Opportunities

Collections Internship

About the Wende

“Wende” is a German word that means “transformation.” It is commonly used to describe the era of uncertainty and possibility leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Headquartered in a renovated National Guard Armory in Culver City, the Wende Museum is a cultural laboratory that pairs unparalleled collections from the Cold War era with contemporary artists, filmmakers, musicians, scholars, and others. The Wende’s collection encompasses more than 100,000 holdings, ranging from consumer products to fine art, political symbols, audiovisual materials, spy equipment, posters, ephemera, commemoratives, books, archives, and personal histories.

The Wende Museum offers Collections Internships for currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students, as well as recent graduates who are interested in gaining experience in collection management, collection development, and artifact research. Positions are part-time, paid at $17/hour for 120 hours, and available for course credit. Internships are offered year-round, typically beginning in January, June, and September.

The Collections Internship will focus on cataloging the Museum’s incoming acquisitions and existing backlog. Interns will gain experience in key areas of object handling, processing objects, and using a museum database (Mimsy XG). Interns will have the opportunity to directly work with artifacts from the Cold War and be exposed to a variety of museum activities. Potential interns must meet the following criteria for consideration:

• Be available to work part-time between Monday and Friday;
• Have completed at least one semester of college by the time of application;
• Possess an interest in museum studies, collections management, history, and/or material and visual culture of the Cold War;
• Be comfortable working with databases and computers;
• Be detail-oriented, self-motivated, and independent, with excellent communication skills;
• A reading knowledge of German, Russian, or an Eastern European Language is helpful but not required.

We are currently accepting applications for our Winter internship, set to begin January 2025, through November 1. To apply, please fill out this form and send a cover letter outlining your interest and a current resume to internships@wendemuseum.org.

Please indicate that you are applying for the Collections Internship, both in the email subject and cover letter.

Call for Applications: FRAMEWORKS Music Series

The Wende Museum is seeking applications from performing artists and groups for a new interdisciplinary music series, FRAMEWORKS, designed to take audiences on an adventurous cultural and artistic journey. FRAMEWORKS will merge creative disciplines, past and present, and take inspiration from the collection and exhibitions of the Museum. Aimed at connecting a diverse audience of all ages across disparate local and global communities, the six-performance series will take place between November 2024 and June 2025, with each event featuring a different artist or group.

Performing artists will take their cues from a tour of the Wende, followed by conversations (in person or virtual) with the Museum’s Chief Curator and Special Projects Assistant, as well with as a Production Team including musicians Ashla Chavez-Razzano, Max Gordy, and Nina Tartibi. This collaboration between artist and Museum will begin to shape each concert three months in advance, and will culminate in a performance, as well as a brief written reflection by the performing artist, which can be shared both on the occasion of the performance and on the Museum’s website.

While music will be at the center of each performance, combinations with poetry, film, video, visual art, dance, fashion, stand-up comedy, magic, and other art forms are encouraged for an enriched experience. Performances will take place in the A-Frame Theater of the Glorya Kaufman Cultural Center (GKCC), on the campus of the Wende Museum in Culver City, California. The Theater is a flexible space that can support a wide range of experiences. Use of the beautifully landscaped Wende garden is an option as well.

The Museum offers a performers’ fee of $2,000 per concert.

To apply, please submit a brief concept proposal (no more than two pages) and CV to Chief Curator and Director of Programming Joes Segal at jsegal@wendemuseum.org and Special Projects Assistant Gina Segall at gsegall@wendemuseum.org. Questions are also welcome– please direct any inquiries to the same contacts.

Applications are due June 30, 2024.