An internship is the most valuable off campus activity that the Art Major can experience prior to graduation. It constitutes an actual work experience that allows qualified students to put their academic training to practical use. It compliments the learning experience in school and introduces you to a career or field that especially interests you. It may be paid or unpaid, and occupy only a few weeks of your off-campus time or last an entire semester. An internship offers a unique way to find out the difference between what you think a job is and what it really is. It allows you to demonstrate your talents, build work experience, and to understand institutional organization.

The internship can position you in a job market that traditionally hires from within its own ranks. This gives you access to key people who can help you network within your field or expand beyond your specialization. In a competitive job marker, a well-performed internship is often sufficient to establish your credentials for a permanent position with that organization, or other similar organizations, following graduation. Internship sites are museums and galleries in New York City and Westchester County, design studios, graphic design and advertising agencies, book and magazine publishers, display departments of major retail outlets, and apprentices in artist’s studios. Recent artists studios have included work with painters, printmakers, and ceramicists.

For the Art Therapy Major, recent internships have been in such specialized settings as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York and in Westchester’s Rye Psychiatric Hospital and Blythedale Children’s Hospital. Art Education fieldwork placements include public and private elementary and secondary schools in the immediate area.

Each year, qualified Art Majors research and select placement possibilities. The procedure includes resume preparation, portfolio review, placement interviews, and an approved internship contract. Internship requirements include a journal of the daily work activities, a reflective evaluation of the experience, supervisor and personal assessments, and semester meetings with an internship coordinator. The record on the internship becomes part of the student’s departmental file. These are some examples of internship opportunities: