African American Museum of Iowa Internship

The African American Museum of Iowa’s (AAMI) mission is to preserve, exhibit, and teach the African American heritage of Iowa. www.blackiowa.org

Internship #3 – Exhibit Oral History and Community Outreach

The African American Museum of Iowa’s (AAMI) 2020-2021 temporary exhibit is entitled Unwavering: 21^st Century Activism which will look at activism and social movements affecting the African American community in the 21^st century. Four of the sections will discuss Black Lives Matter, Women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and Sports protest. Within each of these sections there will be an interactive video and audio portion. The role of the intern will be to act as an outreach liaison and oral historian, recording community members discussing their role in these movements, thoughts about the movements, perhaps the counterargument (such as Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter). The intern will engage in discussions and brainstorming sessions with the Curator to attempt to stay on track with the project’s progression.

The Museum has oral history equipment and video editing software available. The intern will also have the opportunity to shadow other museum departments if desired including education, communications, and administration. There is also the potential to collaborate with another Obermann intern at the AAMI and one at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library (NCSML) to work in preliminary planning of a fall public panel program on race and violence in the community.

Key Responsibilities

Work directly with the Curator to develop a set of questions and list of potential interviewees (1-3 per section) and then coordinate and conduct the interviews.
Develop a social media campaign to prompt (with 2 or 3 questions) audio-video from the community that can be sent directly to us to be used in the interactive.
Digitally create the video/audio interactives (4 total) using in-house video software.

Qualifications & Skills Preferred

Experience with social media platforms, video/audio editing, and developing a basic interactive interface.
Ability to socially interact with people of various backgrounds.
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
High attention to detail and time management.
Must have a car or other way to get to Cedar Rapids; mileage will be compensated.

Supervisor: Felicite Wolfe, Curator