Internships

Internships are a way for students to get “real life” experience in the field, usually for several hours a week on a volunteer basis. The School of Art offers academic internships for credit through the course ART 671 Internships in the Visual Arts. (Students may also choose to do “career internships,” which they pursue on their own and for which they will not receive academic credit.)

School of Art Internship Program and ART 671

If you are planning to take ART 671 and receive credit for your internship, it is important to plan ahead. The semester before you plan to do an internship, you must attend School of Art Internship information session and choose a faculty sponsor to work with.

In order to register for ART 570 you must fill out and submit the Learning Plan and Release Liability Form, both can be found on the Institute for Civic Engagement and Community website. Meet with your faculty advisor/sponsor to fill out the Learning plan and have it signed, then submit the form to the School of Art Office. You will receive an Add code to register for the course once all paperwork has been completed.

Internship Information Session:
Date and Time to be announced. Please email sch_art@sfsu.edu with your name, your SF State ID #, your rank and your email, if you are interested in participating in the next information session.

Guidelines

If you are planning to take ART 671 and receive credit for your internship, follow the recommended timeline and instructions below.

The semester before you plan to do your internship:

  1. Attend a School of Art Internship information session (generally held in November and in April-exact dates posted on our website).
  2. Make sure you qualify for ART 671, which requires that you
    • -be an upper division Art/Art History student
    • -have a grade point average of 3.0
    • -have taken a 20th/21st century Art History class with a grade of B or better
  3. Find an internship opportunity that has been approved by the School of Art. If you want to do an internship that is not already approved, it must first complete the University approval process with SF State Institute for Civic and Community Engagement (ICCE). You must reach out to ICCE and notify them of your internship at least 3 months before you wish to begin the internship. Contact your faculty internship instructor or the Director of the School of Art to start the approval process with ICCE.
  4. Register for a Student Account with SF State ULINK database by following the link included in the ICCE Internship page.
  5. Apply for the internship by contacting the institution or organization where you wish to intern to express your interest in the opportunity and find out how to apply. You may need to send a resume and cover letter, or be interviewed.

At the beginning of the semester you plan to complete your internship:

  1. Once you have accepted an internship offer, meet with your faculty advisor/internship instructor to complete a Learning Plan and Release Liability Form. The form must be signed by your instructor and your internship supervisor.
  2. Submit the signed Learning Plan and Release Liability Form to the School of Art in order to receive a permit code to register for ART 671. Register for 1-3 units, depending on how many hours per week you will work at the internship, (3 hours/week=1 unit; 6 hours/week=2 units; 9 hours/week=3 units) Once you have registered for ART 671 you may begin doing the internship.
  3. At the end of the semester have your internship supervisor email your faculty instructor to verify that you have successfully completed the internship so that they can enter your grade.