Exhibit Design Intern

The Missouri Historical Society is accepting applications from current undergraduate students, graduate students, or recent graduates who are interested in exhibit design and development and seek a year-long paid internship within the Exhibits Department. This internship is in person, with the possibility of some remote workdays, and reports to the Senior Exhibit Designer. 

The Exhibit Design Intern will have the opportunity to contribute portfolio-building work to an exciting and fast-paced 2027 project schedule at a major museum, creating high-production-value exhibits through brainstorming exhibit concepts with project teams, working with and helping to develop 3D models of exhibit concepts, and working on design documentation for various exhibit projects, including detailed elevation drawing packages from exhibit 3D models and fabrication drawings.

Additionally, the Exhibit Design Intern will gain valuable exposure to exhibit development processes by attending exhibit development project meetings, project-related collections care meetings, accessibility meetings, graphic design meetings, media meetings, and fabrication and production meetings—as relevant to the intern’s design documentation work as well as the intern’s career interests and goals. These meetings will give the Exhibit Design Intern direct exposure to how the Exhibits Department collaborates with the rest of the institution and how design concepts and needs are communicated to and negotiated with departments across the entire museum. The intern will also be invited to present their work to project stakeholders at such meetings.

The Exhibit Design Intern will also have the opportunity to attend meetings with our out-of-house design partners related to a major redesign effort for our largest permanent exhibit space. This is a unique opportunity to see how a major in-house/out-of-house collaborative process takes shape.

Schedule

We are looking for candidates who can commit to a minimum of 20 hours per week, or up to 29 hours per week, for the 2027 calendar year (January 2027 through December 2027). Schedule specifics, such as days onsite and distribution of work hours, are flexible and will be worked out with the Senior Exhibit Designer during onboarding.

The intern’s responsibilities will include (but not be limited to): 

• Develop exhibit drawing packages for a 6,000-square-foot exhibit, including floor plans, design elevations, and fabrication drawings for exhibit components, under the direction of the Senior Exhibit Designer
• Assist with exhibit drawing packages for up to two 1,000-square-foot exhibits, as needed
• Make and track changes to exhibit design models and design documentation (drawings) based on information and feedback gathered in project meetings
• Assist with design research on various exhibit projects, as needed
• Make creative contributions to exhibit project meetings and brainstorming sessions by proposing design concepts and solutions
• Collaborate with writers, graphic design, media production, exhibit fabrication, educators, and other disciplines across the institution as part of the exhibit project team
• Attend and assist with preparation for various project checkpoints, such as cross-department exhibit team meetings, accessibility review meetings, audio-description writer kick-off, artifact review meetings, graphic design kick-off, media meetings, fabrication and install meetings, etc.
• Attend other project meetings, including those for the permanent gallery redesign effort, as relevant to the intern’s career interests and goals, and as time allows

Intern Qualifications:

• Educational background in exhibit design, architecture, interior design, or related fields
• Recent graduates, graduate students, and undergraduate students are welcome to apply. Undergraduate applicants must be in their junior or senior year.
• All applicants must submit a portfolio with their application demonstrating their ability to: 
  • Develop or edit a 3D model of interior building space
  • Produce annotated floor plans and elevation drawings
  • Examples of annotated fabrication drawings are a plus
• Interest in exhibit design and exhibit development, building technical drawing skills, and collaboration processes on large creative projects
• Must have experience using architectural 3D design/CAD software and producing annotated drawings from 3D models 
  • Projects for this internship will be built in Vectorworks, but candidates who have experience using Revit, SketchUp, or a comparable program will be trained in Vectorworks as needed throughout the project cycle
• Must be familiar with Microsoft Office products—Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.
• Experience using Adobe Creative Cloud is a plus
• Must have strong oral and written communications skills and strong interpersonal and collaborative skills
• Ability to respond and pivot based on changing project priorities over the exhibit development cycle, as communicated by the Senior Exhibit Designer

Learning Objectives:

• Gain first-hand exposure to how complex creative projects are produced and managed
• Gain experience using Vectorworks to create and edit 3D models and produce design documentation
• Contribute portfolio-building work to real, high-production-value exhibit projects that will open at the Missouri History Museum in 2028
• Strengthen creative collaboration and communication skills by sharing design ideas and concepts in project meetings
• Meet, collaborate, and network with both museum and local design/architecture firm professionals

The applicant must provide a résumé and a short statement of interest and/or intent in applying for the internship, as well as a portfolio demonstrating ability to produce annotated drawings from 3D models and creative built-environment projects or concepts. 

The applicant must provide a résumé and a short statement of interest and/or intent in applying for the internship. For questions, please contact Kat Bourek at [email protected].