Heritage Tourism Internship Opportunity

PROGRESSIVE CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM INTERNSHIP
Conceive, design, and experiment with innovative methods for bringing the Maryland Indian Heritage Trail
to life and delivering its experience to the largest possible audience.
To apply, please forward a resume and cover letter to chris.newman@marylandindiantourism.org

BACKGROUND After two years of experiments in heritage tourism, MITA finally has a handle on its definition of Progressive Cultural Heritage Tourism. The next step is to develop and implement the PCHT program with the Maryland Indian Heritage Trail. This is where you come in.

Summary of the Position
To understand the job, it’s best to start by discarding notions of a traditional tour of duty in heritage tourism. You will not be performing the duties of a tour guide, museum docent, or park ranger. Instead, think of yourself as a scientist working in a lab. MITA is the laboratory, and your goal is to plan and conduct experiments to bring the Maryland Indian Heritage Trail to life. Your experiments will be geared toward accomplishing the following goals:

Goals of the Position
-Develop and implement strategies for reaching non-traditional audiences with the trail.
-Conceive and plan trail events to maximize potential audiences, with particular emphasis on non-traditional audiences.
-Complete “discovery missions” to reveal general tourism destinations that offer a hook – however small – into Indian tourism.
Course of the Position
-The internship will begin with introductory courses on MITA mission/history/vision/values, the evolution of Eastern Indigenous cultures, Progressive Cultural Heritage Tourism, and the Maryland Indian Heritage Trail.
-Armed with information from the introduction, you will be unleashed to apply your creativity and energy to the development of the Maryland Indian Heritage Trail, constrained only by our core values and your imagination.

PROFILE OF WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR
Character
Creative, inquisitive, team player, experimentalist, critical thinker, self-managed
Education
Field of study is irrelevant, though background (formal or otherwise) in cultural anthropology can help
Skills
Required: Internet research, Writing, and Oral Presentation. Desired: Project Management, Event Planning
Availability
Summer 2012, location is flexible. You will be working from home and in the field
Requirements
Must be able to provide for own transportation throughout southern Maryland and Washington, D.C.

ABOUT MITA
We are on a mission to advance the understanding of Eastern Indigenous cultures as living, breathing, evolving entities with a past, present, and future. We do this because we believe the word will benefit enormously from Eastern Indigenous perspectives on the core issues of humanity: conflict, economics, education, family, health, history, leisure, morality, spirituality, and sustainability. MITA is a 501c(3) non-profit organization that’s as tiny as it is relentlessly enthusiastic.