Exploring the business world during high school can give you an early understanding of consumer psychology, brand strategy, and why people buy products. Marketing internships in NYC for high school students can strengthen your college applications while helping you sharpen your commercial instincts before university.

Imagine designing digital advertising campaigns in Manhattan, tracking social media metrics, and evaluating brand reach. These experiences can pair strategy sessions with exposure to major organisations, helping you understand how agencies capture public attention and influence buying choices.

What kind of marketing internships are available for high school students in NYC?

Marketing internships for high school students in New York City span a dynamic range of industries, offering everything from city-sponsored placements to specialized roles in arts, media, and tech. 

For creatively driven students, cultural institutions and media brands such as The Met, CITYarts, and Condé Nast provide niche opportunities focused on social media management, promotional design, and community outreach. Beyond local organizations, ambitious students can apply for competitive corporate pathways like Google’s digital marketing apprenticeship, build foundational business skills through intensive summer academies at universities like NYU and Columbia. 

To accelerate your search, we’ve compiled a list of 15 marketing internships in NYC for high school students. This selection highlights every internship program that offers high-level mentorship, hands-on campaign experience, and measurable outcomes on resumes.

For adjacent opportunities, have a look at business summer programs in NYC. For more options, consider summer programs in New York State.

Key takeaways

• The Hearst High School Media Internship at the Paley Center pays $17 per hour to just 15 highly competitive interns who produce an original podcast over the course of the summer.
• Immerse Education’s Marketing & Entertainment Summer School at Barnard College runs two weeks with an average of seven participants per class and is open to students of all nationalities aged 15 to 18.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s High School Internship pays a $1,100 stipend and accepts fewer than 5% of applicants, drawing approximately 36 students annually from New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut.
• NYC Ladders for Leaders is a highly competitive advanced tier of the Summer Youth Employment Program, placing over 450 students in $17 per hour internships at major corporations and government agencies.
• The Bloomberg Arts Internship pairs three days a week of hands-on placement across more than 45 NYC cultural institutions with two days of college-readiness coursework led by Columbia University’s Teachers College.
• The Apollo Theater Academy’s Arts Administration Internship pays $17 per hour and includes an official production credit for Teen Takeover, the Apollo’s signature summer youth event.
• The Intern Group’s High School Internship Program costs between $4,290 and $26,600 depending on duration and housing, offering remote and international placements across business, marketing, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit fields.
• Nearly all NYC marketing internships listed here restrict eligibility to New York City or tri-state residents, with CITYarts, New Perspectives Theatre Company, The Intern Group, and Immerse Education’s Marketing & Entertainment Summer School standing out as options open to international students.

15 Marketing Internships in NYC for High School Students

1. CITYarts Internships

Location: CITYarts office, New York, NY (in person, with public-art project sites around the city)
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; cohort size not disclosed
Dates: Flexible; interns design their own schedules with staff
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students and individuals 18+. Requires familiarity with Google Suite, willingness to learn Trello, and an interest in the arts or non-profit industry; open to international students

CITYarts is a nonprofit that creates public murals and mosaics across New York City through collaborations between professional artists and young people. Interns gain real-world experience supporting these projects while developing skills in design, social media, and arts administration.

You help promote the organization’s initiatives, update social channels, and assist with community outreach. Roles have also included internships in design, media, and bookkeeping, giving you exposure to both the creative and operational sides of a nonprofit. School credit is available, which makes it workable as a term-time placement.

Why it stands out: Interns contribute to permanent public artworks that go up on New York City walls, connecting their work to a visible, lasting community legacy.

2. Immerse Education’s New York Marketing & Entertainment Summer School

Location: Barnard College, New York City, NY
Cost/Stipend: Varies; summer school scholarship available through our bursary programme
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; an average of 7 participants per class
Dates: 2 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: Multiple summer cohorts; rolling admissions
Eligibility: Students from all nationalities aged 15 to 18; open to international students

This program aims to help high school students like you build a strong foundation for a career in marketing and entertainment. It equips you with the fundamental knowledge to succeed in the fields, teaching you branding, digital marketing, and media production. During the two-week program, you will be involved in a range of activities, including participating in group workshops, completing an independent research project, going on site visits, and attending expert-led seminars.

By engaging you in such activities, Immerse Education ensures that you enhance your skills in creativity, strategic planning, problem-solving, and communication. More importantly, the program will assign a product or a service for which you will develop and share a marketing campaign using everything you learned during the program. 

