CUNY Cultural Corps

Cultural Corps students

CUNY Cultural Corps provides opportunities for CUNY students to work in the City’s arts and cultural sector. Modeled after the CUNY Service Corps, Cultural Corps provides students with paid work experience in arts and cultural institutions, creating a pipeline for students to have successful careers, while diversifying NYC’s cultural institutions. Partnering institutions include non-profit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary and performing arts as well as public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens and historic and preservation societies.

Complete our student interest form now!

Join Cultural Corps

Student Applicant?

Applications for the program are closed! Click here to complete the interest form to learn when our applications reopen for the following academic year!

Click here to learn about the application process.

Institutional Partner?

If you are interested in hosting student interns and becoming an official program partner, applying is an easy, two-step process. Click here to complete the interest form and be notified when we start approving employer partner applications!

Visit our Prospective Partner Page for more information or write us at culturalcorps@cuny.edu with questions.

CUNY Faculty?

Please fill out our CUNY Cultural Corps Faculty Interest Form to learn more about our program and receiving updates on when our applications are open so you can promote it to students.

Cultural Corps Alumni Experiences

The stories, skills, and experiences of CUNY alumni actively working in the arts and culture sector not only inspire Cultural Corps members, but they also represent our goals in action: to expose participants to a variety of career paths within the arts sector and allow them to be involved with New York City’s arts and culture institutions. Students develop their professional skills and benefit from valuable opportunities to connect and learn from experts in the field, broadening their networks and future employment possibilities.

Meet Chelsey Pellot, Government and Community Affairs Manager at El Museo del Barrio. As a student at Hunter College, Chelsey interned with El Museo through CUNY Cultural Corps. She was offered a position with the museum after graduating college. Chelsey now supervises interns hosted at El Museo and is currently part of the CUNY Cultural Corps Advisory Board.

Types of Internships in the Program

Here is a sampling of the areas and cultural institutions students can expect working with during their internship:

Departments

  • Education
  • Communications & Marketing
  • Finance & Development
  • Data Management
  • Human Resources (HR)
  • Curation & Exhibitions
  • Production & Event Management
  • Information Technology (IT)
  • Visitor Services
  • Collections & Archives
  • Research
  • Public Programs
  • Horticulture

Partners

  • New York Botanical Garden
  • American Federation of Arts
  • Museum of Moving Image
  • New York City Ballet
  • The American Museum of Natural History
  • The Whitney Museum of American Art
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Louis Armstrong House Museum
  • Art Beyond Sight
  • Bronx Council on the Arts
  • National Alliance for Musical Theatre

Click here to see our full list of participating organizations in 2023 -2024.

Upcoming Events

Check back here for information sessions our program is hosting or for great opportunities/events being hosted by one of our partners.

Cultural Corps Information Session

The dates for our 2024 information sessions will be determined in early 2024. If you are a student interested in our program, please click here to fill out the interest form and be notified about the sessions!

Frequently Asked Questions

The Cultural Corps program is an internship program that pays interns to work at various cultural institutions across New York City. Our program’s goal is to help students gain professional development, career experience, and bring more diversity into the Cultural Arts sector. It was launched in 2016 as a partnership between CUNY, New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, and The Rockefeller Foundation, in response to a report released that year by the Department of Cultural Affairs highlighting a lack of diversity in NYC cultural institutions.

In order to be eligible for the program, students must be:

  • Currently enrolled at any CUNY college, working towards a degree (Community College, Senior College, or Graduate School)
  • Able to participate in the program for 24-weeks over the course of the fall and spring semesters. Students must be enrolled for both the Fall and Spring semester to participate in the program.
  • Able to work part-time (12 hours per week)
  • Able to take part in professional development trainings before the start of the program
  • Attend the matching fair
  • Attend professional development workshops & cultural enrichment activities throughout the academic year.
  • Be registered for at least 12 credits (for  undergraduate freshman, sophomores, and juniors) or 6 credits (if you are a rising senior) while enrolled in the program
  • Graduate student are eligible for the program as long they are enrolled in at least 1 course at a CUNY campus for both Spring & Fall.
  • Have a cumulative Grade Point Average of at least 2.5
  • Have earned at least 24 college credits by the end of summer (12 college credits for community college students)
  • Have addressed any remedial education needs prior to beginning Fall  classes
  • Have the proper work authorization required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

*NOTE: Community college students with under 24 credits must have a GPA of at least 3.0. Community college students with 24 credits or above can have a 2.5 GPA.

