Evaluating & Improving the Internship Program
@ Phoenix Art Museum
This is an exploratory research project that I led at Phoenix Art Museum. The high-level objective was to understand tangible and intangible barriers to applying to a grant-funded internship at the Museum. The knowledge gathered was used to inform information hierarchy and service design.
My Role
Principal Researcher, ArtTable Fellow, Higher Education Programs Coordinator
I began my time at Phoenix Art Museum as an ArtTable fellow and was essentially an intern myself. After moving into a full-time role, I led the research work while finishing my Master’s. I produced all major deliverables and presented those to the education and marketing teams.
I collaborated and/or received feedback from several stakeholders including the Director of Education, the marketing and education teams, community college staff, and our grant writing consultant.
Background & Goals
In 2017 Phoenix Art Museum received a grant from the Ford and Walton Family Foundations. Their project, Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative (DAMLI), sought to increase the presence of underrepresented individuals in art museums through forging hiring pipelines.
Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) survey results show “White Non-Hispanic (green) and Under-Represented Minority(dark green), By Job Category." (click to enlarge)
Phoenix Art Museum’s education team was met with the challenge of consistently recruiting diverse candidates for their grant-funded internship placements and needed evidence-based solutions in a limited time.
Research Goals
Understand our applicant’s current user journey.
Identify existing barriers within the process that may be discouraging to applicants.
Identify opportunities to improve information architecture on the internship landing page and application.
Methodology
To achieve the goals I relied on a variety of primary and secondary research, evaluative, and generative activities to collect both attitudinal and behavioral data from our targeted audience—students underrepresented in the museum field. I first began with a literature review to better understand the state of diversity in the museum field. Using competitive analysis, I was able to identify strengths and weaknesses in the program and draw on insights from 6 other institutions and grant recipients. I conducted data analysis to recognize trends in Phoenix Art Museum’s applicant pool from the previous 2 years, combing through 100’s of application packages. From there I had the opportunity to lead 6 one-on-one in-person interviews, to gain richer insights into the intern experience.
After interviewing 4 staff members of the Maricopa County Community College District I learned more about students’ behaviors, experiences, and what empowers them to apply to positions. I attended 2 career fairs as a vendor at community colleges within the MCCCD network. There I was able to conduct unstructured contextual inquiries with students who asked for more information about the opportunities we had at our organization.
Surveys to over 40 individuals harnessed a broader understanding of candidates’ dispositions. Additionally, I facilitated 2 focus groups with interns at the end of their sessions to gather feedback on their overall thoughts of the program.
Literature reviews
Competitive analysis
Data analysis
Contextual Inquiries
Surveys, in-person interviews, and focus groups
Findings
User Journey (click to enlarge)
In my research, I identified three areas that needed further refinement—recruiting, communicating the program, and the application form/process. These steps in the user journey presented tangible and intangible barriers, not just for our target audience, but for candidates who had successfully entered one of our cohorts, too. Thoroughly understanding these pain points was critical to our users’ experience and also served as a roadmap to building and sustaining an equitable and diverse environment.
Applicants 2017 vs 2018 (click to enlarge).
Key findings
80% of our applicants and interns came from 4-year universities.
Students didn’t know much about the DAMLI program and thus didn’t apply to it.
Applicants could not save their applications and continue later.
DAMLI candidates were asked to submit an additional statement but received the same internship program and opportunities as non-DAMLI interns.
How might we make the internship program more accessible for underrepresented applicants and more equitable for future interns?
Solutions
I believed that students were not applying to the DAMLI program because they didn’t know the opportunity existed and if they did the description was convoluted and the application felt too overwhelming to complete.
Recruiting
Advertising outside of major universities to incorporate students of all backgrounds and not just those that could afford 4-year degrees.
Communication
Effectively explaining what the DAMLI program is and how it is beneficial.
Application
Streamlining the application process so that it’s not a barrier for students while still remaining professional.
I re-wrote the Internship landing page for the website to be more informative (FAQs), shared the new processes by which we were evaluating applicants, and condensed information through bullet point messaging. I also re-worked the application itself in order to give all applicants the opportunity to provide demographic background information. Finally, I created relationships with staff and faculty in new departments at 4-year universities and within the MCCCD network.
For additional findings, insights, and solutions please feel free to contact me.
Impact
After implementing the proposed strategies, Phoenix Art Museum saw a 30% increase in applicants who identified as underrepresented in the Museum field. As such, Phoenix Art Museum fulfilled the grant’s deliverables.
Strategic Impact
Interns were given new opportunities to connect with the art community through professional development that included meeting with local artists and invitations to exclusive talks with leaders in the field.
An overall shift in priorities in the internship program with a focus on intentional inclusion and ensuring that our goals were being met beyond the ones that were quantifiable.
Design Impact
Overhaul of the internship landing page to more effectively communicate the program.
Re-organization of application form and portal to make it more accessible while still maintaining professional rigor.
Stakeholder Impact
Supported continued DEAI learning institution-wide beyond the education department.
Further Iterations & Insights
Updating Internship language and improving conciseness to reflect the language on position descriptions and the application program.
Language is important. By making the description conversational, it gives it an intangible quality to applicants. The new opening program is more inviting and relatable.
Students still struggled to identify with the groups underrepresented in museums, the updated application form stresses the “self” in self-identification to encourage applicants to identify how they feel comfortable. Language in the landing page supplements that message by decreasing specificity.
Diversity, accessibility, equity, and inclusivity is an ongoing practice, not a checkbox goal.
As we continue to learn and grow in this space, DEAI needs to be understood as something we do every day, with the act of intention in mind. Leaving time for reflection allows us to reevaluate how our programs, initiatives, and institutions are meeting the needs of our entire community and not just a select few.
Moving forward…
How can we provide additional support to students during this process?
I feel adding applicant resources to our internship landing page beyond and FAQ section would be highly effective. A blog that covered former intern experiences, tips on applying to museum internships, and what to expect as an intern could help hopeful candidates during their journey. It would also provide pertinent insights into the program that only the museum could answer.