Why it stands out: The summer school will expose you to different marketing and media formats, thus helping you decide the best career path for you in the field of marketing

3. Whitney Museum Youth Insights

Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY
Stipend: Free programs; the YI Leaders tier is a paid internship, with free MetroCards and supplies provided across programs
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohorts across four programs
Dates: YI Artists: Semester-long (Fall and Spring cohorts); YI Arts Careers: Summer; YI Introductions: Summer; YI Leaders: Year-long (academic year)
Application Deadline: Summer Cohorts (Arts Careers & Introductions): Late May; Fall/Spring/Year-long Cohorts (Artists & Leaders): Varies (typically late August for Fall/Year-long start)
Eligibility: New York City high school students across all five boroughs, grades 9-12 (some tracks enter grades 10-12); YI Leaders is open to grades 11-12 who have completed a prior YI program; not for international students

Youth Insights connects NYC high schoolers to art and artists through four linked programs. YI Artists is a semester-long after-school program where teens work collaboratively with contemporary artists and create original work for a final exhibition; YI Arts Careers is a free summer program exploring arts careers and institutions across the city; and YI Introductions serves English Language Learners.

Graduates can then apply to become paid YI Leaders, a museum-education internship where teens organize public programs, lead interactive gallery tours, assist with Family and Community programs, and write for the Whitney’s teen blog. The progression gives students a genuine on-ramp from making art to working inside a museum.

Why it stands out: It is a rare program transitioning from a free teen art program into a paid museum-education internship, all inside one of the country’s leading contemporary art museums.

4. Fund for the City of New York (FCNY) Summer Internship

Location: FCNY office, New York, NY (in person, roughly three days per week)
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; cohort size not disclosed
Dates: July 6-24
Application Deadline: March 6th
Eligibility: High school students, college and graduate students based in NYC; not open to international students

FCNY’s summer program places interns inside a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life across New York City’s underserved communities. Interns work on projects spanning project management, social media, marketing and communications, research and writing, and events management, both within FCNY and across its partner projects.

The program opens with a robust orientation, including StrengthsFinder and leadership-styles workshops, and includes a field trip plus invitations to FCNY convenings. The setup gives students a genuine look at civic innovation and the nonprofit world.

Why it stands out: High schoolers work alongside college and graduate interns inside a long-running civic nonprofit, getting exposure to real public-service projects across the city.

5. The Hearst High School Media Internship at the Paley Center for Media

Location: The Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52 Street, New York, NY
Stipend: $17 per hour, with travel expenses reimbursed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 15 students
Dates: July 6th – August 6th
Application Deadline: March 30th
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th-grade students; NY State working papers required, including for out-of-state students working in NYC; not open to international students

This best-in-class media internship is built around three pillars: media literacy and digital learning, media career development, and mentorship. Interns meet high-profile industry professionals, go behind the scenes at newsrooms, podcast studios, and television production sets, and explore how the media they encounter every day shapes them.

As a culminating project, interns produce an original podcast, developing skills in public speaking, interviewing, market research, writing, and audio production. The program aims to serve as a pipeline for the next generation of media professionals from all backgrounds. 

Why it stands out: Interns finish the summer having produced their own podcast, with behind-the-scenes access to real newsrooms and production sets along the way.

6. NYC Dept. of Youth & Community Development – Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP)

Location: New York City (placements across the five boroughs)
Stipend: $17 per hour for older youth ages 16-24; participants ages 14-15 receive a summer stipend for project-based learning
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; cohort size not specified
Dates: Six weeks during July and August
Application Deadline: March 13th
Eligibility: Ages 14-24; reside within the five boroughs of New York City; legally authorized to work in the United States; not open to international students

As an older-youth participant in NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program, you are placed at a worksite where you can build hands-on marketing experience, since participating industries include advertising and marketing. It is one of the most accessible marketing internships in NYC for high school students, letting you apply to and rank up to three available jobs, then work up to 25 hours per week for six weeks while supporting real promotional and communications tasks.

Depending on your placement, you may help create social media content, assist with campaign materials, conduct basic audience research, and observe how organizations reach their customers. You also network with industry professionals, connections that can lead to future opportunities.

