Working in an art gallery: Curator, Youth Programmes

Category: Working in an art gallery — Published: 5 May

Hear from our Curator: Youth Programmes, Amelia, about her day-to-day and advice for those interested in working in gallery learning roles. 

Part of our Working in an art gallery series of interviews with Whitechapel Gallery staff members — offering insight into the kind of roles available in gallery settings.

Exploring Contemporary Art Week 2023. Photo: Jazz Noble.

How would you describe your job?

As the Curator: Youth Programmes, I work in the Participation team at the gallery who work alongside people of all ages to explore creativity through long-term projects, workshops, and events. My role sees me primarily work with 15-29 year olds, including our youth collective Duchamp & Sons who are a group of young people from East London who meet regularly at the gallery and collaborate closely with artists to co-create projects ranging from exhibitions, to events, to new artworks. In my role, I’m focused on creating opportunities for young people to connect with their creativity, experiment in a relaxed environment, get to know other people also interested in art, and to discover whether the arts is something they might like to pursue in the future.

My day to day is really varied. Something I enjoy about the role is that it’s not just an office job – yes, there’s administration involved, but I also get to meet lots of artists, deliver session and workshops, and get to know the young people I’m working with well. A working week for me might involve a planning meeting with the artist currently collaborating with Duchamp & Sons, reaching out to local contacts to spread the word about upcoming opportunities for young people, internal staff meetings about budgets or upcoming projects, doing research about what other youth programmes offer, and running a workshop for young people.

What are some of the skills or interests which might be important to someone doing your job? 

To work as a Curator: Youth Programmes you should really enjoy working with people, particularly supporting them to explore their interests. A passion for working specifically with young people, and making galleries more accessible to a wide range of audiences is definitely important to the role.

The youth programme here is focused on co-curation, meaning our youth collective members collaborate to develop ideas and projects – to support this it’s useful to have an open mind and be good at facilitating discussions or activities. Sometimes, to allow for enough time for ideas to develop and decisions to be reached, you might have to arrange things in a quick-time frame, so a level-head and calm approach is helpful.

You don’t need specific qualifications for this kind of role, but good communication skills, an ability to organise events and projects, and an interest in pastorally supporting others are all really valuable.

Moving Grounds: 15 Years of Duchamp & Sons, 2025. Photo: Anne Tetzlaff.

What do you most enjoy about your role?

My favourite thing is all the people I get to meet through my role. I’m lucky to often get to work with young people over a long period of time, and it’s always brilliant to see how their interests, approaches and personalities develop along the way.

I am so energised by the creativity, compassion and criticality of the young people I work with, and it’s such a privilege to get to be part of discussions with them, particularly ones thinking through how we can address current social and political issues through art, and imagine alternative, better futures.

What’s the biggest challenge of your job?

Resources can sometimes be limited in arts organisations, so a big challenge is producing exciting and meaningful work with relatively small budgets. This ability to adapt and juggle different priorities is a great skill to learn but it does mean that sometimes you have to make difficult decisions.

Any advice you’d give to someone looking to work in a similar role to yours? 

If you’re looking to gain experience in working in a learning or participation role, remember you don’t just have to get this through gallery-based projects, particularly in terms of your people skills. Getting involved at local youth club, or working in a different job role where you facilitate activities or conversations with other people are all really relevant.

A job like this isn’t about knowing all the answers, so you don’t need to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of art, instead it’s more important to understand how you can support others to explore their own ideas, encourage them to feel more confident in their creative voices, and create welcoming environments to facilitate this in.

Want to find out more? Read the rest of our Working in an art gallery series.