Applications for our Summer 2026 programme are now open.
Summer Work Experience Programme
Are you passionate about pursuing a career in the arts? Do you believe in the power of digital to transform lives? We’re looking for four enthusiastic participants between the ages of 16–24 to join our Summer 2026 Work Experience Programme. The programme will be run online and is open to applicants from throughout the UK.
We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are underrepresented in the creative industries, particularly individuals who experience physical, mental, or social barriers to accessing the arts.
About Art UK
Art UK is an art education charity and the online home for every public collection of art in the United Kingdom. It is making the UK’s national collection of art accessible to everyone online – for enjoyment, learning and research. Art UK brings together art from almost 3,500 British institutions in one of the UK's largest ever arts partnerships and showcases this art to a global audience of 5.5 million users per annum. Approaching 60% of this audience is overseas.
Art UK provides significant support to museums and galleries in the UK, by providing them with a shared digital platform to showcase their art collections, reach new audiences, and generate income. Most of these collections would not be able to show their art online without Art UK. The Art UK platform is rich in story content, learning resources for teachers and students, and public engagement opportunities. A shared e-commerce infrastructure helps collections generate much-needed commercial income.
About the opportunity
You will join us for a week-long online placement where we involve you fully in the work that we do. We schedule a full programme of activities that will enable you to develop your skills, build your confidence, and learn more about the variety of career opportunities available in the arts and heritage sector.
It is a very well-planned work experience programme led by a friendly team that will make you feel welcomed and comfortable
The programme involves spending time with different teams in our organisation; Commercial, Community Engagement, Content, Copyright and Licensing, Development, Learning, Marketing and Communications, and People and Culture. The tasks you will carry out closely relate to our core activities and the projects taking place during that given time period, with tasks closely mirroring activities undertaken by each team to give you an understanding of the type of work carried out on a day-to-day basis at Art UK.
Where possible, we will arrange for you to spend up to one day of your work experience placement with a local collection whose artworks are on Art UK. Please note that visits to collections will be dependent on the availability of participating collections in your local area.
Art UK reminded me why I am enthusiastic about the arts. Thank you again for hosting me!
During your placement, you’ll have a reflection and careers session with our People and Culture team. In this we offer advice and tips on finding paid and voluntary positions, spend time looking at the application and recruitment process, offer advice on writing applications and CVs, and share tips on how to prepare for and conduct yourself during interviews, with both employment and further education in mind. We also encourage all staff members involved in the programme to speak about their own careers, to give you an insight into the different career paths that have brought staff to their current roles.
We ask all applicants to complete a short questionnaire as part of your application so that we may use your responses to tailor activities to your areas of interest where possible. Throughout your placement we’ll be encouraging you to give your opinion to us freely and provide feedback to ensure you get the most out of your week with us and to help us develop our programme.
Key information
- Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm, with 1 hour lunch break
- Programme will be delivered online and remotely
- Participants must have computer access with a stable internet connection, and ideally the facility to undertake video conference calls via Zoom or similar
- Applications open to participants aged 16-24
- We particularly welcome applications from individuals who experience physical, mental, or social barriers to accessing the arts
Please note that we only take on one individual per week to ensure we can provide the best support and experience possible to all participants.
Date options
- Week 1: Monday 6 to Friday 10 July
- Week 2: Monday 13 to Friday 17 July
- Week 3: Monday 3 to Friday 7 August
- Week 4: Monday 10 to Friday 14 August
Ahead of your work experience placement you will be invited to attend a group induction session with other programme participants. The group induction will take place via Zoom on Tuesday 30 June 2026 from 2pm–3:30pm.
Application
Download the Work Experience application form. To apply, please submit your completed application form to people@artuk.org by 9am on Tuesday 12 May 2026. If you are experiencing issues downloading the document or require support completing your form, please contact info@artuk.org
Please send your form in MS Word or a format compatible to MS Word. Please do not send PDFs.
If you have any access or learning requirements please communicate these to us on your application form, outlining how best we can support you and accommodate your needs throughout the application process and your placement with us. Your individual requirements will be fully considered to ensure you have the best experience possible on the programme, and we will ensure any access requirements are communicated to participating collections in advance.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to join us for a video call on Tuesday 19 May 2026. All candidates will be contacted shortly after video calls have taken place to advise if your application has been successful.
Please note that as we only have a limited number of work experience opportunities available we are not able to offer placements to all applicants. However, we will contact all applicants to advise you of the status of your application no later than a fortnight after the video call date.
Thank you for your interest in the Art UK Summer Work Experience Programme