Dhyandra Lawson always knew she wanted to work in the art world.
Growing up, she loved when her mother, a high school art and photography teacher, took her to museums to experience new media, ideas, and cultures. She chose studio art and art history as her majors at Occidental College, and when her thesis advisor recommended a Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Internship, she jumped at the chance to get her foot firmly in the door.
Started in 1993 by the Getty Foundation, the Getty Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program (renamed the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship program in 2018) helps diversify the staff of museums and visual arts organizations by offering paid, full-time summer internships across L.A., focusing on students or recent graduates from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the arts. Prior work experience or an arts education is not required, and for many participants, the internship serves as their first exposure to employment in the visual arts. Over the years, 175 L.A. museums and other cultural institutions, including Getty, have introduced more than 3,400 interns to career possibilities in the field.
“My experience was transformative,” says Lawson, who interned in 2007 at Inner-City Arts, a creative space for arts instruction in downtown L.A. “I learned about the different aspects of an arts organization, from education to development to executive or leadership roles. It helped me define my interests.” Furthermore, Lawson’s internship kick-started her career by evolving into a part-time position as a programs assistant. Today, she is an assistant curator in LACMA’s Wallis Annenberg Photography Department.
By 2007, the halfway point of what has become a 30-year-strong program, the internships were reflecting their ability to launch careers. Leslie Ito, who interned at Visual Communications as part of the program’s inaugural class, became executive director of that organization in 2003, and in 2007 became director of grant programs at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. That same year, John Tain, who interned at the Getty Research Institute (GRI) in 1995, was hired as the GRI’s assistant curator for modern and contemporary collections. Today, Ito leads the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, and Tain is head of research at the Asia Art Archive. These two individuals are among hundreds of former interns who have gone on to influential positions in the arts.
In 2007, 19 students also interned across 16 departments at the Getty Center, ranging from Education and Public Programs to Paintings to Grounds and Gardens. Among these interns was Betty Avila, in the GRI’s Programs department, who is now executive director of the community arts center Self Help Graphics & Art, located in Boyle Heights. Another was Jesse Erickson in the Museum’s Department of Manuscripts, who in 2021 was appointed the Astor Curator and Department Head, Printed Books & Bindings, at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.
In 2020 the Getty Foundation released an impact report citing data on the program’s influence. Some of the findings: Approximately one-third of all Getty interns have gone on to work in the arts. Almost all of those working in the arts attribute their career decision to the internship program. And the internships are diversifying the sector in other unexpected ways: 80 percent of program alumni regularly visit cultural institutions, and 45 percent have joined arts organizations as members.
As for Lawson, she has been leaning into her role shaping LACMA exhibitions, often prioritizing the visibility of people and artists of color. Last fall she organized the opening of Family Album: Dannielle Bowman, Janna Ireland and Contemporary Works from LACMA at Charles White Elementary School, a LACMA satellite that was once the home of Otis College of Art and Design. The show—recently extended to July 30—features over 60 artworks by emergent, contemporary artists of color who examine themselves and history through the visual language of family photographs.
“Family felt like an urgent topic to me in the pandemic context,” says Lawson. “We’ve all been concerned about our loved ones, and low-income communities and communities of color have been impacted the most. Given the location, I wanted to honor and appeal to younger audiences who have endured so much isolation over the past few years.” The exhibition has since been integrated into the school’s curriculum.
The importance of reaching young people through art has been a through line of Lawson’s work since her internship days. “Working at Inner-City Arts reinforced for me the importance of arts funding for elementary, middle, and high school students. If students are not exposed to art, how can they know if art interests them and if they should consider a career in the field?”
The unprecedented social upheaval due to the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with calls to address longstanding racial injustice and inequity, has made the Getty Foundation more committed than ever to increasing diversity in the arts through the internship program, which is hosting its 30th intern class this summer.
Lawson, who for the second time will supervise her department’s own Getty Marrow intern this summer, is similarly dedicated to the program. “The internships continue to be incredibly important in bringing the art world to life for the next generation. I’m proud to be a part of that legacy. Art reveals truths about the human experience.”
