CWS Identified Internships

From the Field Museum Web site: the museum was founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. These objects form the core of the Museum’s collections which have grown through world-wide expeditions, exchange, purchase, and gifts to more than twenty million specimens. The collections form the foundation of the Museum’s exhibition, research and education programs, which are further informed by a world-class natural history library of more than 250,000 volumes.

This year the Exhibitions Department is hosting two Wellesley interns. One will be assigned to the Traveling Exhibitions Department and the other will be working in Development.

EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION

The Field Museum’s Exhibitions department is comprised of small sub sects of individuals who design, develop, and produce the content and material aspects of all Museum exhibitions. In addition to implementing a large slate of temporary exhibitions each year, exhibition teams are currently working on major renovations to several permanent galleries as well. Each team includes at least one graphic designer, exhibit designer, content developer, production supervisor, and project manager. These members work in congress up to three years in advance of an exhibition to create the look and feel of the exhibition, as well as the educational messages the Museum wants to convey. Exhibitions are chosen and developed based on the mission of helping visitors explore the Earth and its people, and can vary in size and scope from a small exhibit of photographs on Arctic wildlife to a large collection of Egyptian art throughout the ages.

In addition to assisting with day-to-day content research and project management tasks, the internship will be designed so that the intern will receive a more intensive introduction into the area of audience research as it relates to exhibit development.

The intern will work with teams of museum professionals as they plan, develop, design and conduct audience research leading to the implementation, production, or post-opening evaluation of a number of major exhibitions. The intern will have the chance to gain a variety of general experiences in these areas by becoming a member of an Exhibit Development Team. A significant portion of the intern’s duties will focus on conduction and analyzing audience research. This research serves as the fundamental basis of the exhibit development process.

Other duties may include: attending meetings and strategy sessions relating to the development and design of selected exhibitions, assisting in developing, questionnaires and implementation strategies for audience research projects, assisting in writing reports on data gathered from interviewing museum visitors.

The intern will be mentored by Shelley Gustavson, Exhibition Developer and Evaluation Coordinator. Shelley Gustavson, née Ulrich, first joined The Field Museum as a volunteer intern in the Museum’s Exhibition Department in 1998. Shortly thereafter she was hired on as an Assistant Exhibition Developer, later being promoted to Exhibition Developer, Lead Exhibition Developer, and now as an Exhibition Developer, Evaluation Coordinator oversees all front-end, formative, and summative evaluation work for the Department. In addition, she collaborates with the Departments of Guest Relations and Museum Enterprises to ensure Exhibitions is apprised of all Museum-wide audience research initiatives.

During her time at The Field, she has been responsible for helping to shape the visitor experience for exhibitions such as Origins (human evolution), The Tibetan Art of Healing, Chocolate, Day of the Dead, Cochiti, The Ancient Americas, as well as an upcoming exhibit on mammoths. During her career, Gustavson has worked as a theatrical production manager and educator. Her education includes an honors Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Chicago (1998).

Ideal Internship Qualification: