Arts Job & Internship Toolkit

We encourage organizations to post internship and job opportunities throughout the year as students have different timelines for their searches.

Academic Year Internships (September-June)

Stanford's academic year follows the quarter system. Fall Quarter typically begins in late September, and classes end/graduation typically takes place mid-June. The Registrar lists all of the current and upcoming dates. We ask that potential host organizations keep these dates in mind as they will impact when students can participate in internships.

Students participating in academic year internship programs typically begin their internship search one quarter (10 weeks) in advance of their program start date.

Given students' academic obligations during the year, students typically are only able to commit to part-time opportunities. Additionally, given the physical location of Stanford's campus and student class schedules, hybrid and remote options tend to be preferred over fully in-person internships during the academic year.

Most students who are interested in full-time internships during the academic year are participating in one of Stanford's off-campus program (such as Stanford in New York or Stanford in Washington) which have internship requirements.

Summer Internships (June-August)

The peak season for summer internship recruitment at Stanford is November-March. Stanford students prefer to have their internships in place by March so they can spend the next few months (which is also our Spring Quarter) handling internship logistics (housing, travel, orientation) and taking and relevant preparatory courses.

Stanford students may be eligible for stipends from the University to help defray living and transportation costs.These stipends are offered through the Cardinal Quarter program, Stanford Career Education, and some individual departments. Each program has different expectations, application requirements, and timelines. Most programs require host organizations to complete part of a student's application. In general, students can receive these stipends in addition to any wages offered by the internship host organization.

Students are not required to participate in a Stanford stipend program in order to undertake a summer internship.

Additionally, host organizations cannot make receipt of a Stanford stipend a condition of participating in an internship.

• Include details in your listing about the application review timeline (e.g. first date of review, decision timeline, etc.) 
• If your organization requires that students receive academic credit and/or financial support from their institution as a condition of participation, make sure to call out these requirements in your listing.
• Interns are not "free labor." Students are applying to intern with your organization as part of their education. Frame your listing from a place of learning. In addition to listing specific projects and tasks that the student will take on as part of their internship, also include some of the skills that they can expect to learn (e.g. grant writing, database management, community organizing, graphic design, etc.) 
• When referencing an industry-specific software application include a few details to provide context (e.g. Tessitura, a ticketing and donor management system.) 
• If you advertise your internship as a paid opportunity this means that your organization is directly providing an intern with a stipend/wage throughout the duration of their internship.
• Any opportunity posted to Handshake must be able to take place regardless of whether the student receives a stipend through Stanford.

Stanford does not normally offer academic credit for internships. If students are interested in receiving credit for an internship experience they must contact their major department to discuss feasibility and requirements. Each academic department sets their own policies. In general, though, students are only able to receive internship credit through their major department.

Some things to keep in mind regarding academic credit for internships:

• Students who are doing unpaid internships for academic credit are actually paying for the experience. This may impose additional barriers for participation for students with limited financial means.
• A student may be choosing to participate in an internship instead of another paid part-/full-time job.
• At Stanford it is common for students to be active in the arts through extracurriculars but major in a different subject. If a student is doing an internship outside of their major department's focus, the student may not be eligible for academic credit. (Examples could include a biology major who is interning with a dance company, a sociology student apprenticing with a dramaturg, etc.)

A meaningful internship experience requires commitment from both the host organization and the participating student. A few guidelines to think through before posting an internship opportunity:

• An internship is, first and foremost, an experiential learning opportunity.
  • The intern should complement, rather than displace regular employees or paid temporary workers. Interns are not "free labor". 
  • The internship should have clearly defined learning objectives and routine feedback to help the intern achieve those objectives.
    • We recommend establishing goals at the beginning of the internship and doing check-ins at the midpoint and end. This is one of the top requests we've heard from students over the years!
• Provide meaningful projects for interns.
  • The occasional menial task and/or front desk duty are fine as long as they're not the only things interns are doing.
  • We've heard from many students over the years that they enjoy having a mix of routine/recurring tasks and projects as part of their internship.
• How you will create a sense of belonging for the intern
  • Create an on-boarding experience to introduce the intern to your organization's mission and values, their teammates, and workplace norms.
  • Providing the intern with a regular workspace (even if it's a hot desk) and all the equipment and materials they will need to complete their tasks/projects.
  • Find opportunities for the intern to shadow (or participate) in meetings and events.
  • Facilitate connections to other staff in your organization for informal conversations.
• Help your intern navigate the transition from being a student to a person working in the arts (even if it's just for 10 weeks.)
  • Remind your intern to take breaks. It's common for interns to want to go above and beyond--make sure that your intern isn't overextending themselves.
  • Introduce your intern to facets of the organization that may be unfamiliar (e.g. human resources, IT, finance, facilities & operations). For many students this may be the first time they've been inside a nonprofit organization (or may even be their first formal work experience.) Students really appreciate being able to see how all of the different departments work together in service of the organization's mission.

In addition to facilitating the educational experience of the student, we also encourage host organizations to ensure that an intern's supervisor has access to training and ongoing support to develop their skills as a manager.

• New and first-time supervisors should have access to training prior to the beginning of the internship recruitment process.
• Supervisors should have access to feedback to improve their managerial skills.

For additional guidance on creating meaningful internship experiences we recommend this position paper from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

The ideal internships are those that have a positive human resource benefit for the organization and a positive learning experience for the student. All interns are required to complete learning goals prior to the start of their internship. You can ask your intern about these goals directly. We encourage interns and supervisors to revisit the goals midway through the internship and to make adjustments accordingly.

Internships should be designed to offer eligible students experience in key program areas such as administration, development, education, finance, marketing or production. In considering what makes meaningful work or training opportunities, consider projects, duties or other activities that are important to the organization and can teach the intern something about the organization while assisting the intern in developing practical, work related skills. Interns should not be given meaningless or “busy work” tasks but should be integrated into the fabric of the organization. For example, while administrative tasks can certainly be a component of an intern’s job responsibilities, the tasks should link into a bigger project that the intern can successfully navigate, ideally from start to finish, during the internship.

Examples of appropriate projects include program based activities in research, education, marketing, communication, social media, grant writing and fundraising and/or activities related to producing or presenting performances. Specific project based work makes good use of a student’s capabilities while providing support to the organization.