The CHC designs prototype of a Social Media Humanities Communication Internship called “The NextGen Co-Creator Internship”

With input from 14 Humanities Councils nationwide and from the leaders of the Applied and Public Humanities internship at the University of Arizona, Stephanie Springer and Brittney Crawford, Christine Henseler and Isabell Sluka of the CHC have drafted a “NextGen Co-Creator Internship” program that focuses on training the next generation to communicate the humanities through social media. Inspired by the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship Program, the “NextGen Co-Creator Internship” is designed to make significant strides in the emerging field of humanities communication by training students to shape public perceptions about the humanities. 

As currently planned, the “NextGen Co-Creator Internship” will be a fully paid summer program that would professionally train and mentor a skillful and creative network of undergraduate and graduate students and young professionals from diverse fields and backgrounds who seek to expand their skills in writing, social media communication, short video production, marketing, creativity, gamification, design and data visualization, and who want to put these skills to work at humanities organizations nationwide.

This internship proposal addresses the communication challenges faced by humanities organizations to reach and engage diverse groups of younger generations and to develop fresh and new narratives about the humanities. The program would also capitalize on the power of social media platforms to build and cultivate connections with individuals underrepresented in the humanities and the academy and offer meaningful means for mitigating local deficits related to low structural diversity and inequity.

To achieve these goals, the NextGen Co-Creator program would be open to enrolled undergraduate or graduate students in any discipline, to young professionals currently employed less than five years in a humanities or communications-focused position in any organization or business (including self-employment), and to any young person who provides other evidence of experience and interest through the application process.

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The NextGen Co-Creator Program is currently designed to offer training in four significant steps with social media communication experts available to guide participants in the production of high quality materials throughout the process:

1. Pre-Internship Training. A 3-week program to advance technical skills, storytelling skills and professional development skills.
2. Summer Internship. A 2-month summer hands-on experience at a Humanities Council or other humanities organization that includes a Friday Co-Creation Hub to share and reflect on learnings, to creatively brainstorm ideas, engage with young professionals, and to receive expert advice.
3. Post-Internship Shout Out Campaign. One week after the end of the internship, participants would gather remotely to share their final Shout Out campaigns and discuss next steps in their education and careers.
4. Social Media Communication Ambassadors Award. To highly qualified and dedicated individuals representing the values of the NextGen Co-Creator Internship and Social Media Humanities Communication more broadly. The award would include free specialized training through the CHC Training Institute, personalized recommendations for future employment, and Ambassadors would be allowed to take on leadership and mentorship roles, create content for the Internship program and help foster a culture of successful learning and engagement and a robust community of advocates for the humanities. The most outstanding Ambassadors would be invited to serve on the Advisory Board.

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Although this program proposal is still in development, you are welcome to take a closer look at the details of the proposal here.

If you’d like to participate, now or in the future, in the next phase of this program development, you can become a CHC Associate. To do so, just use this form and we will get in contact with you in the near future. 

If you are a leader working at a Humanities organization and you would like to stay in touch when the program goes live, either for information purposes or to potentially become an Internship Host Organization, please join the CHC Email ist.

If you would like to offer your suggestions, please send them to us here. 

And if you want to consider donating, sponsoring one or more interns, or endowing the program in your name to support this effort moving forward, please contact us directly: