Internships

The Zimmerli Art Museum offers internships for academic credit to Rutgers undergraduate students. Under the supervision of museum staff, interns engage in experiential learning to acquire hands-on, practical experience by assisting with day-to-day departmental activities, research-based assignments, and other special projects that support the operations of the museum. Academic-year internships are typically 8 to 10 hours per week and are structured to bestow a deeper understanding of the university art museum as a crucial hub for interdisciplinary research, collection management, learning, and community engagement.  

Interns will also have opportunities to build community with their cohort and museum professionals at the Zimmerli through brown-bag talks, designed for professional development. 

Interns are selected based on their academic training, experience, and interests, as well as departmental availability. Interns may apply to work in the following departments: curatorial, registration, education, development, marketing and communications, and the business office.  

Current opportunities will be listed below for upcoming semesters for enrolled Rutgers students pursuing any course of study. 

The Zimmerli Art Museum's Curatorial Department plans, implements, and oversees the rotation and execution of temporary and permanent art exhibitions at the museum. The Curatorial Department seeks four interns for the following projects:

1. Upcoming special exhibitions, including monographic presentations of historical and contemporary artists, as well as the 2026 New Jersey Arts Annual, which is open to New Jersey artists working in any medium (visual, audio, video) (fall 2025)
2. To support the planned reinstallation of the American art wing expected to open in 2026 (fall 2025; this position has the possibility of renewal for an additional semester)
3. To assist with upcoming collection-based initiatives within the Morse Research Center for Graphic Arts, which is devoted to the Zimmerli’s rich collection of artworks on paper from the Americas, Europe, and Asia (fall 2025)
4. To aid with the exhibition design and graphic identity of upcoming special exhibitions, permanent collection installations, and in-gallery printed materials (fall 2025)

The Zimmerli Art Museum’s Education Department works with visitors of all ages to support learning in the museum and foster creativity through a variety of programs and resources.

The Zimmerli Art Museum's Marketing and Communications department oversees all promotional matters along with the development of exhibition publications and audio-visual needs for live events held in the building.

The Zimmerli Art Museum’s Registration Department is responsible for the maintenance and physical care of art and intellectual property. This includes work on exhibitions, loan planning and logistics, conservation, rights and reproductions, object and gallery photography, maintenance of the collections database (TMS), preparation of works on paper with matting and framing, and establishing collections procedures aligned with the professional standards set by AAM (American Alliance of Museums.) This work supports a museum-wide effort to make the collection accessible for all. The Registration Department works closely with the Curatorial and Operations Departments.

An intern can expect to work on inventory projects, assist with cataloguing and database projects, and work on digitization efforts. 

The Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union at Zimmerli Art Museum is the largest collection of its kind in the world. It includes over 20,000 works by more than 1,000 artists, a research library, and an archive.

The Dodge Collection Archives and Library Intern will participate in the ongoing work of processing the archival and library collections, including sorting and filing archival materials (documents, photographs, ephemera, audio and video recordings), making inventories of archival materials, cataloguing archival materials and books, preparing finding aids for archival collections, and digitization of archival materials. This internship will be an exciting opportunity to learn new or practice and hone existing skills for those majoring or interested in any of the following: Russian language, history, art history, museum studies, digital humanities, archival management, and library science. Previous experience, professional and/or Russian language skills, are a plus, but are not required.  

The Zimmerli Art Museum seeks an outgoing, creative, and enthusiastic Special Events Intern to support its efforts in event planning and development. The intern selected for this position will assist the Manager of Event Services with a wide range of projects related to day-to-day event operations, planning, and basic administrative tasks. They will work closely with the Manager of Event Services with the coordination of event booking materials, such as contract administration, estimates, and various event administrative procedural documents (i.e., parking requests, certification approvals, and custodian service requests). The ideal candidate should be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. This internship is available to any Rutgers junior or senior student with a strong interest in event planning and hospitality.