The Kitchen @ WESTBETH
Please see instructions on how to apply at the bottom of this page.
As New York City’s center for experimentation and the avant-garde since 1971, a fundamental element of The Kitchen’s annual artistic program and institutional storytelling stems from its rich archive, which houses performance documentation, ephemera and institutional historical documents from 1971 to the present. The collection is particularly known for its audio and video documentation as well as posters and artist prints. The Kitchen nurtures an artistic community that is multi-generational and multi-disciplinary, supporting its artists as they create new and genre-defying work.
In April 2023, The Kitchen @ Westbeth will unveil a brand new website platform that will reimagine and increase access to our current programs and exhibitions as well as our living archive.
Spearheaded by the digital media working team members at The Kitchen alongside the Archivist, this overhaul includes a new content management system that will make our archive more interoperable with other local, national and international archival collections. The new vision for our digital platform will strengthen our ability to support artists, scholars, and writers with their research, while offering a learning space and resources that can be used within and beyond the walls of our institution.
Intern Responsibilities:
Reporting directly to The Kitchen’s Archivist, Institutional Advancement & Special Projects Manager and Curatorial Assistant.
The Archive and Curatorial Research Intern will support the development and preparation stages of an in-person program of presentations.
Conversations with artists, archivists, information theorists, and curators around topics central to archival practice, informed by The Kitchen’s own archive.
Discussion topics will include:
archiving performance
community archival work
decolonizing the archive
oral histories
performing archives
politics of care
reception history
This program will play a crucial role in The Kitchen’s 2023-24 season as we continue to expand the definitions of experimental history and work to increase public access to our archive.
Position Overview:
Working closely with the Archivist, the Archive and Curatorial Research Intern will provide crucial support in the development of said discursive program.
Gain access to the innerworkings of a longstanding arts non-profit institution.
Central tasks will include research on select artists, performances, exhibitions and artistic movements.
Research to determine production and budget needs for the program.
Selecting related archival materials and highlights to be presented on The Kitchen’s web platform as accompaniment to the live program.
Qualifications:
The candidate should have a keen attention to detail.
The capability to execute wide-reaching independent research.
Efficiency in Microsoft Office
Ability to juggle multiple timelines and tasks simultaneously.
Some familiarity with contemporary art and time-based media.
An openness to learning about new artists, movements, and creative practices through their ongoing work.
Experience with ArchiveSpace.
Other archive management or library cataloging systems is a plus but is not required.
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.