James E. Lieber Art History Internship Fund
Established in 2019 by James E. Lieber ’84, and awarded by the Art History Program, the Lieber Art History Internship Fund provides grant support to Art History majors or minors for summer work experience as rising juniors and seniors through unpaid or underpaid internships with non-profit visual arts-related institutions in the United States or abroad, such as museums, cultural foundations, collections, publications, and visual arts education programs.
The Fund has two branches:
1) support for internships secured independently by eligible students. Click here for additional details and application instructions.
2) (NEW for June and July 2025) support for a Wesleyan-sponsored Peggy Guggenheim Collection Internship in Venice, Italy. Click here for details and a description of the program along with application instructions.
2025 Lieber Art History Internship Fund Recipients:
Maggie Leeming '26, Art History and Film Studies double major
Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thanks to the generosity of the James E. Lieber Art History Internship Fund award, I will be spending my summer living and interning in Buenos Aires, Argentina. My internship is with the Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA), and I will be working as a research assistant for the curatorial staff. The internship will involve working closely with the museum’s archives and library, where I will assist in researching materials for upcoming exhibitions. My responsibilities will include cataloging archival documents, conducting literature reviews on artists and movements represented in their collection, and translating catalogues from Spanish to English. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with some of the country’s most knowledgeable art historians and curators. I look forward to returning to Buenos Aires, the city I studied abroad in this past fall, and learn more about art curation. I am extremely grateful and honored to have been chosen for the Lieber award and the opportunities it will afford me this summer!
Theo Lockrow '27, Art History and East Asian Studies double major
Gibbes Museum Vibrant Leaders Program, Charleston, South Carolina
My internship program at the Gibbes Museum will center on gaining experience within multiple museum departments. The program is designed for minority undergraduate students to launch their careers in the museum world by creating networks and connections to become future “vibrant leaders.” The departments that I will be working with include, but are not limited to, public programming, art initiative field work organizing, grant writing, financial planning, administration, marketing, arts advocacy, and local relationship building. Through the diverse selection of work I will engage in, I will gain a robust understanding of museum functions, both conceptually and practically, by undergoing hands-on training and a final project under one-to-one mentorship. I plan to do my research project around community engagement, hopefully surrounding minority visitors and history crafting.
2025 Wesleyan-sponsored Peggy Guggenheim Collection Internship Recipient:
Eden Porter '27, Art Studio and Government double major, Art History minor
This summer, thanks to the James E. Lieber Art History Internship Fund award, I will spend two months living, learning, and working in Venice, Italy at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection as part of their international internship program. This program, which started in the ’80s, champions the development of young minds in the museum world. I am honored to join that group of young people and to dive into the world of modern art. At the Collection, I will be participating in nearly every aspect of museum operations, from working in the ticket office to interacting with museum visitors from all over the world in the gallery spaces. I am most excited for the public presentations on the life of Peggy Guggenheim, the Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space temporary exhibition, and an art work of my choice where I will use the museum's extensive library. I’m looking forward to immersing myself in the world of modern art and connecting with visitors through my passion for the arts. Through this experience, I hope to learn about the intricacies and art of curation, a field I am deeply interested in. I am grateful for this opportunity to expand my mind while being surrounded by both art and other young people who are equally as passionate.
Recipients since the fellowship's founding in 2019:
2024:
Vansh Kapoor '26, Art History & Art Studio double major (Painting Concentration)
New York Transit Museum, New York City
2023:
Emma Kendall '24, Art History & English major
Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, New York City
2022:
Luz Rivera '24, Art History & Art Studio major
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden, New York City
Carter Burden Gallery, New York City
Rebeca Trevino '24, Art History, Art Studio & Dance major
The Latino Arts Project with The African American Art Musuem of Dallas, Dallas, Texas
2021:
Yu Qin '21, Art History major, College of East Asian Studies minor
VeritasChina, online
2019:
Natalia Gomez Vazquez '21, Art History major
Galería Toro in Granada, Spain