For the 15th consecutive year, the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College will host Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Summer interns. A $12,000 grant from the Getty Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the J. Paul Getty Trust, will support three 10-week summer internships, the maximum number the foundation grants to an organization. Scripps students Linda Kwak ’08, Susana Lopez ’09, and Pomona student Elizabeth Farias ’09 are this summer’s interns.
The internships are intended for members of groups underrepresented in the professions related to museums and the visual arts, particularly individuals of African American, Asian, Latino-Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander descent, according to foundation guidelines.
Williamson Gallery director Mary MacNaughton calls the internships “one of the most successful diversity programs at The Claremont Colleges.”
Over the course of the summer, the students will be introduced to many aspects of exhibition organization and installation, publications, art education, and conservation. Getty interns receive a $3,500 stipend, and additional funds are awarded to the hosting organization to offset administrative expenses associated with the internships.
The 2007 summer interns will work on a variety of projects, including two exhibitions: “L.A. Live” and the “Scripps College 64th Ceramic Annual,” the longest running exhibition of contemporary ceramics in the United States.
In addition, the Williamson Gallery offers the Wilson Internship, made possible by the generous support of Jane Hurley Wilson ’64 and Michael Wilson. The 10-week summer internship is an opportunity for Scripps students interested in pursuing careers in museum or arts administration. This year’s recipient is Nicole Patrice Frazer ’07, a studio art major, who will work along side the Getty interns.
The Getty and Wilson internships have helped many Scripps alumnae launch successful careers in the visual arts. Former Williamson Gallery interns have pursued graduate studies in art history and conservation at renowned institutions worldwide including Royal College of Art, London; Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London; Columbia University; New York University; and the University of Chicago.
Sanchita Balachandran ’93, Jennifer Brown ’00, and Valerie Whitacre ’08 are examples of former interns who have received prestigious fellowships, internships, and scholarships following their summer at the Williamson Gallery. Balachandran has worked on conservation projects at the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Metropolitan Museum, and the Strauss Center for Conservation at the Harvard University Art Museums. Brown received the Wallis Annenberg Curatorial Fellowship at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a Phi Beta Kappa scholarship for graduate studies at the Courtauld, and Whitacre interned at the Mus