Virtual Resources

Blaffer Art Museum Student Association (BAMSA)

The Blaffer Art Museum Student Association (BAMSA) was founded in 2005 with the goal to increase student participation in the museum community, enabling students to enrich their educational experience and the museum to reach an important audience.

Today, BAMSA builds a creative community open to students across disciplines that sparks students’ quest for knowledge and pursuit of artistic endeavors.

BAMSA’s mission is to generate and establish resume-worthy events, opportunities, and experience through active engagement in the museum. BAMSA organizes key museum programs for students, with its centerpiece as the semi-annual Red Block Bash, a cross-disciplinary arts celebration featuring student performances (music of all genres, poetry readings, etc.) and art-making that draws participation from student organizations across campus. New offerings include the UH Biannual Art Show and BAMSA Speaks: Panel on Careers in the Arts.

Committee on Visual Culture

The museum also engages faculty and staff through the Committee on Visual Culture (CoVC), a forum that not only provides information about upcoming museum programs and available resources, but also encourages collaboration and provides a networking opportunity to connect peers across campus.

If you are a UH faculty and staff member who is interested in joining the CoVC, please e-mail kveneman@uh.edu.

Blaffer Student Internships

Description: The Blaffer Art Museum Internship Program teaches a variety of museum professional skills necessary for the daily operations of a university contemporary art gallery, including: education (implementation of campus programs and outreach, development of educational resources), curatorial planning and administration, visitor services (front line contacts for guess ensuring a welcoming environment, safety protocols), art installation, marketing (focus on campus marketing), and museum registration (exhibition coordination).

Contact:

Katherine Veneman, kveneman@uh.edu with questions

Docents

**Now Accepting Applications**

Blaffer Art Museum Docent, University of Houston ($20/per hour).

Description:

Blaffer Art Museum Docents lead tours of Blaffer Art Museum exhibitions to university classes, community groups, and K-12 school groups.

The number of tours is variable as are work hours, which are between Tuesday-Saturdays (10:00am-5:00pm) with occasional evening tours. Tours are generally scheduled for a minimum of two weeks in advance and are also occasionally scheduled on shorter timeframes.

Training:

New docents initially undergo training in the fall semester to learn teaching techniques and tools. Additionally, for each exhibition, all docents are required to attend exhibition-related training sessions, which include gallery tours with artists/curators, reading reviews, discussion, and the preparation of required written tour outlines. The outlines are shared resources that may be revised during additional meetings.

It is important to arrive at all meetings on time and to assigned tours about 10 minutes beforehand.

Requirements:

We are looking for UH students for the position. Docents possess knowledge of and/or interest in contemporary art who are motivated to develop excellent communications and teaching abilities. Student docents should be juniors, seniors, or graduate students in Art History, Arts Leadership, Art, or Art Education. By the start date, docents will have completed a minimum of eight courses (or 24 credit hours) in a combination of the above disciplines and including three courses (or 9 credit hours) in art history. Studio art backgrounds and proficiency in more than one language are beneficial academic skills but not required.

On your resume, please list the courses completed in the above areas and those planning to take in the fall semester.

To apply:

Applicants will have a desire to educate themselves and others about contemporary art and the Blaffer Art Museum’s programs and give tours that are highly adaptable to all tourgoers with various educational goals and interests. The position requires a high degree of organizational skills and an interest in developing educational engagement and public speaking strategies. Some prior teaching experience is beneficial, and docents should be able to relate well to children at all grade levels and adults.

UH students may login to Cougar Pathways

Job Posting # 104708

Contact:

Katherine Veneman, kveneman@uh.edu with questions.

Blaffer Art Museum Internship University of Houston

In general academically focused internships are offered to University of Houston students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Students are encouraged to seek academic credit.

In partnership with the UH School of Art, one graduate student in the Master of Art History program is awarded the Blaffer Art Museum Fellowship in Contemporary Art History in support of a stipend for a year-long curatorial internship. Additional internships are funding by scholarships.

Blaffer Art Museum welcomes applications for internships in the fall, spring, and summer semesters, and they may be renewed for an additional semester subject to review.

Blaffer Art Museum interns learn about the art museum field while gaining experience and knowledge of professional practices. Interns are integral to the realization of the museum’s educational mission, and they learn about the scholarly enterprises, outreach initiatives, and operations of the museum. Students undertake individual and group projects under the mentorship of museum professionals. Under the guidance of the Education department, internships are conducted in the curatorial and education departments.

Internships are ten hours per week during the UH fall, spring, and summer semesters.
University of Houston students may seek credit with their major.
Interns are assigned to staff-mentored projects in one or more departments.
Internships may be renewed, subject to a review at the end of the semester.

Juniors, seniors, or graduate students at the University of Houston. Strong background in art, art history, arts education, arts leadership, cultural history, aesthetics preferred.
Strong Interest in contemporary art and initiative in learning museum practices.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Strong organizational, planning, and time management skills. Ability to set and meet deadlines.
Interest in learning library-based, archival, and online research for exhibitions and programs. May include research for upcoming exhibitions, archival projects.
Flexible work style; ability to work collaboratively and individually.
Experience in one or more of the following is a plus: arts education/teaching; knowledge of Adobe software and/or digital platforms; language skills.

Interns can:

Join the Blaffer Art Museum Student Association (BAMSA) meetings.
Participate in special museum tours given by curators and visiting artists.
Work closely with museum staff to develop specialized skills pertinent to academic programs and career goals.
Receive library research training.
Network with like-minded peers who are passionate about art.
Get discounts on publications.
Take group field trip to museums, private collections, or special university programs and events.

Blaffer Art Museum welcomes applications for internships in the fall, spring, and summer semesters, and they may be renewed for an additional semester subject to review.

Deadlines
Spring Semester: December 15 for students enrolling in course credit, January 15 for students not enrolling in course credit.

Summer Semester: May 5

Fall Semester: August 25

Please print out and fill out this application and send it with your resume, cover letter, and unofficial academic transcript to Curator of Education Katherine Veneman at kveneman@uh.edu.

In your cover letter, indicate areas in which you’d like to study, tell us how you learned about the opportunity and why you are applying.

Qualified applicants are interviewed by the Curator of Education and museum staff to determine eligibility. It is recommended that applicants who are interested in seeking academic credit through their department apply in advance of the application deadline.

Summer Internships are available to students who attend UH and other colleges or universities. Contact the applicable department at the university or college you attend to find out if academic credit is available.

The museum docent corps provides University of Houston students and local arts professionals with valuable teaching experience. Docents give dynamic, interactive tours of current Blaffer Art Museum exhibitions to college students and K-12 school groups, as well as to community groups of adults and kids.

Students serving as museum docents may be eligible for The Minette and Jerome Robinson Scholarship.