The Bronx Museum
Teen Programs
Every year, The Bronx Museum invites NYC high school students ages 14–19 to apply for the fall, spring, and/or summer sessions of our exciting youth internship program! Approximately 20 students are accepted into each cycle of the program and are paid to engage in art, culture, creative thinking, and collaboration.
Teen Programs are made possible in part through The Keith Haring Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Teen Council
Created in 2005, The Bronx Museum’s Teen Council program offers young people opportunities to engage deeply with contemporary art and the museum space.
In Teen Council, participants discuss and express ideas that affect young people today and create art relating to these issues.
Participants also gain experience in collaboration, communication, and curation.
Teen Council projects include:
- Meeting and interviewing contemporary artists
- Curating in-person and digital art exhibitions
- Creating work for and producing a zine
- Collaborating with other teen groups
- Exploring The Bronx Museum’s current exhibitions and developing interpretive materials
Teens are paid a stipend for their participation in Teen Council! There are two four-month sessions of Teen Council per year: one in the fall and one in the spring. Participants meet once a week after school at the Museum. Teens may participate in one or both sessions in a year.
Teen Summer
The Bronx Museum’s Teen Summer program engages participants in a collaborative exploration of art, community, and the role of museums in our current time. The program promotes self-discovery and celebrates teen voices.
Participants also learn different art-making techniques and produce a culminating exhibition of their artwork.
Teens are paid a stipend for their participation in Teen Summer! The program takes place over four weeks during the NYC public school summer break. Participants meet at the Museum on two weekday afternoons per week. Teens can participate in both Teen Summer and Teen Council programs.
Teen Council Tours and Exhibitions
Studio Visit with John Ahearn
The Teen Council makes a visit to the studio of John Ahearn, a sculptor who creates life casts of everyday people in his community.
The Installation of Gordon Matta-Clark's "Garbage Wall"
Documented by our Teen Council, get a behind the scenes look at The Bronx Museum’s recreation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s 1970 installation “Garbage Wall,” for the museum’s 2017-18 exhibition Gordon Matta-Clark: Anarchitect.
Teen Council Curates "Dreams and Nightmares"
The Teen Council curates Dreams and Nightmares, an exhibition of teen artwork from around New York that addresses the title theme (2014).
Artist Interviews
Interview with Sanford Biggers
The Bronx Museum’s Teen Council teams up with Sandford Biggers for an interview and discussion about his exhibition Codeswitch. Bigger’s provides an in-depth view about his multimedia approach with pre-1900 quilts as a cultural object in early America, and how he seeks to disrupt their cultural transmission through an examination of their use during the Antebellum period.
Interview with Alicia Grullon
Teen Summer 2020 participants interview artist Alicia Grullon about her online exhibition March to June: At Home with Essential Workers which explores the disproportionate way black and brown communities were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interview with Henry Chalfant
Teen Council 2019-20 members hold a short interview with urban photographer Henry Chalfant whose work has been vital to the preservation of hip-hop, break-dance, and graffiti culture.
Interview with Jamel Shabazz
Teen Council interviews street photographer Jamel Shabazz about using his camera to preserve the history of black and brown communities and as a tool for social justice (2017).
Interview with AIM alum Firelei Baez
In conversation with Dominican born multimedia artist and AIM alum Firelei Baez and her work focusing on the fragmented nature of culture and identity as shaped through history (2017).
Interview with Latoya Ruby Frazier
An interview with visual artist Latoya Ruby Frazier whose photography tells the story of racial and economic injustice in America.
Teen Council and Teen Summer Talks
Teen Summer 2019 participants conducted a two-part interview series to mark the 50-year anniversary of two cultural groups that emerged in New York City and continue to have lasting impact.
Interview with Gonzalo Casals
Part one features an interview with Gonzalo Casals, then Executive Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum. Leslie-Lohman is the only art museum to exhibit and preserve artwork that speaks about the LGBTQIA experience.
Interview with Hiram Maristany and Miguel Luciano
Part two features interviews with Hiram Maristany and Miguel Luciano. Maristany is co-founder and photographer of the Young Lords in New York. Luciano is the creator of Mapping Resistance: The Young Lords in El Barrio, a public art project featuring Maristany’s photographs installed in East Harlem neighborhoods where Young Lord actions took place.
Teen Summer and Teen Council team up to create a four-part interview series “We Are All Agents of Change”
Part one, explores what civic engagement looks like in The Bronx and beyond and how youth can get involved!
Part two, interview with artist, organizer, and educator Shellyne Rodriguez.
Part three, interview with Joseph Cuillier and Shani Peters of The Black School.
Part four, interview with Brooklyn-based performance, video, and installation artist Amy Khoshbin