The Climate Museum, a non-profit organization that mobilizes arts and cultural programming to spark civic activism for a climate-safe and just future, seeks rising college juniors and seniors majoring in a humanities field and planning to pursue careers in academia to fill a one-year Undergraduate Fellowship funded by the Mellon Foundation. The Mellon Fellow will work 15 hours per week onsite at the Museum’s office in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. Compensation is $20 per hour. The Fellowship will run for the duration of the 2025-2026 academic year.
About the Climate Museum
Contending with the climate crisis at scale requires a transformation of our public culture. The Climate Museum, the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to climate change, mobilizes the power of arts and cultural programming to accelerate this crucial shift toward climate dialogue and action, empowering visitors with the understanding that they can take meaningful action for climate justice, creating community for collective action, and popularizing solutions that emphasize justice and equity. The Museum sees cultural work on climate both as a humanistic end in itself and as a means to inspiring action for climate justice and clean energy policies.
In its proof-of-concept phase, which began in 2018, the Museum presented 17 exhibitions, ten of them with partners including the Parsons School of Design, Rockefeller Center, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; held 355+ events—including panels, workshops, performances, and more; and welcomed 165,000+ visitors. The Museum recently secured a 25,000 square foot permanent home for its exhibitions, programs, and events, to open in 2029. Its free, accessible exhibitions, art installations, advocacy tools, events, and youth programs have received wide recognition in the cultural sector and beyond, and empowered hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors to exercise their agency in the global climate movement.
The Fellowship
The Fellow will work closely with and be mentored and supervised by a small, highly dedicated team including in particular the Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.
The Mellon Fellow will largely focus on the following areas, with additional opportunities that will vary.
- Research and writing to support the team’s work across exhibition planning and fundraising.
- Working with the curatorial team in envisioning and proposing new justice-oriented exhibition collaborations with other organizations and cultural institutions.
- Supporting the execution of development and fundraising tasks, including stewardship of current and prospective donors, donor prospect research, philanthropic trends research, and grant writing.
- Working with Museum staff to identify partner organizations who would benefit from or enhance the Museum’s artistic or intellectual work.
Eligibility:
- Only college juniors and seniors majoring in the humanities and considering a career in academia are eligible.
- Ability to work 15 hours per week onsite in the Museum’s Hell’s Kitchen office during the hours of 10am–6pm Eastern. Staff members may work additional hours (including some weekends).
Qualifications:
- Demonstrated passion for climate issues, social justice, and/or museums. Exceptional research and writing skills and generally strong academic qualifications.
- Enterprising and ambitious mindset balanced with adaptability and collaborative skills.
- A growth mindset.
- Kindness and humor under pressure.
- Proficiency in Google Drive and the ability to learn new software.
- Ability to maintain a flexible and positive attitude in a fast-paced environment.
The Climate Museum highly values diversity and views the climate crisis as, among other things, a multilateral social justice crisis. Our aspiration is for our team to represent NYC both demographically and through a multitude of experiences and viewpoints. The Climate Museum is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodations for individuals where required, in employment and in its services, programs, and activities. The Museum will provide reasonable accommodations as required by law.
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