Intern - Paid

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)•Los Angeles, CA

33d

About The Position

Reporting to the Acquisitions Administrator, the intern will assist with metadata cleanup and enhancement projects for recent acquisitions and gallery rotations in the Photography and Prints & Drawings departments. This internship offers handsâon experience with museum cataloging systems and a chance to improve data equity. The intern will have the opportunity to learn from curatorial and collection information staff about knowledge creation and art object description using critical cataloguing theory and new museum ethics. With training in culturally inclusive data practices from collection information staff and guidance from curatorial staff, interns will review and update records for the permanent collection, as well as research and write short-form content providing art historical context. The intern will also learn how to navigate and use the museum's collection management database. This is a 9 week paid internship, approximately 15 hours per week at $17.87/hour Anticipated Start Date: February 16, 2026

Requirements

Internship applicants must be currently enrolled in an academic program, or recently graduated within 1 year, and reside in the Los Angeles vicinity.
Proficiency with spreadsheets (Excel or Google Sheets)
Strong attention to detail, especially in data accuracy and consistency

Nice To Haves

Experience in art history, library science, museum studies, or related fields is a plus

Responsibilities

Learns to update object records (e.g. titles, dates, media)
Learns to enrich artist biographical data, including nationality, gender, and ethnicity (where verifiable and relevant).
Assists with ensuring consistency and alignment with institutional metadata standards.
Documents changes to support curators, researchers, and public access initiatives.
Learns to use tools and platforms including: TMS (The Museum System) - for core catalog record editing, ODIN - internal digital asset management authority and metadata tracking system, Excel / Google Sheets - for data review, logging, and collaboration, Airtable - project tracking dashboard with batch assignments and status monitoring
Develops handsâon experience with museum collection database
Acquires skills in artist metadata enrichment with DEIA best practices
Contributes to data quality improvements that enhance institutional transparency
Learns processes for batch data cleanup, tracking, and project documentation
Attends regular meetings with other teams: CIDA, Registration, Exhibitions, Publications, Education, to learn more about day-to-day museum operations, workflows, and cross-departmental projects