Arts Management Internship (AMI)

The AMI Description

Arts Management Internship (AMI) is a four-phases instructional program enabling novice and intermediate arts administrators to sharpen their management skills.  The program will provide interns with classroom, laboratory, and field experience.

The program will begin with a three-day undergraduate curriculum (six hours per day) in the fundamentals of management.  University faculty will supervise each intern's progress.

Phase two of the program will allow the intern to view firsthand the operations of the state arts agency.  During this phase, the participant will assist Council program directors in the review and processing of grant applications.  Further knowledge will be gained through site visits to the field, supervised by the program directors.

Phase three will place the intern in a host organization within his or her region.  During this phase the intern will focus on multi-cultural funding, programming, marketing, and audience outreach as a part of the host organization's management team.  The skills and confidence learned in the prior levels will enable the intern to make valuable contributions to the host site program.

The final phase is (1) online course in Arts Management administered by the Arts Extension Service.

The intern must submit written reports evaluating their experiences for phases one, two and four.  The third phase requires both the host organization and the intern complete and return evaluation forms.  The reports document each phase and become an evaluation tool for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in awarding the certificates in Arts Management.

A $5,000 stipend and up to $500 housing stipend for the PCA residency is awarded. The Program entails a three-day certification workshop offered in the month of June only, four to six weeks training in the PCA awards review process in Harrisburg, participation in Preserving Diverse Cultures Organizational Development Conference, a four-month internship with a host organization that has an annual budget over $100,000, and two independent PCA approved readings in arts management.

The AMI Program Partners

Preserving Diverse Cultures Division partners with Arts Extension Service to provide a well rounded professional development program that provides both the theoretical as well as laboratory hands on experience.

The Arts Extension Service has, since 1973, connected the arts with communities through education.  AES is a national, nonprofit arts service organization, a program of the Division of Continuing Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst.  The agency strives to achieve access to and integration of the arts in communities through continuing education for artists, arts organizations and community leaders.

AES was founded in 1973 within the University of Massachusetts' Division of Continuing Education to "take the arts resources of the University and share them with the Commonwealth."

How to Apply

• Three copies of the AMI application, with original signatures. 

• Three copies of a professional résumé (maximum two pages).

• Three letters of recommendation, one original and one copy of each.

• Two copies of the one-page career goal statement.

• Two copies of newspaper articles, flyers, etc.

The Host Organization has a unique opportunity to enhance their programming in teh multi-cultural community.  Interns bring with them skills, resources and connections to culturally specific organizations, community groups and management cultures to which the host organization may not have access.  Any organization with culturally specific programming may apply.  Interns are expected to attend regular staff meetings and functions, as well as periodically attend meetings and functions of the board of directors and special programs offered to the community by the host organization.  An AMI Site Manual is available for interested arts organizations that wish to learn the full scope of the host's responsibilities.  Generally, culturally specific organizations with current or proposed multi-cultural programming, annual operating budgets of $100,000 or more, 501(c)(3) status, and a minimum of two administrative staff with a minimum of twenty (20) hours per week per staff position are eligible to act as host.

A $750 stipend and four-month internship is offered.

How to Apply

• Two copies of a two-page descriptive narrative outlining the project, supervisor and history of multi-cultural programming.

• Two copies of an organizational budget.

• Two additional supplemental support materials (two copies).