LAS FUND Internship

The International Folk Art Foundation and the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) announce a new internship opportunity for a motivated female student working in Hispanic American material culture. Established as an ongoing internship program in 2005 by Mr. Richard E. Ahlborn, Smithsonian Curator Emeritus, the LAS FUND Internship honors Dr.Yvonne Lange, Director Emerita of the Museum of International Folk Art, a colleague and friend of Mr. Ahlborn; Dorothy Ahlborn, his mother, and Eva Salazar, his wife.

The goal of the LAS Internship Program is to develop a group of museum professionals and scholars oriented towards Hispanic–American art and culture, and diversity issues as well as provide the LAS intern with an opportunity to participate in the intricacies of museum work and support priorities at MOIFA.

The LAS Intern will be carefully chosen to match areas of interest with the appropriate and available staff resources and projects in MOIFA’S Spanish Colonial and Contemporary Hispano and Latino collections. Topics will be announced on an annual basis from among the following themes: Nuevo Mexicano, Hispano, and Latino art, Mexican-US Border and immigrant culture, and related exhibition development, archival research, and educational programs. The 2009 intern will participate in condition reporting, photographing and inventory of incoming objects for the Latino/Hispano collection as well as objects for the upcoming exhibition on the histories of Chocolate and Mate. The LAS intern will also work with the collections database to assist in updating collections records. The intern will be assigned to a Curator who agrees to guide, plan and schedule the intern's educational experience, providing supervision and evaluation. Additionally the intern will be given a broad orientation to the larger museum setting based on ongoing museum projects. At the end of the internship period the intern will be expected to write and submit a brief internship report and to give a public presentation on her research topic.

Qualifications: The internship is intended for a female student who is completing advanced undergraduate coursework, currently enrolled in graduate school, or who plans graduate work in art history, anthropology, American, Chicano/Latino, or Latin American studies, folklore, or museum studies. Ideal candidates will be able to demonstrate evidence
of commitment to the museum field. Strong reading and writing ability in Spanish is desired.

• Part-time Museum Internship with stipend
• 2009 Part time or Full time schedule (three to six months)-negotiable
• Minimum requirement 20 hours /week for six months
• Maximum time 40 hours/week for three months
• Application deadline Friday February 27, 2009
• Notification of selection by Monday March 16, 2009

.pdf application form

Please send a detailed cover letter commenting on career goals, scholarship, and interest in museums, completed application form», resume, two reference letters, and unofficial transcripts no later than Friday, February 27, 2009 to the address below; with notification by Monday, March 16, 2009.

Museum of International Folk Art
LAS Fund Selection Committee
PO Box 2087
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2087

For further information please send e-mail to chris.vitagliano@state.nm.us

The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.