My Summer at the Institute of Contemporary Art

As an intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), I had the opportunity to see how a contemporary art institution functions. I was drawn to the ICA because of its focus on connecting art to social and cultural issues, and I wanted to explore how my background in research and community engagement could translate into a museum environment. I was especially interested in working with the curatorial and development teams since I wanted to understand how art institutions bring together research and storytelling. 

During the internship, I worked on everything from archival research to student and alumni programming. Each part helped me better understand the many parts that go into an exhibition. I learned how much thoughtful planning, collaboration, and communication happens before anything reaches the gallery floor. For instance, I learned how to research potential speakers and organize data in ways that will be useful for the ICA Student Board in the future. This experience not only gave me new skills, like managing databases and navigating archive requests, but also showed me how museums like the ICA play an important role in showcasing the impact of local and global artists.