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ABOUT HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE
Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture organization whose principal work is to implement the City of Houston’s vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA’s work is conducted through contracts with the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. HAA also executes privately funded special projects to meet the needs of the arts community, such as disaster preparation, research on the state of the arts in Houston, and temporary public art projects that energize neighborhoods. In short, HAA helps artists and nonprofits be bold, productive, and strong.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Grants Department ensures scalable, effective, and efficient grantmaking systems and processes grounded in our values of service to the arts and cultural community. The Grants Intern supports the Grants Department by assisting with administrative, technical, and coordination tasks across active grant cycles. This role is designed to provide professional experience in arts grantmaking, panel operations, and applicant support.
Below is a summary of the primary responsibilities of the Grants Intern:
GRANTS ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT
- Support applicants by answering questions and assisting staff with shared Outlook inbox management.
- Perform basic tasks for the eligibility verification for HAA’s grant programs, such as reviewing missing documents or identifying incomplete submissions as detailed in HAA’s grant guidelines and policies.
- Assist with applicant notifications and document preparation, such as templates, mail merges, or list formatting.
- Aid in the organization and storage of digital documents and program records.
- Generate basic reports from SmartSimple (Grants Management System) and Salesforce (Panel Management System) under Grants staff direction.
- Support database cleanup tasks, including exports, formatting, and verifying data for accuracy.
GRANTS PANEL SERVICE & COORDINATION SUPPORT
- Assist with collecting and organizing basic grant program and panel engagement data.
- Help prepare panel materials, including reviewer packets, application exports, communications, and slide decks.
- Assist with coordinating panel logistics, including scheduling, confirmations, attendance tracking, and scoring check-ins.
- Help maintain internal tracking tools related to timelines and reviewer participation.
- Provide technical assistance to panelists during orientation and panel meetings.
- Support the collection, formatting, and preparation of panel comments for applicant notifications.
- Help log and organize panelist feedback for post-cycle process improvements.
ADDITIONAL TEAM SUPPORT (WORKLOAD DEPENDENT)
- Workload dependent, the intern may also support other Grants Team members by assisting with:
- Compliance checks and Eligibility Verification “Curing” documentation.
- Preparation of materials for meetings, workshops, or presentations.
- Tracking community engagement metrics or event data.
- Updates to internal guides, templates, or public resources.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- A strong interest in philanthropy, arts and culture nonprofits, grants management, and/or arts administration.
- Passion for improving and providing the best service possible to the arts and cultural community and its stakeholders.
- Excellent written communication and communication skills, including the ability to make complex issues understandable and relevant to external audiences.
- Ability to prioritize projects, meet deadlines, and support others in doing the same across the Grant staff.
- Demonstrate the capacity and willingness to work in a highly collaborative, flexible, dynamic, and fast-paced work environment.
- Comfortable taking an evidence-based and data-centered approach to decision making, learning new software, and performing routine administrative tasks.
- Strong skills in Microsoft suite applications (Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.).
- Prior administrative, customer service, or project coordination experience preferred.
- Experience working with databases or data organization is helpful.
- Familiarity or interest in Houston’s arts ecosystem is a plus.
- Knowledge and comfortability in Spanish is welcome but not required.
SCHEDULE AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Anticipated start date: February 9th, 2026*
- Part-time as follows for the Spring and Summer periods:
- Spring: 16-24 hours per week (February 9th, 2026 – May 16th, 2026)
- Summer: 24-32 hours per week (May 16th, 2026 – September 11th, 2026)
- Use of standard office equipment
- Ability to lift file boxes up to 30 pounds
- Occasional support at meetings or workshops may involve light setup or breakdown
*Please note that, given that the start date for this position is after the start of the normal Spring semester, the summer work period has been extended into September to account for this.
COMPENSATION
This is a part-time hourly position commensurate with experience.
SUPERVISOR AND CONTACT
Quang Vu, Director of Grants
quang@haatx.com
TO APPLY
To apply for the Grants internship, please provide a resume and cover letter to quang@haatx.com with “HAA Grants Internship Application” in the subject line no later than 5:30 PM(CST) January 5th, 2026. If internship credit is needed for this position, please ensure to include the request in the application, and what documentation may be needed to meet the necessary requirements for the requested internship credit for the relevant university and/or collegiate institution.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Houston Arts Alliance is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS related conditions.