Why it stands out: It is the nation’s largest youth employment program, offering paid, lottery-based summer placements that let NYC teens earn $17.00 an hour while gaining real work experience in fields such as advertising and marketing.

7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art High School Internship

Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Stipend: $1,100
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive (<5%); approximately 36 students per year
Dates: Bootcamp July 1st, departmental placement July 7th – August 7th
Application Deadline: March 13th
Eligibility: Students in grade 10 or 11, or obtaining High School Equivalency, who reside in and attend school in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut; not open to international applicants

The Met’s paid summer internship connects students one-on-one and in small cohorts with museum professionals across fields, including curatorial, social media, education, imaging, and design. No prior art or art history knowledge is needed, just curiosity about museum careers and the collection.

Interns complete a bootcamp, a departmental placement, biweekly career-readiness check-ins, and Teen Fridays, finishing with a celebration event. The program is designed to help students find where their interests intersect with the work of a major cultural institution. 

Why it stands out: It places teenagers directly alongside Met professionals across a dozen departments, with a paid stipend and no prior arts background required.

8. Apollo Theater Academy – Arts Administration Internship 

Location: Apollo Theater, New York, NY
Stipend: $17 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; small cohort size
Dates: Spring cycle, through May 21st
Application Deadline: March 27th
Eligibility: Currently enrolled 12th-grade students; New York City residents within the five boroughs; candidates under 18 must provide New York State working papers before onboarding; not open to international students

In this program, you learn how a world-famous performing arts institution markets live and recorded productions, with marketing serving as one core departmental lens alongside development, programming, education, operations, and production. Working onsite three afternoons each week, you help build comprehensive marketing plans designed to grow audience engagement and ticket sales for real Apollo events.

You gain hands-on practice using social media, email marketing, and other digital platforms to promote programming, applying these skills directly to Teen Takeover, the signature summer youth event you help concept and earn an official production credit for. You develop professional communication, audience-building, and campaign-planning skills while connecting with industry mentors in a business-casual workplace.

Why it stands out: It pairs paid, real-world arts marketing experience at the historic Apollo Theater with a concrete production credit on the Teen Takeover event you help create.

9. Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) Summer Artslife Internship

Location: Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Stipend: $17 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 10 interns per summer cohort
Dates: 6 weeks during the summer (typically early July to mid-August)
Application Deadline: Typically early to mid-April annually
Eligibility: Rising sophomores and juniors enrolled in New York City public and charter high schools; not open to international applicants

Artslife is MAD’s paid summer internship integrating art with leadership development, museum studies, and community engagement. Over six weeks, interns explore arts careers, create artwork with local and visiting artists, and design and lead peer-to-peer tours of the museum’s exhibitions.

The program begins with team building, then moves into hands-on experience and behind-the-scenes exposure to how a museum operates. Interns also visit cultural institutions across the city and strengthen presentation and public-speaking skills, with standout participants later joining MAD’s Teen Council. 

Why it stands out: An ultra-exclusive opportunity where just 10 NYC public school teens get paid $17 an hour to collaborate directly with contemporary artists and design their own public tours at Columbus Circle.

10. Free Arts NYC – Internships / Learning Pods 

Location: New York City; hybrid, with a mix of virtual and in-person internships across NYC
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; specific cohort size not published
Dates: Internships run ongoing, year-round; Learning Pods are a 6-week paid summer program
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Currently enrolled high school students; completion of a Free Arts NYC program before applying; based in the New York City area; not open to international students

In this program, you join paid internships and six-week Learning Pods that place you inside NYC creative companies, galleries, media brands, and artist studios to build real marketing and professional experience. Through workshops on Marketing Your Work, Building an Online Presence, networking, and resume writing, you learn to position creative work for audiences and promote your personal brand. In a Learning Pod, you develop and present a completed project aligned with a host company’s objectives, gaining exposure to event planning, content, and brand-building workflows.

Past partners such as Quirk Creative, BRIC Arts Media, and Bustle’s digital media network connect you to advertising, editorial, and audience-engagement environments. 

Why it stands out: It pairs paid creative-industry internships with structured workshops in marketing your work and building an online presence, giving you applied brand-building experience that most high school programs don’t offer.

