Job Description

The Whitney’s Academic Year Internship program offers a semester-long paid internship for rising Juniors and above (to include Graduate students) enrolled in an accredited academic program. The internship is in person and onsite. For spring 2027, interns commit between 16–21 hours per week over 10–12 weeks for a total of 176 hours. The official program dates will span from January 18-April 26, 2027. Interns are assigned to a specific department at the Museum for the duration of the internship.

The application window for our Spring 2027 Ostrover Family Academic Internship is now open through November 9. Please note that all candidates will be considered on a rolling basis, and as such, some opportunities may close before the deadline.    

For more information, including information on eligibility requirements, please visit our internships page.

The Whitney seeks a Technology Services Intern for the spring 2027 semester.

One or two solutions built properly, plus the documentation that goes with them, is the whole job. The museum gets solutions that are actually in use. The intern leaves with a portfolio of work that real people depend on.

Expected Projects & Assignments

Build Solutions from the Idea List

• Review the Technology Services Idea Management list with the Director and select one or two ideas to take on for the term
• Scope each one down to something that can be finished in the time available: what it does, what it does not do, and who uses it
• Build it. Depending on the idea, this means a PowerShell or Python script, a Power Automate flow, a SharePoint page, a Freshservice workflow, or a small web page
• Test it with a staff member who actually has the problem before calling it done
• Hand it over at the end of the term: working solution, documentation, and a walkthrough for whoever runs it next

Knowledge Base Documentation

• Write staff-facing knowledge base articles for the solutions built, and for existing fixes the team has never written down
• Follow the department’s established article format: structured metadata, plain language, numbered steps, and screenshots where they help
• Submit articles through the department’s documentation repository and review process. Version control fundamentals are taught on the job
• Target for the term: four to six published articles

Working with AI

• Use Claude for drafting, code, troubleshooting, and documentation, and be able to explain the approach taken
• Write prompts that carry enough context to produce a usable result
• Verify what comes back. Test the code, check the facts, and read anything going to staff line by line before it publishes
• Report back where the AI got it wrong. This informs both the team’s practice and the museum’s wider AI enablement work

Team Participation

• Attend the Technology Services weekly team meeting and give a short update on what is built and what is blocked
• Keep assigned ideas current in Asana so the team can see status without asking
• Flag anything discovered along the way that should become its own idea or ticket

Skills & Qualifications

• Currently enrolled undergraduate junior or senior. Computer science, information systems, digital humanities, museum studies with a technology focus, or a related field. Coursework matters less than being able to show something built.
• Required. Hands-on experience using an AI assistant such as Claude to write code or documentation, with examples to show and the ability to explain the approach taken. The term is short, so the intern should arrive ready to build with AI rather than learn it here.
• Required. Clear written English, and able to explain a technical step to a reader who is not technical
• Required. Comfortable finishing something small rather than starting something large
• Desired. Able to write and debug a script in at least one language, PowerShell or Python
• Desired. Interest in museums, cultural institutions, or nonprofit technology
• No prior professional experience required. This is an entry-level internship. Coursework, personal projects, hackathons, and open source contributions all count as evidence of ability.
• Prior IT support or help desk experience is not required. Certifications are not required

Outcomes

• A portfolio of solutions in active use at the museum, with their name attached, rather than coursework
• Published documentation used daily by museum staff
• Practice applying AI to real problems under real constraints, reviewed by someone who does it daily
• A working view of how technology runs inside a cultural institution

Compensation

Interns are provided a stipend of $3000.

Generous support for Ostrover Family Academic Year Interns is provided by Julie and Doug Ostrover.

If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates. Whether you’re new to arts and culture administration, returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or take the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in the arts and culture space and what you hope to bring to this role.

About the Whitney

The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for 86 years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.

EEO Statement

The Whitney Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Museum does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, or any other factor prohibited by law. The Museum hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. The Museum encourages all qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions at all levels. This description shall not be construed as a contract of any sort for a specific period of employment.