Jobs & Internships
Employment
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We are no longer accepting applications for the 2026 Folklife Festival.
Internships
Every year, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage involves over a hundred interns in our various activities. We offer internships year-round in various fields, including folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, linguistics, museum studies, arts administration, graphic and web design, videography, marketing, social media, and library science. Most internships are in person in Washington, D.C., but a few can take place remotely.
Intern projects, conducted under the guidance of the Center’s professional staff, often focus on research and production for the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives, educational outreach, and cultural sustainability research and programs.
Interns are expected to work for at least sixteen hours per week for a duration of two to four months. Beginning in summer 2026, we offer stipends of at least $700/week to full-time interns. Transportation and housing compensation for interns is not available. Students in relevant fields may be able to arrange course credit through their college or university.
Some Areas of Internships
We welcome interns for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival year-round, although the bulk of the work is in the summer. In the fall, winter, and spring, interns assist with research and planning for the upcoming Festival’s programs—best suited for students in anthropology, ethnomusicology, and language studies as related to the program.
In the summer, we also seek interns to work on event production, technical crew, the Festival Marketplace, social media, web production, graphic design, foodways, curatorial team, the Festival Blog, public relations, accessibility, participant and volunteer coordination, video production, and administration.
Summer interns are expected to work through the open days of the Festival, including weekends and the July Fourth holiday. Festival interns should be comfortable working outdoors in high heat and humidity, in a fast-paced environment among large crowds of people.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
An internship with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings offers a wide range of valuable and meaningful experiences in the recording industry and nonprofit arts administration, within the context of the world’s largest museum complex. Specific learning opportunities include the areas of online music education, marketing, and web and IT production.
Interns are expected to work for at least 100 hours, and ideally no less than ten hours per week. Some specific internships may require longer commitment to ensure a successful experience, both for the intern and for Folkways. In addition to honing specific skills, interns will meet regularly with their supervisors, work with other interns and other staff on team projects, and have access to a wide array of programming, as well as curatorial and professional experts across the institution.
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
Interns in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections assist with preserving, digitizing, and cataloging archives collections, creating finding aids for collections, creating web presentations on archival materials, and helping with other projects. During the summer, archives interns create and process audio, video, and photo documentation of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in late June and early July.
We particularly welcome students in library and information studies who want an opportunity to work in a folklife archive as part of their degree program. Applicants should have a knowledge of or interest in world folk music traditions, audio engineering, photography, Adobe Photoshop, web design, or library and archival work.
How to Apply
To apply, visit SOLAA and create an account. After selecting Internship, specify the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (please indicate the name of the specific internship in your essay). You will be required to upload supporting materials such as an essay, résumé, transcript, and letters of recommendation. Selected applicants will need to undergo a background check.
The submission deadline for summer internships is March 1. There are no deadlines for submitting applications for other seasons. The completed application is to be submitted at least six weeks before the start of the internship.If you have questions, please contact intern coordinator Arlene Reiniger at ReinigerA@si.edu.
