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. The Indigenous Internship Program is funded by the Mellon Foundation.

The Indigenous Internship Program provides training opportunities for people working in museums and cultural heritage management or 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 are two annual calls for applicants: Spring and Fall. Internships are 12 weeks, 35 hours per week.

Location: At the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, in Vancouver, for ten weeks with a two-week placement at one of the six Indigenous partner organizations.

Accommodation: Housing on the UBC campus is available to rent for the Spring internship period, but is not available during the Fall internship. If you are applying for the Spring internship, please indicate if you would like to access accommodation on campus in your cover letter. Cost of housing/accommodation is not covered by the program.

Who can apply? Indigenous community members from North America with a demonstrated interest in cultural heritage management, as well as people whose creative, professional or academic work supports the continuation, interpretation and safeguarding of Indigenous cultures.

Wages: Interns will receive an hourly wage of $25/hour. Travel costs to MOA (return) will be provided. Travel (return) and accommodation costs for community placements will also be provided.

Fall 2026 Internship Program

We are now recruiting for the Fall 2026 program, which runs October 13 to December 15, 2026.

Internships are 35 hours/week for 10 weeks onsite at MOA plus a two-week community placement (total of 12 weeks paid internship).  The program is intended to be completed on a full-time, Monday-to-Friday schedule. 

Please note: 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 participate with an alternative schedule due to family or community commitments, please describe this in your cover letter.

UBC campus housing is not available for the Fall internship period.

Application Deadline: Monday, July 20, 2026 at 5pm PST

How to apply:

Please send your resume and cover letter to:
iip@moa.ubc.ca 

Please include the following information in your cover letter:

• Your area of interest (Library and Archives, Conservation, Oral History Language Laboratory, Curation, Exhibit Design, and Laboratory of Archaeology)
• Outline what you are hoping to learn or achieve during your internship

If you have any questions about the internship program or the application, please e-mail iip@moa.ubc.ca. 

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.