Students who have an interest in gaining professional experience in the arts and culture sector should consider applying. Even if a student’s major is not art focused, the Cultural Corps program provides a unique opportunity for CUNY students to learn more about cultural arts and opens the door for them to potentially pursue a career in the field.

The application process for students will follow the general timeline below (although dates are always subject to change).

Cultural Corps Application Timeline

Spring

Step 1: Submit your application

Step 2: Once our application period is open, you may apply. If your application is approved, you will receive an email invitation to RSVP for an interview time slot 

Strong applicants will be invited via email to RSVP for one of our program group interviews.

Step 3: Attend one of the group interviews

Potential candidates for the program will be asked to take part in a group interview with fellow students for a spot in the program.

Step 4: Acceptance Email & Acceptance Form

Students who pass both the application & interview portion will be sent an acceptance email with additional details regarding their participation in the program and receive an acceptance form to formally accept the offer.

Summer

Step 5: Attend pre-training workshops to prepare for the matching fair

At least two workshops may be held to prepare newly accepted interns for the matching fair. These workshops typically are a Resume/Interview Workshop & Matching Fair logistics workshop. Please be advised that these trainings are not paid, however, they are mandatory for interns to attend.

Step 6: Attend the matching fair

The matching fair is essentially a day-long job fair. Almost all of our partnered organizations will be attending this event to meet & interview interns of the program. Interns will have the chance to meet with multiple organizations.

Step 7: Rank your favorite organizations

After the matching fair, interns will be asked to rank at least 8 of their favorite organizations & job positions. Partners will also rank their top favorite students. Our program algorithm will then proceed to match students and partners accordingly.

Our program guarantees that interns accepted into the program will receive an organization to work for during the year.

Step 8: Complete the onboarding process & attend payroll training

After interns have been matched, emails confirming their placement sites will be sent. Students will then be asked to complete RFCUNY onboarding documentation so that they can be onboarded and attend a payroll training on how to fill out their timesheets.

Fall

Step 9: Attend orientation

Orientation will be held to celebrate the intern’s start of the program and provide them with important information they should remember as they navigate their internship throughout the year.

Step 10: Begin working!

Interns will be asked to attend 4 pre-program workshops to prepare for their Fall internships.

Afterwards interns will be asked to attend a workshop per month until the end of the program on May 31st. A majority if not all of the workshops will be virtual until further notice.

We have a large selection of positions ranging from Administrative positions, to Graphic Design positions to Finance positions. Most positions will require you to complete your 10 to 12 hours per week during normal business hours, i.e. Monday through Friday 9AM-5PM although there are always a couple of positions that may offer weekend or evening hours but that is not guaranteed.

Students will receive a wage of $17/hour and work up to 12 hours per week (for a total of 250 hours.). We do not provide Metrocard stipends.

That will depend on your college’s departments policies as well as whether the organization is open to adapt the internship to meet your department’s requirements, i.e. it is possible but we cannot guarantee that you will be able to receive course credit.

If you have any other question regarding our eligibility requirements or program process, please email us at culturalcorps@cuny.edu.

Cultural Corps Student
City College, Antoni Gaudi LA SAGRADA FAMILIA

Contact Us

Immediate inquiries can be addressed to CulturalCorps@cuny.edu.

  • Kimberlee Rios – Senior Program Manager, CUNY Cultural Corps
  • Julia Lew – Finance and Program Coordinator, CUNY Cultural Corps
  • Anabelle Colon – Program Coordinator, CUNY Cultural Corps