Interpretive Fellowships at Art Museums

Overview

Our Mission

Our mission at the Samuel H. Kress Foundation (est. 1929) is to sustain and carry out the original vision of our founder, Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955).

We support the work of individuals and institutions engaged with the appreciation, interpretation, preservation, study and teaching of the history of European art and architecture from antiquity to the dawn of the modern era.

We serve the field of art history as practiced in American art museums and institutions of higher education, and in an array of research centers and libraries throughout the world. We further support training and research in art conservation as well as the professional practice of art conservation.

We make grants in defined program areas and offer professional development fellowships for historians of art and architecture, art conservators, art museum curators and educators, and art librarians.

Interpretive Fellowships at Art Museums

The purpose of the Kress Interpretive Fellowships at Art Museums program is to provide a new kind of mentored professional development opportunity within American art museums. The program is intended to encourage students to explore interpretive careers in art museums, whether as future museum educators or curators; to strengthen the profession of museum educator within the art museum community; to strengthen ties between museum educators and curators in the shared task of interpretive programming in art museums; and to expand the range of promising career options available to students of art history and related fields.

Successful interpretive programs in art museums require formal education in art history, understanding of learning theory, and sensitivity to the learning needs and styles of widely diverse audiences. Within a mentoring environment, the Kress Interpretive Fellow develops the first-hand experience, expertise, and confidence on which to base an interpretive career in art museums, whether as museum curator or museum educator.

Kress Interpretive Fellowships provide competitive grants to American art museums which sponsor supervised internships in art museum education. Kress Interpretive Fellowships are awarded each year to American art museums for 9-to-12 month professional development opportunities. Typically, Interpretive Fellowships begin in late summer or early fall.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Application must be made by the art museum proposing to host a Kress Interpretive Fellow.
* These Interpretive Fellowships are intended as an opportunity for individuals who have completed a degree (B.A., M.A., or Ph.D.) in art history, art education, studio art or museum studies and who are pursuing or contemplating graduate study or professional placement in these or related fields.
* The appropriate level of educational achievement will be determined by the host museum and be dependent upon the needs of the proposed fellowship project.
* The Fellowship candidate may be identified in advance of application by the host institution or recruited subsequently.
* Overall, the program seeks to support a set of professional development opportunities that offer:
* Opportunities to work collaboratively and in a team environment alongside both art museum educators and curators
* Opportunities for students or graduates from a variety of North American academic programs in art history and related fields
* Opportunities to work in a variety of institutions, including large municipal art museums, smaller regional art museums and academic art museums
* A combination of proven Fellowship sites as well as opportunities at institutions that have not previously hosted Kress Interpretive Fellows
* Interpretive Fellowship applications will be rated according to the potential for the host institution to:
* Provide a varied and challenging set of tasks appropriate to the goals of the program
* Provide a strong mentoring environment embracing both professional art museum educators and curators working in tandem
* Identify a suitable Fellowship candidate
* The full Fellowship award of $30,000 must be allocated as a stipend for the fellow.
* Payroll taxes may be withheld from the $30,000, but any other benefits, travel or education reimbursement, or administrative costs must be met by the institution or other funding.