Al Held Foundation
This program is part of the BIPOC Artists Endowed Foundation Initiative.
Please see instructions on how to apply at the bottom of this page.
The Al Held Foundation is charged with the stewardship of the art and creative legacy of abstract painter Al Held (1928–2005). The Foundation’s mission is to foster the appreciation and advancement of modern art and the public’s understanding of Held’s contribution to art of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In the last decade the Foundation has facilitated the organization of exhibitions, promoted scholarly research, and conducted educational programs in the United States and internationally.
The Foundation is located in the former home and studio of Al Held in the Catskill Mountains region of New York State. The property, a former dairy farm purchased by Held in 1965, was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a mid-sized artist endowed foundation, the Al Held Foundation employs a staff of six and maintains the art collection, archive, and historic property for public and educational programs. For more information, please visit www.alheldfoundation.org.
Intern Responsibilities:
The Intern’s primary role will be to contribute to the growing knowledge base of the Al Held Foundation by digitizing, analyzing, researching, and processing archival documents and photographs.
This work furthers the foundation’s long-term goal of processing its archives to lay the groundwork for a future catalogue raisonné (catalogue of complete works) project.
The intern will work closely with supervisor Chad Ferber, Archivist/Registrar, who has over twenty years of experience in the artist foundation field.
The internship may be on-site, remote, or hybrid.
If on-site or hybrid, the Intern must be able to commute; no housing is available.
If remote, the Intern must have regular access to the internet and a computer that supports FileMaker. The Foundation will provide training on and a copy of the software.
The Al Held Foundation maintains comprehensive records and continually adds new documentation to its digital and paper files. The Intern will play an important role in this ongoing activity and gain valuable hands-on experience with digital record management, preservation, and art cataloguing best practices, essential skills in the fields of archives and registration. Artist endowed foundations are a growing presence in the international art community creating new professional opportunities for curators, archivists, registrars, collection managers, educators, and others with diverse creative, educational, and scholarly interests oriented around the visual arts.
The ideal candidate will be BIPOC, resourceful, attentive to detail, proactive, efficient, and a quick study.
Specific requirements include:
Third or fourth year of any major in undergraduate degree program
Excellent organizational and communication skills
Excellent computer skills, with eagerness to learn new applications
Demonstrated ability in academic research
Enjoys working independently
Takes pleasure in small tangible accomplishments
Enthusiasm for modern and contemporary art a plus
Work schedule is flexible so long as it occurs within the Foundation’s regular business hours of Monday through Friday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm EST.
Interns will work onsite 28 hours per week and attend a mandatory offsite program day one day per week with their cohort.
Interns must be available for the duration of the program.
INTERNSHIP DURATION:
Total Weeks: 9 weeks
Work Hours per Week: 28
Total Hours: 252
Workdays: 4 days per week onsite
PROGRAM DAY:
On the 5th day of each week, interns will attend an offsite program day with their cohort.
These hours are separate from the internship hours.