Art students flourish through Ohio State externship program

“More than 100 undergraduate students at The Ohio State University have worked as “externs” with area arts organizations since 2023, when the university received $2 million from the Mellon Foundation to support student experiential learning and community engagement through the arts. The Community Engagement Internship is one of three projects backed by the grant; a parallel opportunity for graduate students and a Spark Grant competition are the other two. The internship comprises two parts: a semester-long internship for undergraduate students at Urban Arts Space , where students focus on foundational training, professional development and critical frameworks for ethical community engagement; and a semester-long placement, or externship, with local arts and cultural organizations, where students can put their new skills to use. Community partners range from the Columbus Museum of Art and the Priscilla Tyson Cultural Arts Center to Roy G. Biv Gallery and Fort Hayes High School. In addition to supporting the local arts community, program participants gain valuable exposure to the professional art world, said Terron Banner , director of Urban Arts Space. “I want all the interns to be competitive, to be well-versed, to be experienced and knowledgeable in all the fields,” he said. “You never know what you may experience in the job market, at your organization, as an entrepreneur, whatever you do.” The internship program meets a need that art departments at Ohio State have long struggled with, said Lisa Florman , vice provost for the arts and history of art professor. “Part of the impetus behind the grant was our sense that we do a very good job educating arts students in the arts, but we’ve done less well on helping them navigate the art scene post-graduation, particularly those who want to be independent artists,” she said. “They will need, and will want, to work with community arts organizations to support their practices.” Imara January was an intern for the first half of 2025. After spending her semester at Urban Arts Space, she matched with Maroon Arts Group (MAG), a collective that celebrates Black art and culture in Columbus. “To me, it seemed like a great opportunity,” she said of the internship. “I sat down with Dr. Banner in my junior year and said, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing. I need an internship, but I don’t know what I’m going to do after I graduate.’ He said, ‘I’ve got just the thing for you.’” During her externship, January, who graduated in 2025 with a degree in arts management, helped curate an exhibition featuring work by the externs at MAG, including her own pieces. She also oversaw community fitness classes in MAG’s outdoor space. Her favorite experience was working on MAG’s Juneteenth event. “I was on one of the committees that planned a lot of the activities,” she said. “I got to talk to all of the organizations involved, network with them. I even built my own program for the event.” January now works at the Columbus Museum of Art in the museum’s family and youth programs. When she interviewed for the role, she didn’t worry about being qualified. “One thing I made sure for myself, as I went through the intern/externship process, was that I didn’t want to be a one-trick pony,” she said. “I had an impressive resume walking into my interviews. I had done data collection, program management, community engagement, all that jazz.” January was born in Columbus. In fact, Maroon Arts Group is in a neighborhood that she spent time in as a child. “The church I go to is three minutes down the street. My grandma lives 10 minutes away,” she said. “Being able to serve the community where I grew up was absolutely amazing.” Stories like January’s are exactly what Banner had in mind. “We have a multiplicity of outcomes,” he said. “One is students staying here after they graduate, contributing to the creative economy here, contributing to the communities that they’re a part of. “Another is some going into graduate school because they see another path forward that they weren’t aware of before this work. And some of the students now work at places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The former student there said on LinkedIn just the other day that he owes his trajectory to this internship.” Florman and Banner agree that a program that centers professional development is key to the success of Ohio State art students. Professional standards can vary between artists, cultures and communities, Banner said. “We needed to find a throughline,” he said. “We’ve found responsiveness, humility, addressing biases are all foundational. We’re thinking about the values and themes that are consistent across the community.” “It dovetails very well with the emphasis that President Bellamkonda has placed on internships, experiential learning and even workforce development,” Florman said. “What does that look like in the arts? We think it looks a lot like this.”

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