11. New Perspectives Theatre Company – Internships

Location: Manhattan, New York City
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; small cohort sizes
Dates: Fall cycle, six weeks, and scheduling arranged on an individual basis; summer cycle also available
Application Deadline: August 15th
Eligibility: High school students; applicants from underrepresented backgrounds, including Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, transgender, non-binary, returning, and neurodiverse candidates, strongly encouraged; open to international students

In this program, you join a not-for-profit Off-Off-Broadway company as a marketing-focused intern, gaining hands-on experience promoting socially engaged theatre and new works by women and artists of color. Among the many marketing internships in NYC for high school students, this option offers a mentorship-driven setting where you take on real-world assignments that build communication, organizational, and conceptual skills central to arts marketing.

You also participate in audience-facing work such as helping publicize MainStage productions, On Her Shoulders readings, and the company’s short play festival. The intimate company size means you contribute meaningfully rather than observing from the sidelines.

Why it stands out: It is one of the few NYC theatre internships explicitly open to high school students that pairs individualized marketing-track placements with a mentorship model rooted in expanding access for underrepresented young people.

12. The Intern Group: High School Internships

Location: New York, NY
Cost: $4,290 (no accommodation) to $26,600 (24 weeks, private room), depending on duration and housing choice; need-based and merit-based aid available / Stipend can be paid or unpaid, depending on the specific host company, visa rules, and New York state laws
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; cohort size not specified
Dates: Year-round rolling cohorts starting every month (flexible durations of 4 to 24 weeks)
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 and older, college students, and recent graduates; open to international students

The Intern Group’s High School Internship Program is a structured, primarily remote work-experience program designed to give motivated high school students real-world professional exposure before they enter university. It places students in professional internships across four fields: business, marketing, entrepreneurship, and NGOs/non-profits.

Beyond the placement itself, the program includes a one-hour session with a career coach plus Career Advancement Training covering critical thinking, communication, leadership, and cultural fluency. Remote internships develop the independence and discipline that prepare students for college and future in-person roles abroad. Placements span startups, boutique firms, and international nonprofits, with roles from marketing and communications to research. 

Why it stands out: It offers a genuine pathway from a remote high school placement to an in-person international internship in a global city, with career coaching built in.

13. NYC Ladders for Leaders

Location: Across New York City, at corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies
Stipend: $17 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; 450+ students
Dates: 6 weeks in the summer running from mid-July through mid-August
Application Deadline: January 16th
Eligibility: High school and college students aged 16-24, NYC residents with prior paid or volunteer work experience, legally able to work in the US; not open for international students

NYC Ladders for Leaders is a highly competitive, nationally recognized program run by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). As an advanced tier of the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), it connects high-achieving students with paid, professional six-week summer internships at top corporations, non-profit organizations, and government agencies across New York City.

Before placement, participants complete pre-employment training covering résumé and cover-letter writing, interview skills, and workplace etiquette. The selective, three-phase process moves from application to training and mock interviews to interviews with potential employers. Participants also join a citywide alumni network with post-internship opportunities.

Why it stands out: It is one of the few programs that drops teenagers into paid, professional roles at major NYC employers, with structured interview training before they start.

14. Futures and Options Internship Program

Location: New York City; placements are in-person, hybrid, and remote, with workshops at 111 Broadway, Manhattan
Stipend: NYC minimum wage of $17 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; cohort size not disclosed
Dates: Summer program runs 6 weeks across July and August; a school-year option runs September to June for 15 weeks
Application Deadline: Summer: Spring (typically rolling); School-Year: Late September (typically rolling)
Eligibility: Juniors and seniors enrolled in NYC high schools; have a valid working card; aged 16+; eligible to work in the US; not open for international students

Futures and Options matches NYC high schoolers with paid internships that fit their skills and interests across a wide range of industries, from advertising and marketing to computer science, finance, and healthcare. Every intern is paired with a Futures and Options coordinator who supports them throughout the placement and helps them meet their goals.

Summer interns complete two orientations and six weekly career-development workshops alongside their internship hours. The program emphasizes professionalism and work-readiness, giving students a genuine first professional experience.

Why it stands out: Every intern gets a dedicated coordinator and a paid placement matched to their interests, turning a first job into a mentored, supported experience.

