On May 30th, 2025, the Art History Department arranged for a group of students to visit various museums and learn about internships on the first ever Internship Touring Day! The event kicked off with two presentations - one on Art History internships by Professor Ethan Robey, the internship director, and one on the Archaeology Orange County Parks internship by Professor Ian Straughn. The students got an overview of the opportunities offered through the department and learned about the SFIAH internship stipend. Then, they got to hear from a panel of three Art History interns and one Orange County Parks intern about their experience. The interns shared what projects they were working on, how internships helped inform their career plans, and what they got out of interning. Thank you to Myra McCants, Emma Feasey, Sissi Kang, and Minh Khue Truong for being on the panel!
The second part of the day was dedicated to seeing internship organizations in person. The first stop was Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center, a community and culture-focused museum in Anaheim. The students learned about internships from the Operations Coordinator and then got to explore the museum, visiting the "Marvelocity" exhibit and the "Towards the Sky" exhibit.
The next stop was Grand Central Art Center, a nonprofit art center in Santa Ana that explores contemporary art and visual culture. The students learned about internships and got a tour of the space. They also got to see several exhibits and check out the apartments which are on site for artists in residence to live in.
The third stop was the Orange County Parks Cooper Lab, a lab focused on archaeology and anthropology. The students got an overview about the internship and learned about the projects the Orange County Parks team is working on.
After lunch, the group visited Bowers Museum, a large museum in Santa Ana that has all sorts of exhibits. The staff members gave an overview of internships, and Emma Feasey, a current intern at the museum, shared what she was working on that day. Then, the staff members gave a unique, behind-the-scenes storage collections tour where the group got to examine objects up close and see how the museum organizes their collections. The final stop of the day was at the Langson Institute & Museum of California Art offices, where the chief curator of the museum shared an overview about Langson Institute & Museum of California Art job and internship opportunities and explained more about her role on the museum team.
Overall, this was a special day for students to learn about internships, connect with museum staff, and see what internship organizations were like in person. This field trip showcased a sampling of several different places, which gave students the chance to consider what kinds of opportunities might be right for them.
Please check out the Department of Art History Internship Opportunities Page if you are interested in learning more about internships! Make sure you're also subscribed to the Art History Majors, Art History Minors, or Archaeology Minors listservs, since opportunities are sent out to those listservs. Feel free to contact Ethan Robey (robeye@uci.edu) and Katie Desmond (kdesmond@uci.edu) if you have questions about internships.