Purpose

• Internships give MassArt students the opportunity to connect art and design skills to related work experience and allow them to explore potential career paths within the Creative Economy
• Internships must be pre-professional in nature, offer training, and be primarily for educational benefit of the student
• The interns must be mentored by a professional with expertise in a field they are interested in exploring
• An internship should offer the intern the opportunity to start building a professional network
• Internships give employers the opportunity to guide and evaluate talent

Internship Areas

• As an extension of the MassArt curriculum, internships must be related to one of our art & design academic programs
• The internship must have clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student’s academic coursework
• Faculty review internships to see if they are credit-worthy in their program; they have final approval on academic credit for an internship

Mentorship

• Interns must be mentored by a professional on staff who has expertise in the area of the internship, similar to a teacher-student relationship but onsite at a business. (Example: A graphic design intern would be mentored by a professional graphic designer on staff)
• Internship mentors must be able guide, answer questions, and give professional feedback to the intern
• Mentors will sign the internship terms at the beginning of the internship and then complete a midterm and final evaluation of the intern’s progress during the experience. This is done electronically via email/online form- supervisors must be available and able to respond in a timely manner
• Internship paperwork for academic credit must be submitted in English in order to fulfill the obligations for supervising a MassArt intern.

Tasks

• The internship tasks and qualifications must be clearly defined at the start of the internship
• Tasks must be art & design related and pre-professional in nature
• The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings
• The internship role cannot be essential to daily operations

Semester Schedule

• Internships follow the semester academic schedule
• Credit-bearing internships are a single semester long (15 weeks)
• The semester timeline is as follows: Spring (January-May), Summer (June-August), Fall (September-December)

Hours & Duration

• MassArt’s intern program is part time and one semester (15 weeks) long
• Interns must complete a minimum of 135 hours of internship related work within 15 consecutive weeks of a semester
• The internship must have a defined beginning and end date
• Typically, during the fall and spring semesters intern typically work 10-20 hours per week. The summer semester offers more flexibility with hours. No more than 40 hours per week is permitted
• Additional hours/semesters will not be approved for additional academic credit

Location

• The internship employer must be an established business, organization, or artist with a business location/address.
• Remote internships for academic credit are permitted through the Summer 2021 semester.

Equipment

• The company must provide all necessary resources, equipment, software, and workspace
• Use of MassArt equipment or facilities is not permitted

• MassArt highly encourages employers to offer internships that are paid at an hourly rate. Compensation attracts a wider pool of competitive applicants and allows more latitude with internship tasks and responsibilities
• The typical hourly rate for internships is $13-17 per hour
• Generally, students may earn academic credit for either a paid or unpaid internship; the Graphic Design department only approves paid internships for credit
• Only internships offering an hourly rate above minimum wage are considered paid; academic credit or a small stipend is not compensation
• Internships with stipends will not be approved unless the stipend amount breaks down to the hourly minimum wage
• Students may register either a paid or unpaid internship for academic credit. The college determines if an internship is eligible for credit; final approval on credit is given by the student’s faculty
• Pay and academic credit are not mutually exclusive. Credit does not count as compensation
• The student is responsible for registering their internship for credit if they wish to receive it

• MassArt encourages paid internships; unpaid internships carry more restrictions for employers. For compliance, please visit the US Department of Labor’s criteria for unpaid internships under The Fair Labor Standards Act
• Credit does not count as compensation
• Generally, students may earn academic credit for either a paid or unpaid internship; the Graphic Design department only approves paid internships for credit

• Employers are responsible for the hiring process; interested applicants will contact you directly
• MassArt Career Development does not recommend potential applicants
• To recruit applicants for your internship, submit your internship description to our online database. It is free to post and this is where MassArt students look for internships
• To attract candidates, we recommend offering hourly paid internships
• The Career Development office reviews all submissions before they are activated. Internship postings that do not clearly meet MassArt’s academic guidelines posted above will not be approved. Any listings that do not meet the goals of the site are subject to removal without notice

Please be aware that internships through MassArt are one semester long and align with the academic semester schedule:

• Spring (January-May)
• Summer (May-August)
• Fall (September-December)

Please plan to hire for internships by the following times:

• Spring: First week of February
• Summer: Last week of May
• Fall: Second week of September

After MassArt’s semester registration deadlines pass, our students can no longer register an internship for credit and our office no longer promotes internships for that semester.

Before writing an internship description, ask yourself the following questions to help structure your internship program:

• Do you have an appropriate supervisor who has sufficient expertise in the area of the internship? The internship supervisor should be able to teach the intern best practices and answer detailed technical questions about the internship responsibilities
• Will they be onsite at the internship and able to watch first-hand how the intern performs and do they have enough time to spend teaching the intern? An internship is usually a student’s first professional experience and there will be a learning curve
• Is that supervisor on-board with mentoring an intern? Make sure the supervisor understands what is expected of them and shares the same goals
• Do you have some clear-cut learning objectives for the internship? Consider writing a syllabus of things you want the intern to learn. There is often a gap between college and the professional world – think about how to close that gap and train them for the professional world
• Do you have a list of pre-professional tasks for the intern, both short term & long term? Do you have some intern projects they can work on if there is downtime? It is natural for things to be busy sometimes- make it is clear to the intern what they can work on when this happens. Sometimes it is helpful to have the intern work on a sample project so they have a safe place to be creative and get more involved with some work
• Are there opportunities to network with staff, clients, stakeholders?
• Are there opportunities to shadow projects, presentations, meetings, other staff/departments?
• Do you have a regular schedule for the intern? Make sure you set a schedule that works for both you and the intern. Interns will need to meet a minimum of 135 hours in a semester for credit- make sure you can offer that. Most students intern 10-20 hours per week during a school year and are more flexible over the summer
• Can you pay an hourly rate? Paid internships are encouraged. Offering an hourly paid internship will allow the intern to be more committed to the internship and reduce the need for paid job that will compete for their time & priorities. Students can get credit for paid internships as well
• Be clear on expectations and let them know about late and sick policies as well as how lunch breaks work
• Do you have an internship manual? It will be helpful to create a guide for your intern(s) to cover your workplace policies, tasks, projects, and expectations

Additional tips:

• Offer an internship orientation at your company
• Offer job shadowing opportunities in various in-house departments
• Offer opportunities to conduct informational interviews with other staff members
• Hold an intern brown bag lunches with senior staff
• Offer guidance on professional development within your industry

In some cases it may be worth asking if an internship is the best route for your company/organization. If you do not have an appropriate supervisor or time to train an intern you may need to ask yourself if your opportunity an internship or more appropriate as a job? Here are some tips to help determine which opportunity type is the best fit for your goals.

• Clearly outline all internship tasks, duties, responsibilities, and potential projects
• Describe the training and mentorship that will be offered and what skills/experience will be gained
• Describe how the skills/experience will be valuable across your industry and what career it will prepare the intern for
• Describe the professional background of the supervisor/mentor and what they have to offer
• List the types of staff member/clients/people the intern will come into contact with and the potential for building relationships/networking
• Describe the specific skills/qualifications/abilities you are seeking. Keep in mind qualifications should be in the realm of what an undergraduate level student would gain from their classes. Interns typically would not have much prior professional experience
• Limit the hours to 10-20 during the academic year and offer flexibility if possible