Internship Program
Internships enable Alaska Native teens and young adults to receive two weeks of cultural and historical education. Focusing on a wide variety of topics, including museum studies, collections management, retail sales, the economics of tourism, marketing, public relations, and other aspects of cultural tourism, the interns acquire a wealth of information about the vibrant heritage of the eleven Alaska Native cultures.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center’s core purpose is Cultivating the cultural wealth of Alaska’s Indigenous people for future generations through intergenerational learning opportunities for Native youth, students, and the general public in Anchorage. Through our internship program, made possible through a federal grant (ECHO – Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) from the US Department of Education, No Child Left Behind Legislation, Native youth learn vital life and professional skills while they work at the Center.
There are two avenues for entering the internship program:
- High school program: Each summer we hire up to a dozen students who have taken part in the Center’s high school program the previous school year. [Click here for more information]
- Seasonal internships for youth from 18 to 24: Each summer we hire up to 40 young Alaska Natives to serve as cultural interpreters to our visitors from all over the world. Recruiting usually begins in February. [Click here for more information]
Summer Internship Program
Internships at the Alaska Native Heritage Center enable Alaska Native teens and young adults to receive two weeks of cultural and historical education.
Focusing on a wide variety of topics, including museum studies, collections management, retail sales, the economics of tourism, marketing, public relations, and other aspects of cultural tourism, the interns acquire a wealth of information about the vibrant heritage of the eleven Alaska Native cultures. Throughout the summer, the staff continues its learning as they engage in inter-generational and cross-cultural learning with visiting Elders. In addition to providing job skills to the intern, the program also helps instill cultural pride, reconnects them with the past, and provides them with a sense of place. Through employment at the Center, the interns expand their knowledge of their own and other Alaska Native culture groups.
Their experience prepares them for leadership roles and future employment in cultural institutions as well as other professions.
After they have completed their training, the interns are employed May through September to deliver cultural education to the Center's visitors on indigenous Alaska arts, dance, games and cultural history. Because the Internship Program prepares Alaska Native to be cultural interpreters, it provides for the education of indigenous Alaskans as well as non-Native Center visitors. ECHO funding has provided job training and professional development opportunities to 255 Alaska Native interns and 30 full time employees. Each summer these interns educate over 110,000 visitors, touching the lives of people from throughout the world.
Highlights include:
- Many returning summer employees
- The creation of a Cultural Program Coordinator position, which provides an opportunity for interns to advance professionally into first level management and supervision. Intended to be a stepping-stone for career advancement, this position offers on-the-job training in quality assurance, program planning and delivery, administration, staff management and problem solving.
- Twenty high school students each year are employed as full-time interns. Nine students comprise the performance dance group, the Heritage Dancers. The Heritage Dancers perform five times per day under the direction of veteran dance instructors. Five students function as Alaska Native Games demonstrators and present four times per day. The remaining students serve as general Cultural Hosts.
Alaska Natives Hired for this program: 255
People from around the world impacted by this program: 520,000
