10 Online Art Internships for High School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 8 min read
Online art internships for high school students present a solid opportunity for you to gain exposure to professional skills and industry knowledge without committing to an in-person program.
As an intern, you can expect to gain practical experience in web and graphic design, art marketing, digital illustration, and up-and-coming areas such as AI-generated art. It will give you hands-on experience in tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop, and Procreate Blender, helping you develop essential technical skills. It will also allow you to connect with mentors, artists, and industry professionals.
How did we select the best online art internships for high school students?
When exploring online art internships for high school students, you should consider several key factors to ensure you are choosing the right one. Programs that are affiliated with well-known organizations or recognized in the art industry will offer you the credibility and recognition you need to succeed in your career. We’ve narrowed down a list of top online art internships by focusing on three important criteria: prestige, the rigor of the professional experience, and the potential for networking.
Here are 10 online art internships for high school students!
Cost: $2,490 (financial aid available)
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines throughout the year.
Internship Dates: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September) and Winter (November).
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
Ladder Internships offers a selective, virtual internship program in fields of tech/deep tech and AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more, where students will get the chance to collaborate with startups and nonprofits from across the globe. This program provides an opportunity for you to work on real-world projects that have a direct impact on the organization you’re working with, many of which can involve creative and artistic tasks, especially if the startup or nonprofit is involved in arts, design, or media.
Throughout your internship, you’ll work closely with a manager from the startup, gaining practical experience while also receiving guidance from a Ladder Coach. By the end of the internship, you’ll present your work, showcasing the skills and insights you’ve gained throughout the program. The program is highly selective; it had 700 applications for 70 spots.
Cost: Free, but a $50 application fee.
Application Deadline: Varies by year; last year’s extended deadline was March 1.
Program dates: June — August (tentatively- based on previous years’ dates).
Eligibility: Students who will be in grades 11–12 at the time of application, or full-time community college students (within the first 3 years of community college), are eligible to apply.
Throughout the program, you’ll work on projects and collaborate with others, gaining hands-on experience in real-world applications. The majority of your time will be spent conducting research, with regular communication with Stanford faculty, PhD students, mentor(s), and researchers in groups of 2-5. Expect to commit around 30–40 hours a week.
The program also emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration of the STEM and humanities fields. You will explore themes that integrate art with subjects like design, psychology, and computer science, among others. There will be a final presentation at the end of the internship. It is selective as only 63 high school students were selected last year and were guided by 34 mentors.
Cost: You can calculate an estimate here. The Summer Scholars Support, a need and merit-based scholarships is available for students.
Application Deadline: June 13
Program Dates: June 23 — July 5
Eligibility: Students between grades 9-12.
You’ll engage in studio work, artist lectures, group critiques, and one-on-one faculty meetings, all designed to deepen your understanding of contemporary art practices.
Specialized courses in drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, and video art & experimental animation are available in this program. You will be taught by internationally recognized artists, and be part of virtual museum field trips, and documentation workshops. The program will culminate in an exhibition of students virtually presenting their work.
Cost: $5,520 for the full program. You can also enroll for specific courses, as detailed here.
Application deadline: Spring Session 2: April 10 | Summer Session 1: June 12 | Summer Session 2: July 10
Program dates: Spring Session 2: April 12 — May 11 | Summer Session 1: June 14 — July 12 | Summer Session 2: July 13 — August 10
Eligibility: Students in grades 10–12 who are at least 15–18 years old.
While it’s not a traditional internship, the program offers high school students an opportunity to study art and design in a fresh, forward, and innovative manner.
The curriculum includes an Essential Fundamentals course that covers drawing and design basics, a Featured Topics course that explores a specific medium like illustration or print, drawing and mixed media, and a final course Visual and Critical Language, which emphasizes artistic analysis and communication. Throughout the program, there is a strong emphasis on constructive criticism, helping you refine your techniques and conceptual approach. The last week will involve you giving final critiques and presentations.
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Typically around March
Internship Dates: July to August
Eligibility: Rising US senior high school students
The Benjamin Lawless Internship provides you the opportunity to work at the Smithsonian. This program focuses on creative storytelling, using the museum’s extensive collection as inspiration. You’ll learn how artifacts can convey different narratives, deepening your understanding of culture, and history, along with understanding audience engagement and exhibition planning.
