For the second year, the MSU Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, has been accepted to participate in the Smithsonian Institution Leadership for Change Internship. This is a paid internship for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, offered by the Smithsonian for summer, 2024. We have two positions to offer.
Students should mention the MSU Museum when they apply. For 2024, the work with focus on historical research and content production for an exhibition and podcast that will be opened/released spring 2025. Interns will be supervised by Teresa Goforth, Director of Exhibitions, and Dr. Julian Chambliss, Val Berryman Curator of History and Professor of English. Deadline for Applications is February 26!
“The MSU Museum serves the MSU community by facilitating and creating experiences at the nexus of the arts, sciences, cultures, and technologies. It envisions an MSU community inspired and informed by the arts and sciences, working collaboratively, creatively, and equitably to solve problems and pursue a better world for all.
The MSU Museum will open an exhibition in January 2025 titled Detroit and the Rise of Machine Music, 1975-1995. Afrofuturism, a movement that combines African diaspora culture with futuristic elements, has always had a strong connection to sound. Detroit has played a significant role in Afrofuturist sound. Artists such as Derrick May and Underground Resistance have used Detroit techno music to document the decline of the city and the changing industrial order of the 20th century. Techno’s birth and evolution in Detroit provide a platform for black perspectives on cultural change, showcasing innovation and critique. Beyond the beats, the sounds of a particular time and place in Detroit serve as a communal archive, transmitting stories of black existence and contributing to the early foundations of Afrofuturism.
If matched, Smithsonian interns will be part of the exhibition development team. They will help gather stories from Detroit artists, assist in historical research of the people, the time, and the material culture. In exhibition development meetings, they will be able to share what they have collected and learned and help determine how it will be used in the exhibition.
The project deliverable will be interpretive components for the exhibitions which may take the form of exhibition text, foundational research for the exhibition, and/or oral history transcripts. These products will become part of the museum’s permanent exhibition file and interns will be recognized in the exhibition acknowledgements for their work. Interns will have the opportunity to present on their work to the museum staff.”
