The application period for 2025/2026 Internship Support is Open!

Please apply by June 27, 2025

About The Internship Fund

SEMC is pleased to offer support for a paid internship through the Handumy Jean Tahan Museums Fund established in 2022 with a generous gift from donor, Joy Tahan Ruddell.

The Fund is named in honor of Ms. Ruddell's late mother, Handumy Jean Tahan, who wholeheartedly supported her museum career and inspired her to give back to others who equally deserve that support. The Fund will provide a museum or historic site support for a paid internship and help foster the talents of future generations of museum professionals in the Southeastern Museums Conference. Funded internships help lay a path toward equity in the museum industry. 

Zinnia Willits with Arsenio Andrus, recipient of the 2023 HJT Internship Stipend at the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center in Louisiana. 

Eligible museums or sites will have a SEMC Category 1, 2 or 3 operating budget ($500,000 and below) and limited funds to compensate an intern. The Fund seeks to support mutually beneficial opportunities for the next generation of museum professionals and the host site through paid internships that offer practical experience, collaboration with professional staff, and exposure to various aspects of general non-profit operations.
For 2025, SEMC is pleased to offer two $1,000 stipends to eligible organizations to support a paid internship. As the Fund continues to grow we will be able to offer additional stipends. 

Eligibility and Deliverables
a) Applicant must be a current individual member of SEMC or a Category 1, 2 or 3 Institutional member of SEMC, or a member of a state museum association within the SEMC region with an operating budget of $500,000 and below at time of application
b) The internship must be at least six weeks long
c) The internship must be completed by May 1, 2026
e) Fund recipient will provide SEMC with the following deliverables upon completing of the internship:

• Summary report of completed internship
• A reflection article about the internship experience to be published in Inside SEMC

Applications will be reviewed by members of the Internship Fund Selection Committee during each funding cycle.

Questions? Contact SEMC Handumy Jean Tahan Internship Fund Chair, Matt Davis at matt.davis@gcsu.edu

The Handumy Jean Tahan Museums Fund is a restricted account fund held by the Southeastern Museums Conference. The Fund is a designated restricted account within SEMC Endowment Fund and all earnings after June 30,2023 from the corpus are managed in accordance with SEMC Investment Policy and donor stipulations. 

Support the Handumy Jean Tahan Museums Fund