15. Studio Institute: Bloomberg Arts Internship

Location: Placements across more than 45 prominent New York City museums, theaters, and cultural institutions
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; 2-3 interns placed per individual NYC worksite
Dates: Typically an 8 to 9-week summer program (e.g., Early June to early August)
Application Deadline: Late February to Late March
Eligibility: Must be a current high school junior (rising senior) enrolled in a participating NYC public or charter high school; at least 16 years old by July 1st; hold valid working papers, and possess legal authorization to work in the United States; not open for international students

The Bloomberg Arts Internship offers a unique multi-track summer schedule. As one of the most structured marketing internships in NYC for high school students interested in arts and culture, you spend three days a week embedded directly within a host organization, ranging from world-class museums and theaters to botanical gardens and galleries, gaining hands-on professional experience in departments like arts administration, collections archiving, or digital marketing.

The remaining two days of the week are dedicated to dynamic classroom blocks featuring a specialized college-readiness curriculum led by Columbia University’s Teachers College, which offers students 1-on-1 guidance on drafting their college application essays, alongside guided field trips and career panels with working creative professionals.

Why it stands out: It treats arts administration as a rigorous career path, pairing real cultural worksite experience with an elite, Columbia-led college prep springboard while ensuring local public school students are fairly compensated for their time.

Frequently asked questions: Marketing internships in NYC for high school students

Are marketing internships in NYC open to international students?

Most paid NYC marketing internships, including the Hearst Media Internship, NYC Ladders for Leaders, and the Bloomberg Arts Internship, require NYC or tri-state residency and are not open to international students. A handful of exceptions exist, including CITYarts, New Perspectives Theatre Company, and The Intern Group, which accepts international applicants into remote and in-person placements. Immerse Education’s Marketing & Entertainment Summer School at Barnard College is also open to students of all nationalities aged 15 to 18.

Do marketing internships in NYC pay a stipend?

Many NYC marketing internships pay a stipend, most commonly at the city’s $17 per hour minimum wage rate. Programs like the Hearst Media Internship, Apollo Theater Academy, and NYC Ladders for Leaders all pay $17 per hour. The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a flat $1,100 stipend, while some programs, like CITYarts and New Perspectives Theatre Company, are unpaid. The Intern Group is tuition-based, meaning you pay a program fee rather than receive a stipend.

How competitive are marketing internships in NYC?

Competitiveness varies significantly. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s High School Internship accepts fewer than 5% of applicants, and the Hearst Media Internship at the Paley Center selects just 15 students annually. Larger-scale programs, like NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program, admit hundreds or thousands of students through a lottery-based system, making them comparatively more accessible. Advanced tiers like NYC Ladders for Leaders sit in between, requiring prior work experience and a multi-phase selection process.

What kind of marketing work do NYC internships actually involve?

The work varies by host organization, but most internships place you on real promotional or communications tasks rather than having you observe from the sidelines. Apollo Theater Academy interns build marketing plans to grow ticket sales for real events, while Whitney Museum Youth Insights participants write for the museum’s teen blog and lead gallery tours. FCNY interns work across project management, social media, and events for a civic nonprofit. Several programs, including the Hearst Media Internship, culminate in a concrete final project like a podcast or campaign.

Can you do a marketing internship in NYC without prior work experience?

Yes, many NYC marketing internships are specifically designed for students with no prior professional experience. The Met’s High School Internship states explicitly that no prior art or art history knowledge is needed, just curiosity about the field. Programs like Futures and Options and FCNY pair you with a dedicated coordinator or built-in career-development workshops to help you build foundational skills. Advanced programs like NYC Ladders for Leaders are more of an exception, requiring some prior paid or volunteer work history.

Is Immerse Education a good option for exploring marketing before college?

Immerse Education’s Marketing & Entertainment Summer School at Barnard College is a strong choice if you want broad exposure to branding, digital marketing, and media production without needing NYC residency or prior work experience. The two week program, open to students of all nationalities aged 15 to 18, has you complete an independent research project and develop a full marketing campaign for an assigned product or service. With an average of just seven participants per class, you also get significant one-on-one attention from instructors while exploring different marketing career paths.

Start Exploring Careers Behind Great Campaigns

Marketing is where creativity meets strategy, from social media storytelling and podcast production to museum outreach, audience research, and brand-building projects.

These 15 marketing internships in NYC for high school students show how real teams plan campaigns, promote events, and measure audience engagement.

They also help you understand which parts of marketing excite you most, whether that’s digital content, arts promotion, business strategy, or communications.

Want to explore where those interests could lead next? Browse our Career Exploration blogs for practical guides to marketing, business, media, and more.