Job Description
Internship Overview: The conservation department of the Cleveland Museum of Art welcomes applications for a
graduate third- or fourth-year internship in Objects Conservation for the period September 2026-August 2027. The intern will join a collaborative and convivial team in caring for, studying, and treating objects from the Museum’s encyclopedic and renowned collection. The CMA maintains a full schedule of loans, rotations, and exhibitions, with associated assessment, documentation, and treatment needs. The conservation department is also committed to ongoing research and investigation of objects in the collection.
Due to the diverse, encyclopedic collection at the CMA, the intern will work on a variety of objects conservation treatment and research projects providing opportunities to address cleaning, structural, and aesthetic condition issues. The intern will work with the Objects Lab team (two objects conservators and one preventive conservator) to select projects according to their personal interests and educational goals. The graduate internship experience may also include technical investigation of objects through x-radiography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cross-section analysis, and additional analyses that may be available through a collaborative partnership with Case Western Reserve University.
The intern will have the opportunity to work closely and collaboratively with conservators in other specialties, collections management colleagues, digital imaging specialists, curators, mountmakers, exhibition designers and production staff to gain well-rounded professional experience in the diverse responsibilities necessary for an objects conservator working within a museum setting. The Conservation team values outreach and accessibility, and the intern will have opportunities to present and share their conservation activities on social media and blog posts. A few hours a week of gallery maintenance will also be part of the intern’s responsibilities.
The Institution: The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 objects and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. A major renovation and expansion project completed in 2014 has transformed the museum into a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, performing arts and art education. One of the top comprehensive art museums in the nation and free of charge to all, the Cleveland Museum of Art is located in the University Circle neighborhood. The Museum's conservation department currently employs 14 full-time staff members, including conservators in paper, Asian paintings, textiles, paintings, and objects, as well as technicians and a chief conservator. The department regularly hosts pre-program conservation interns, graduate interns, and post-graduate fellows. The significant resources of the Cleveland Museum of Art, including its outstanding library and archives, and nearby Case Western Reserve University with its innovative maker space, think[box], contribute to a unique internship opportunity.
Requirements : Candidates must be currently enrolled in a recognized conservation graduate program. The candidate must be eligible to legally work in the US.
Salary : Interns are expected to work 35 hours per week. The Museum offers funding to supplement support received from the intern’s graduate program, up to a total of $33,000 annual salary (subject to taxes) which will be pro-rated for an internship of less than 52 weeks. The museum offers interns the opportunity to elect health and other benefits if needed; these costs will be deducted pre-tax from the CMA-paid salary amounts.
Application Procedure: Please submit application materials via the Cleveland Museum of Art’s website:
Application materials must be received by end of day
January 26, 2026 , and interviews will be conducted in February. Questions should be addressed to Beth Edelstein at BEdelstein@clevelandart.org.
For consideration, please submit the following materials in English. PDF format is strongly preferred, and please be sure to include your last name in the title of each document.
- A letter stating your interests and intent in applying for the internship, including description(s) of previous conservation experience and internships
- Curriculum vitae
- Online portfolio (preferred) or examples of examination and treatment reports with images
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Job Tags
Full time,