Graduate Student Full-Year Internship in Objects Conservation

Intern/Fellow Title: Graduate Student Full-Year Internship in Objects Conservation
Academic Level: Graduate, Conservation
Supervisor: Conservator
Department: Objects Conservation
Dates of Internship/Fellowship: September 2024-August 2025 (start and end dates flexible)
Term: 10-12 months (as stipulated by graduate program)

Internship Overview:

The conservation department of the Cleveland Museum of Art welcomes applications for a graduate
third- or fourth-year internship in Objects Conservation for the period September 2024-August 2025.
The intern will join a collaborative and convivial team in caring for, studying, and treating objects from
the Museum’s encyclopedic and renowned collection. The CMA maintains a full schedule of loans,
rotations, and exhibitions, with associated assessment, documentation, and treatment needs. The
conservation department is also committed to ongoing research and investigation of objects in the
collection.
Due to the diverse collection at the CMA, the intern will work on a variety of objects conservation
treatment and research projects providing opportunities to address cleaning, structural, and aesthetic
condition issues. The intern will work with the conservators (two objects conservators and one
preventive conservator) to select projects according to their interests and educational goals.
The graduate internship experience may also include technical investigation of objects through xradiography,
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and
cross-section analysis.
The intern will have the opportunity to work closely and collaboratively with conservators in other
specialties, collections management colleagues, digital imaging specialists, curators, mountmakers,
exhibition designers and production staff to gain well-rounded professional experience in the diverse
responsibilities necessary for an objects conservator working within a museum setting. The
Conservation team values outreach and accessibility, and the intern will also have opportunities to
present and share their conservation activities on social media and blog posts.
The Institution:
The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes
nearly 45,000 objects and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. A major renovation and
expansion project completed in 2014 has transformed the museum into a significant international forum
for exhibitions, scholarship, performing arts and art education. One of the top comprehensive art
museums in the nation and free of charge to all, the Cleveland Museum of Art is located in the
University Circle neighborhood. The Museum's conservation department currently employs 14 full-time
staff members, including conservators in paper, Asian paintings, textiles, paintings, and objects, as well
as technicians and a chief conservator. The department regularly hosts pre-program conservation
interns, third-year interns, and graduate fellows. The significant resources of the Cleveland Museum of
Art, including its outstanding library and archives, and nearby Case Western Reserve University with its
innovative maker space, think[box], contribute to a unique internship opportunity.
Requirements:
Candidates must be currently enrolled in a recognized conservation graduate program. The candidate
must be eligible to legally work in the US.
Salary:
The Museum offers funding to supplement support received from the intern’s graduate program, up to
a total of $33,000 annual salary, which will be pro-rated for an internship of less than 52 weeks. Interns
are expected to work 35 hours per week and can elect health and other benefits.

Questions should be addressed to Beth Edelstein at bedelstein@clevelandart.org.
Application materials must be received by end of day January 17, 2024, and interviews will be
conducted in February. For consideration, please submit the following materials in English. PDF format is
strongly preferred, and please be sure to include your last name in the title of each document.
* a letter stating your interests and intent in applying for the internship, including description(s) of
previous conservation experience and internships
* curriculum vitae
* online portfolio (preferred) or examples of examination and treatment reports with images