An Internship Combining Art and Advertising at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum
Helena Nguyen (CFA’27, COM’27) spent the summer developing public programs, reconnecting with her Vietnamese heritage, and exploring the West Coast
Helena Nguyen (CFA‘27, COM‘27) inside the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Nguyen served as the museum’s inaugural learning and civic engagement intern. Photos by Justin Kuo
An Internship Combining Art and Advertising at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum
Helena Nguyen (CFA’27, COM’27) spent the summer developing public programs, reconnecting with her Vietnamese heritage, and exploring the West Coast
This article was originally published in BU Today on August 24, 2026. By Isabelle Zhang
EXCERPT
For most students, the search for a summer internship begins on LinkedIn, Handshake, or other job boards. But for rising senior Helena Nguyen, it began with an Instagram Reel. When Nguyen (CFA‘27, COM‘27) came across a video promoting an internship at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, she immediately knew she had to apply. Between her dual degrees in sculpture and advertising, her Vietnamese heritage, and a long-held desire to experience living on the West Coast, the opportunity seemed like the perfect fit.
Founded in 1958, the Asian Art Museum houses one of the world’s largest collections of Asian art, spanning 48 countries and over 6,000 years of history. This summer, Nguyen served as the museum’s inaugural Learning and Civic Engagement intern—a role the museum created in an effort to become more welcoming.
“Museums historically have not been as accessible to lower-income audiences,” Nguyen says, adding that the institution is also interested in bringing in more young people.
As the museum’s first intern focused on learning and civic engagement, Nguyen collaborated with her supervisors to define the role. Her duties ranged from developing art education programs to helping install exhibitions.
Much of her work centered on designing public tours. In July, she led a tea bag-making workshop for the museum’s “What’s the Tea?” tour, which explored Asian teas like matcha and chai. She also ran a children’s watercolor painting session.
For Nguyen, the opportunity to intern at the Asian Art Museum was especially meaningful given her own cultural background. She says the experience afforded her “an opportunity to reconnect with my heritage” and says working among other Asian-American interns was “really empowering.”