Over five weeks, the Smithsonian’s staff will provide mentorship, in fields such as Art & Art History, Cataloguing, Collections Management, Research & Analysis, Exhibits, and Education. At the end of the internship, you will have the flexibility to present your experiences in a way that reflects your artistic style. This is a paid internship, with the 2024 edition giving a stipend of $3,200 ($400/week).
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Usually in late March.
Program Dates: June-August, with flexible start and end dates.
Eligibility: High school students can apply to some internships; please check the internship’s description to know if you can apply
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers online art internships for high school students in diverse fields such as museum collection management, educational programming, nonprofit operations, digital projects, marketing, and communications, all with a focus on American history. These internships allow you to explore how art and history intersect, particularly through hands-on access to the Gilder Lehrman Collection, a vast archive of 87,000 historical documents and items.
You may be part of projects for the institute’s public programs inclusive of content creation, event planning, and archival digitization. These internships will also help you develop connections with historians, museum professionals, and educators, which can prove beneficial in your career path. These internships will require a time commitment of 10-30 hours per week and will pay a stipend of $16 per hour.
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Closed for the year
Internship Dates: June-August (3 months)
Eligibility: High school students aged 15–18
The Project Write Now Teen Internship Program offers three internships that allow you to gain experience in both creative and editorial work. In the teaching assistant internship limited to only 8 participants, you’ll support instructors in teaching writing to younger students in summer programs. You’ll have the opportunity to learn how to design lesson plans and gain insight into the art of teaching creative writing in this internship. In the editorial assistant internship limited to 10 participants, you’ll work on editorial projects for the organization’s teen programming, helping create marketing materials, and blog content, and assisting with the management of their young adult literary magazine, Bridge Ink.
Finally, in the interview project internship limited to 10 participants, you’ll identify compelling stories, conduct interviews, and write narratives for publication, honing your storytelling and writing skills. You will be provided training and will earn community service hours.
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Unspecified. For more information, contact Erin Bartram, School Programs Coordinator, at erin.bartram@marktwainhouse.org.
Internship Dates: Unspecified. For more information, contact Erin Bartram, School Programs Coordinator, at erin.bartram@marktwainhouse.org.
Eligibility: Students from high school through graduate school can apply.
You will experience literary legacy, i.e., work inside the Mark Twain House and have access to 50,000 artifacts, family furnishings, the famed Tiffany glass, along with Twain’s personal items. You may work on projects that involve creative writing, historical research, or designing educational content that brings Mark Twain’s works to life.
In addition to internships, the museum partners with schools and community organizations to offer special programs and contests for students across Connecticut such as ‘The Celebrated Robo Frog Race of Hartford County. Previously, interns have also participated in initiatives such as the Hartford Creative Contest, an annual competition involving submission of artwork, poetry and essays best portraying one of the three chosen annual topics.
Cost: Monthly fee for Coursera subscription
Application deadline: You can enroll at any time
Program dates: All courses are self-paced
Eligibility: Anyone can sign up
While these are not traditional internships, they do involve a work-learn model, and require you to submit a deliverable to successfully complete the course. Courses such as “Reimagining Blackness and Architecture,” “Modern Art and Ideas,” “Fashion as Design, ”Artful Practices for Well-Being” and more, allow you to explore a wide range of artistic concepts and mediums.
The programs are taught by museum curators, artists, and designers, and include virtual tours of the museum’s collections, allowing you to study art in context.
10. Interns4Good
Cost: Free
Application Deadline: Rolling basis, can apply at any time.
Program Dates: Based on the type of internship.
Eligibility: High school students between grades 9-12.
For students interested in art, there is a graphic design internship available where you may work on real-world projects like designing animated characters, creating magazines, developing comic books, designing logos, social media graphics, or video content.
As an intern, you’ll be expected to complete assignments, submit weekly reports, and request verified hour records for external organizations. The program is available year-round, giving you the chance to explore different roles and gain practical experience in a structured setting while honing your artistic skills. You can also obtain certified volunteer hours which can be later used for college applications and scholarships. Some of the nonprofits that have been associated with this internship include Crohn’s and Colitis, Learning Ally, She’s My Daughter, Volunteer New York, etc.
One other option—the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research in art, consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4,000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
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Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.