Indigenous Internship Program
This internship program has been developed by six Indigenous partners: the Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, the Haida Gwaii Museum, the U’mista Cultural Society, the Nlaka’pamux Nation, the Coqualeetza Cultural Society, and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Funding is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This program provides training opportunities for Indigenous people working in museums and cultural heritage management or Indigenous people who would like to do this kind of work.
The internships are flexible in terms of focus and training will be customized to individuals to support their current or future work goals.
Areas of focus include: Collections Management, Conservation, Library and Archives, Oral History Language Laboratory, and Curatorial work.
There will be two annual calls for applicants: Spring and Fall. Placements are 10 weeks, 35 hours per week.
Location: At the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, in Vancouver, for eight weeks with a two-week placement at one of the six Indigenous partner organizations.
Who can apply? Indigenous community members from North America with a demonstrated interest in cultural heritage management.
Wages: Interns will receive an hourly wage of $22/hour. Travel costs to MOA (return) will be provided. Travel (return) and accommodation costs for community placements will also be provided.
Fall 2024 Internship Program
Oct. 15 – Dec. 6, 2024 at MOA followed by a two-week community placement in 2025
Application Deadline: July 14, 2024
How to apply:
Indigenous people from North America are eligible to apply. To establish your eligibility, please include your First Nation or Indigenous community affiliation in your cover letter.
Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada. MOA is unable to sponsor work permit applications.
Your application should include:
• Resume
• Cover letter
• Email and telephone contact information for two references along with a brief description of your relationship with them (Ideally, your references will include a past supervisor who knows your work well and someone who knows your contributions to your home community.)
In your cover letter, please share why you wish to be in the program, what you hope to learn, and how this internship will help you achieve your goals. Please also describe how your work, study and/or community experiences support your interest in the program. If you have a sense of which of these five areas you would like to focus on for your training, please describe this in your letter: Collections Management, Conservation, Library and Archives, Oral History Language Laboratory, and Curatorial work.
The program is usually completed on a full-time, Monday to Friday schedule. It is not possible to complete the program if you have other full-time work or study commitments. However, the program can offer some flexibility. If you would like to attend with an alternative schedule due to family or community commitments, please describe this in your cover letter.
Please send your application documents to:
Sarah E. Holland, Indigenous Internship Program Lead: sarahelizabeth.holland@ubc.ca
If you have any questions about the internship program or the application, please do not hesitate to contact Sarah.
Pictured in the banner image: Interns from the Spring 2023 cohort (left to right), Tannis Wilson (Haisla), Aaron Rice (Kanien’keha:ka/Mohawk), Haleigh Lamarche (Sucker Creek) in MOA’s conservation lab. Photo by Shabnam Honarbakhsh.