Museum Fellows Term
Program Description
Launched in 2015 with a pilot grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and now run in partnership with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Museum Fellows Term is a five-month, study-away program that spans Field Work Term and Spring Term, providing students with an intensive, immersive experience and learning opportunity that is rarely available at the undergraduate level. The program includes:
- Practical, professional internship experience working at a major cultural institution in New York City for five months
- A supportive, small co-learning community facilitated by Bennington faculty
- 360-degree view of the art world through readings, site visits, and interviews
- Connection with cultural leaders, makers, and influencers in diverse fields of expertise
- Mentorship and self-directed customization in accordance with students’ areas of interest
Mentoring and Growth
The Museum Fellows Term offers the advantages of study-away learning coupled with the small community, individual attention, and pedagogy of self-directed inquiry that students experience on campus. While in New York, Fellows work closely with program director Liz White and Elizabeth Smith, executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, as well as with their museum supervisors.
Experiential Learning and Connections
Bennington’s extraordinary network in the arts provides Fellows with access to art world leaders and professionals in diverse fields of expertise, offering learning opportunities as well professional connections. Fellows visit dozens of sites all around New York City, experiencing exhibitions firsthand and building familiarity with a broad range of creative practitioners, communities, and organizations including: museums, auction houses, commercial and nonprofit galleries, foundations, artists’ studios, performances, and public spaces. In addition to group site visits, each Fellow is matched with professionals outside of their internship institution for informational interviews related to their specific interests and goals.
Skills and Information
A five-month internship at a major cultural institution provides an opportunity to gain significant experience in a highly competitive and largely opaque field. As they complete their day-to-day work and shadow supervisors, Fellows also conduct informational interviews with staff outside their immediate departments, and throughout the program are exposed to a diverse range of institutions and roles, offering an expanded sense of future possibilities, and new perspective on how they might direct their studies and ambitions. Museum partners to date have included the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image, the New Museum, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and in 2021, we expanded our partnerships to include internships with the Al Held Foundation, Dia Art Foundation, and the Helen Frankenthaler Catalogue Raisonné project.
For students who wish to pursue careers in museums and arts administration, these internships offer an essential first step, and for all students they provide valuable exposure to institutional cultures and cultivate transferable professional skills, including maturity, ambition, initiative, self-reliance, and the ability to communicate, collaborate, and build meaningful relationships. Whatever they choose as a next step, Fellows leave the program able to envision themselves as potential agents of influence, actively producing and shaping culture.
Courses and Community
In addition to their internships, Fellows meet as a cohort at the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation for three faculty-led courses:
- Historical Perspectives, which examines the forces and individuals that have shaped the evolution of museums and other art institutions
- Contemporary Art Contexts, which focuses on contemporary art exhibitions and the institutions/organizations that support and present the work, and
- Research Colloquium, a framework providing practical support and critical contextual information in which students read about multiple aspects of the art world, and reflect on, and learn from each other’s experiences within different institutions and departments.
Context and Critical Thinking
Just as Bennington asks its students to understand themselves as individuals within a larger context, the Museum Fellows Term supports the study of art not only as a form of individual expression, but as work that participates in larger social structures. Through the interwoven elements of the program, Fellows are encouraged to think critically about art and its institutions and to engage with the complexity of diverse perspectives. Fellows become both participants in and observers of the art ecosystems of New York, making connections across multiple forms of experience and gaining confidence, skills, and the ability to construct meaningful inquiries both inside and outside of the classroom.
Eligibility and Application
The program is designed for any and all students who are interested in understanding how culture is made and shaped. While many previous Fellows list visual arts and art history as primary areas of study, the program benefits students with a wide variety of interests and goals. Recent Fellows have also had Plans related to performing arts, film, social sciences, languages, literature, cultural studies, philosophy, writing, entrepreneurship, and public action.
Frankenthaler Fellows are generally accepted for participation in the spring of their junior year at Bennington; other circumstances may be considered on a case by case basis. Successful applicants are expected to have an excellent academic record, and to have a demonstrated interest in art history, cultural studies, curatorial practice, arts and culture management/ leadership, art education, community outreach, museums, galleries, art and culture organizations, or related cultural work. Maturity, responsibility, independence, and professionalism are essential.
Applications for the 2022 program will be due in September 2021. Interested students should contact Liz White for more information.
Cost and Logistics
Tuition and Financial Aid
Students enrolled in the Museum Fellows Term program pay their regular Bennington tuition, plus a $1,500 program fee. Financial aid packages will continue to apply and students may be eligible for additional assistance.
The college prioritizes access for students with high need and, within the limited funding available, will make best efforts to provide financial aid packages that enable all accepted students to participate.
Please review the estimated expenses for the 2020 Museum Fellows Term program. (Estimated expenses and details for 2022 forthcoming.)
Students may apply for financial aid by submitting an application (available after acceptance into the program) to Brian Murphy, the Vice President for Finance and Administration.
Room and Board
Students enrolled in the program will not pay Bennington Room and Board, but are responsible for the cost of program housing.
Students with demonstrated financial need may be eligible for assistance with housing and meal costs.
Living and commuting as a group adds to the program experience and we encourage all students to live in program housing. Students who have family in New York or wish to pursue other arrangements may be permitted to do so within certain criteria, however please note that financial assistance with housing is only available for students living in program housing, and students opting out of program housing will be asked to sign a waiver assuming full responsibility.
Transportation
Students are responsible for paying their own travel expenses to and from New York.
Students with demonstrated financial need may be eligible for assistance to cover the cost of a monthly MetroCard (which allows transportation on subways and public busses).
Museum Admission
Staff ID cards from host institutions will allow free access to almost all museums.
Additional Program Expenses
Additional Information
Visit the Museum Fellows Program Facebook page and reach out to Liz White with questions, and for details on Spring and Fall information sessions.