museum leadership. This funding provides PEM with the opportunity to re-imagine its approach to internships and fellowships. This is the key responsibility of this position, which will also be responsible for planning, implementing and overseeing this program. This is a three year grant-funded position with benefits.

The Manager would develop and implement a recruiting strategy, curriculum and experiential learning opportunities for participants, and training for staff to build their mentoring skills to ensure the success of this program. This position works closely with the Director of Learning and Civic Engagement, the Director and Manager of our Native American Fellowship Program, the Director of the Phillips Library, which also supports Fellows, and the Chief Human Resources Officer to build a dynamic interdepartmental team on behalf of this program.

Responsibilities Include:

• Develop a program that nurtures professional and leadership skills for aspiring, diverse cultural workers to help diversify the museum field’s composition; embrace inclusive recruiting, professional development and scholarship;
• Enhance the professional development of PEM staff as mentors, managers, and leaders as well as our interaction with a greater range of thought leaders;
• Establish PEM as a resource for fellowships that support fresh research-based scholarship and publishing;
• Work closely with the Director of Learning and Civic Engagement and Development staff to identify and secure programmatic support;
• Serve as primary point of contact and support for program interns and fellows before, during, and after their interns/fellowship at PEM;
• Strengthen connections between interns/fellows and PEM staff, and external museum professionals through continued mentorship and outreach;
• Coordinate and help plan the overall logistics of field trips, leadership seminars, enrichment activities, and social events;
• Attend professional conferences and identify other networking opportunities on behalf of the program and alumni and implement and manage ongoing alumni relationships
• Network and collaborate with colleague institutions and related training programs;
• Identify and support recruitment strategies, seeking highly visible avenues for program recruitment and advocacy;
• Manage annual evaluation process, tabulating data, and reporting; collaborate on the development of longitudinal program evaluation and provide data and background materials for grant reporting and funding solicitation; and
• Prepare and oversee the day-to-day aspects of the program.

A Bachelor’s degree is required or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Areas of study may include American Studies, Anthropology, Museum Studies, and/or Education. Three to five years of related experience in fields relating to program development and implementation is desirable, particularly in overseeing training and / or leadership programs;

Experience with internships and fellowships, in addition to apprenticeship experience helpful; mentoring and/or enrichment programming for young adults preferred. Candidates should have a sensitivity and openness to a wide range of cultural traditions and communities and experience working with underrepresented populations; exceptional organizational agility with the proven ability to implement and manage projects in varying stages concurrently; excellent communication and presentations skills – oral and written; a desire to establish and maintain long-term partnerships and funding sources, and familiarity with Google and Microsoft or similar platforms is required.

Please include salary range expectations in your cover letter when submitting your application. Serious consideration will be given to applications received on or before January 26, 2024.

PEM is committed to enhancing diversity in its staff, visitors, exhibitions and programs while promoting an inclusive environment. We seek candidates who can contribute to that goal and encourage you to apply and to identify your strengths in these areas.