New UMMA Internship Honors Artist Matthew Wong, Provides Hands-On Museum Experience
Gift From The Matthew Wong Foundation Creates New Museum Internship Fund Supporting The Future of Arts Leadership
Ann Arbor, MI—The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is launching a new internship program that will provide students with hands-on museum experience and honor the legacy of artist and U-M alumnus Matthew Wong, thanks to a generous initial endowment gift of $150,000 from the Matthew Wong Foundation. This new internship will support one or more University of Michigan undergraduate or graduate students annually, providing practical and transformative learning experiences for the next generation of arts leaders.
The Matthew Wong Foundation Museum Internship will offer paid positions across UMMA, supporting students with the essential financial resources, mentorship, and practical experience needed to advance their academic, artistic, and professional aspirations. Applications are now open, with the inaugural internships beginning in the spring and summer of 2025.
“This incredible gift from the Matthew Wong Foundation will create life-changing opportunities for Michigan students while supporting UMMA’s mission to shape the future of the arts and create a more equitable and creative world,” said Christina Olsen, UMMA’s Director.
UMMA and the Matthew Wong Foundation established this internship in tribute to Matthew Wong (1984-2019), an internationally celebrated artist, poet, and 2007 University of Michigan graduate. Wong, known for his exuberant paintings celebrating forms and colors, as well as expressing a sense of alienation and longing, gained global recognition for his poignant, introspective works shortly before his untimely death in 2019 at the age of 35.
As part of the internship, students will work closely with UMMA curators Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art, and Robin K. Williams, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, on developing an exhibition of Wong’s work, set to open at UMMA in January 2026.
“This new program champions the values Matthew held dear: creativity, education, and opportunity for all,” said Monita Wong, chairperson of the Matthew Wong Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with UMMA to support the arts and U-M students in a way that keeps Matthew’s legacy alive.”
For more information about the Matthew Wong Foundation Museum Internship, including application procedures and deadlines, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/internships.
About Matthew Wong
Matthew Wong (b. 1984, Toronto, Canada; d. 2019, Edmonton, Canada) was a self-taught painter whose eclectic style drew inspiration from Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Chinese literati landscape artists, and contemporary art. He first gained international recognition with a solo exhibition in New York in 2018, followed by a posthumous exhibition there in 2019. Major exhibitions of his artwork include Matthew Wong: Blue View (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto 2021), Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances (Dallas Museum of Art, 2022; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2023), and Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 2024), which traveled to the Kunsthaus Zurich in 2024 and the Albertina in Vienna in 2025. Wong earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan in 2007 and an MFA in Photography from the City University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media in 2013. His work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the Aïshti Foundation in Beirut, the Estée Lauder Collection in New York, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.
About the Matthew Wong Foundation
The Matthew Wong Foundation is dedicated to commemorating Wong’s life and expanding and protecting his artistic legacy. The foundation provides access of his work to institutions and individuals across Canada and the United States and supports emerging artists and mental health philanthropies. Visit matthewwongfoundation.com for more information.
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