Amid this COVID-19 pandemic, many arts organizations—as well as those outside the sector—have been working to determine how to offset financial impacts on their organizations. One type of program that finds its head on the chopping block is the internship program. For organizations that provide arts internships for an hourly wage or a seasonal stipend, the expenditure for an intern or an internship program may appear to be an added burden at a time when we must all make difficult choices. At Americans for the Arts, we too have unfortunately had to cut our own Summer and Fall internship program to save on expenditures.

While that decision had to be made for the organization, the Equity in Arts Leadership team has been able to reimagine the organization’s 28-year-old Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) internship, which runs from a separate department and budget than Americans for the Arts’ internship program. We recognized the stress and collective trauma our country—and our world—is experiencing during this time, and determined it was important for our team to focus our internship restructure on a deliberate, community-centered approach.

The goal of the DIAL program is to provide undergraduate students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the arts with paid, hands-on experience and invaluable exposure to arts nonprofits in New York City and nationally. Providing a paid internship is extremely important to the foundation of this program, as the values of DIAL are ingrained in addressing and progressing equity practices. We maintained the entirety of the original intern stipend, which was possible in part because of a decrease in program spending (e.g. eliminating transportation costs, meetings and events fees, etc.). Considering the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on those values and goals, our team felt that eliminating this program right now would do more to increase the equity gap that we aim to diminish, doing a further disservice to the populations we serve through this experience. Our task became to find a way to restructure the program in the sphere of virtual necessity while still aligning with the values of the internship.

DIAL is based on a cohort model and includes several components in addition to the internship itself: mentorship, professional development, and cultural site visits. We pair each intern with an arts host organization and mentor, and produce professional development and site visits designed for the cohort. Since the restructuring of the program had implications for our partners, we assessed resources and capacity with our 11 arts partners in NYC, our two national program coordinating partners (New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Metro Arts Nashville), and our selected interns. Our goal was to determine if those involved had the interest, capacity, and resources available to participate in a reimagined virtual version of the program. We sent out surveys to get preliminary information on the feasibility of going virtual. The responses indicated our DIAL NYC program had an opportunity to move forward as a virtual program, but the DIAL National program had significant issues with capacity and resources. At that point our program diverged on two separate pathways: an internship program for our NYC cohort, using a digital platform for each program component, and a fellowship program for our national cohorts in New Jersey and Nashville.

The national program encountered barriers related to partner funding, staff capacity at host organizations, and intern technology resources. Thus, a virtual internship at those sites was no longer an option; but one of our program’s coordinating partners suggested a fellowship program which would encompass professional development in racial equity and nonprofit technical trainings, led by Metro Arts Nashville, coupled with arts management webinars and panels, led by Americans for the Arts. The DIAL National cohort also will have access to the DIAL NYC curriculum, and a portion of the virtual learnings will be available to the public. The transition to a fellowship model decreases the program hours, which simultaneously decreases the stipend allotted to each fellow; this provides participants with professional development and personal growth opportunities while softening the budget implications to our organization.

The basis of DIAL programming is the arts internship itself, the stipend allotment, and intern community development. We heard from many NYC program partners that it would be a challenge to afford their portion of the required intern stipend, as their budgets had been re-forecasted. We decided to shoulder the cost of the arts hosts in order to eliminate their financial burden and to continue supporting our field and partners. With the move from in-person to a telecommuted internship, we needed to ensure our network had the technology necessary for a successful community experience by adhering to participants’ accessibility needs, and even considered how time differences could impact the program (one intern is based in Hawaii, a 6-hour time difference from our host location in New York). Recognizing these needs early allowed us to adjust and act quickly to resolve issues.

We then assessed each component of the program to translate it in the most robust way possible during stay-at-home orders. Interns and their host organizations together will determine the best method of telecommuting work (Zoom, email, Slack, Google Drive, etc.). Mentor/intern meetings will be done via video calls. Cultural site visits will transition into end-of-program presentations by each intern on their organization, coupled with sharing virtual arts resources among the cohort. The professional development sessions will be enhanced by inviting virtual guest speakers, providing background materials, and engaging activities both during and outside of the meetings to guide container building and cohort-based learning.

Above all, we want to maintain the integrity, quality, and intentionality of the DIAL internship. Though the virtual internship cannot provide an in-person experience collaborating with co-workers, attending hands-on professional development sessions, or even getting to know fellow interns over dinner, we were able to collaborate with our DIAL network to find alternatives. Our team is focused on requiring accountability for all those involved and checking in on our partners at regular intervals, as we know this is a strange new world for all of us. We remain transparent with participants and external networks about decisions as we make them, create space for discussion through one-on-one calls, and remind interns that it is okay to focus on themselves during this time. It is important to remember that this event is impacting us all differently, and expectations are bound to change day by day. We hope to support the DIAL network through this period as our contingency plan has become our reality.

In deciding to move forward with our internship program, we had to ask ourselves many questions regarding the feasibility of continuing this program this year. We recommend asking the following questions and having conversations around these topics before making the decision for your organization:

• Organizational Capacity: Does the intern supervisor have the capacity to support an intern through remote work? What additional support do they need?
• Compensation: What are the implications of an internship on your organizational budget? Will you be able to pay your interns, or provide academic credit?
• Value: Will the quality and outcome of the program stay the same or increase with change of capacity? What will the process for programmatic and budgetary changes look like?
• Technology: Do we have the resources to support the technology needs of your intern(s)? (Software, hardware, wi-fi capabilities, etc.)
• Equity: Does your intern have the necessary resources to satisfy the virtual requirement? (Computer, wi-fi, video capability, quiet space to work, etc.)
• Alternatives: Are there alternative versions of this internship that could benefit either party? (think fellowship vs. internship)

Internships and other work learning opportunities are important to ensure future arts administrators and creative workers have the space to learn and grow within the field. At a time of consistent change and ongoing recovery efforts, consider ways you and your organizations can uplift the arts leaders of the future.