This fall, the Museum Studies Program at George Washington University is joining forces again with the History and Art History Departments to offer a Museums+ Internship Fair. Now in its second year, the fair connects undergraduate and graduate students with a wide range of museum and history internship opportunities in the DC area. For a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon, students will gather in the atrium of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design to meet representatives from dozens of institutions—including the National Gallery of Art, Hillwood Estate, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Supreme Court of the United States, White House Historical Association, and many more. The goal is simple: to help students discover just how much they can do with their degrees and to broaden their horizons by meeting professionals working across the museum and history fields.

As we’ve been preparing for the fair, I began to wonder—what if museums and historic sites flipped the concept and hosted a similar program for their own communities? Instead of being a service for students alone, imagine it as a public program, designed to connect local residents, businesses, and organizations with the museum itself.

Benefits to the Community

For many people working in business, technology, or traditional jobs, the idea of contributing their skills to a nonprofit or museum has never crossed their minds. They may not recognize that their expertise—whether in marketing, finance, customer service, or carpentry—has enormous value to cultural organizations. By connecting residents with organizations and ideas outside their usual circles, museums can help expand horizons and build confidence.

Benefits for the Museum

For museums, the benefits are significant. Such a program could:

• Attract a more diverse and skilled pool of volunteers and staff, moving beyond the “usual suspects.”
• Provide a pipeline of potential board members, bringing expertise from outside the cultural sector.
• Increase the museum’s visibility to entirely new audiences, people who might never otherwise cross the threshold of a historic house, gallery, or visitor center.

Just as important, such a program demonstrates that the museum is more than a place that preserves history or offers school tours—it’s a vital community resource with a stake in people’s futures.

Building the Right Partnerships

Of course, not every museum should try to create such a program alone. The success of GW’s Museums+ Internship Fair depends on strong partnerships, and the same would be true for a local organization. Identifying the right partners is critical—whether that’s a nearby college, a Chamber of Commerce, a workforce development agency, or another nonprofit. The key is to ensure that all partners share some common purpose: overlapping audiences, complementary missions, or strong geographic ties.

At the same time, museums need to avoid duplicating what others are already doing. If the local community college hosts an annual job fair, a museum doesn’t need to compete—but it could offer a specialized program focusing on creative careers, nonprofit leadership, or public history.

A New Way of Thinking

Museums are accustomed to offering programs that interpret the past or illuminate collections. But programs like an internship or skills fair highlight another vital role: serving as a connector and convener for the community. By borrowing and adapting models from higher education, museums can provide direct benefits to the public while also addressing their own long-term needs for talent, leadership, and visibility.

The Museums+ Internship Fair at GW is designed to help students sharpen their skills and broaden their horizons. With some creativity, museums and historic sites could take the same idea, turn it outward, and make it an engine for community engagement and organizational growth.