15 Entertainment Internships for High School Students
Entertainment internships offer high school students early exposure to creative careers before entering college. You might be curious about how creative projects operate, or you may want insight into what it is like working in the entertainment industry. Whether you are interested in film, writing, design, museums, or digital media, an entertainment internship can help you understand how the creative industry works. Completing an internship in the entertainment industry can also help you stand out in the college admissions process by showing admissions officers your commitment to the field.
Entertainment internships for high school students provide access to professional environments, including production sets, newsrooms, galleries, performance spaces, and more. These internships build skills in research, technical production, curation, and event planning. By exploring these roles, you can gain a clearer sense of which aspects of entertainment align with your strengths. To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of 15 entertainment internships for high school students that offer real structure and experience.
1. Warner Bros. Discovery Reach Honorship Program
Location: Burbank/Los Angeles County, CA
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided; awards include a $5,000 scholarship towards college
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Around 5 students
Dates: Varies depending on the internship
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the internship
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors who live in Burbank or Los Angeles County
The Reach honorship program places you in a different department each summer, giving you a comprehensive view of how the entertainment industry works across creative and business functions. You might spend one year in a corporate function such as marketing or operations, while another year in more production-oriented areas such as post-production or sound editing. Each placement pairs you with an executive mentor who helps you navigate the work challenges and helps you build professional habits early. You’re also regularly connected with working teams on active projects, so that you can gain visibility into how large-scale productions operate day to day. This entertainment internship for high school students takes place over 4 years, giving you a detailed, long-term look at the industry.
2. Ladder Internships
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: Varies depending on the program (financial aid available)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Several cohorts year-round
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the cohort
Eligibility: High school students
This program pairs you with a fast-growing startup where you take up a specific project and work closely with a manager throughout the 8-week period. The companies span across diverse areas such as art, tech, AI, marketing, journalism, and health, so you can see how different industries operate at an early stage. Most of the work is practical and tied to real organizational needs, such as research, product tasks, content development, or strategy, depending on your placement. You also present your final project to the company, which helps you to build confidence and communicate your work to a professional audience. While not limited to a single field, the program can function as an alternative pathway for students exploring media, storytelling, or creative-tech roles within the broader entertainment landscape.
3. L.A. Times High School Insider
Location: El Segundo office, Los Angeles, California
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $16.90/hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: 7 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: February 26
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors living in Los Angeles County or Orange County
This internship places you within a newsroom environment where you write, report, and produce multimedia stories for a real audience. You cover a range of assignments, from breaking news to feature writing, while getting feedback from professional journalists. The program introduces you to video production and podcasting, giving you multiple formats for storytelling. Everything you create is published on the High School Insider platform, which helps you build a portfolio in a quick time. If you’re testing whether journalism or media storytelling fits into your future plans, this is one of the entertainment internships that replicates professional expectations more closely.
4. The Intern Project
Location: Several organizations across LA County
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: 8 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: Applications open in January
Eligibility: Students completing their sophomore, junior, or senior year in an LA County High School
TIP places you in a workplace within one of several fields, such as arts, media, engineering, business, government, sports, or healthcare, so you can see what day-to-day work looks like. The program is designed to give you responsibilities that matter to the host organization, which means you practice adapting to actual professional expectations. You also earn academic credit while building skills you can transfer to different careers, such as research, communication, and time management. The combination of mentorship, job exposure, and structured support helps you understand how to navigate a workplace with confidence.
5. Apollo Theater Academy Technical Theater Production Internship
Location: The Apollo, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $16.50 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 7 - August 15
Application Deadline: April 7
Eligibility: Rising seniors who reside in the five boroughs of New York City
In this program, you work alongside the Apollo’s production crew to understand how technical elements shape both live and recorded performances. You rotate through areas such as audio engineering, lighting design, videography, and stage production to understand how each department contributes to a completed show. The hands-on tasks, such as mixing sound, operating lighting boards, supporting camera setups, and assisting with set construction, provide direct experience with professional tools. You also learn how production teams coordinate timing, cues, and transitions during rehearsals and events. This behind-the-scenes training gives you practical insight, which is useful if you're exploring entertainment internships that offer exposure to production roles.
6. The Hearst High School Media Internship
Location: The Paley Center for Media, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $16.50/hour plus travel reimbursements
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 14 - August 14
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th-grade students
This entertainment internship for high school students introduces you to how media is created, analyzed, and produced across different formats. You learn how newsrooms, podcast studios, and TV production spaces operate, gaining insight into how stories move from research to finished content. A large part of the program focuses on developing your communication skills through writing assignments, editing projects, and audio production training. You also produce your own podcast and contribute written work to the Paley Education newsletter, providing you with tangible work samples.
7. Brooklyn Interns for Arts and Culture (BIAC)
Location: Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $1,350
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Approximately 15 interns
Dates: Summer, fall, and spring sessions
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the session
Eligibility: Rising high school senior from one of the five New York boroughs with a minimum GPA of 2.0
BIAC combines arts exploration with career and life-readiness training, giving you insight into how creative organizations operate. Across the different program sessions, you study fields such as design, performance, media, and literary arts while gaining behind-the-scenes exposure at BAM. The sessions also emphasize personal organization, wellness habits, and planning for life after high school, adding a practical foundation to the arts focus. You spend time with professionals who explain their workflows and the realities of sustaining a career in the creative sector. By the end of the program, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how arts careers function beyond what you see onstage or in galleries.
8. BRIC's Fellowship Programs
Location: Bric House, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $17/hour for 2 hours a week
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 8 - 10 students
Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: October 2
Eligibility: NYC sophomores, juniors, and seniors aged 15 - 19 years
These fellowships allow you to either curate a teen-designed art exhibition or produce a youth-run film festival. In the curatorial track, you learn how to shape an exhibition from concept to installation, including selection, design, and marketing. The media track places you behind the scenes of festival production as you review submissions, plan screenings, and support the presentation of short films created by young filmmakers. Both programs emphasize collaboration with peers and regular guidance from BRIC staff and teaching artists. If you're exploring entertainment internships that offer a direct leadership role in art or film programming, this fellowship offers clear and structured experience.
9. Museum of the Moving Image Teen Council
Location: Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 15 - 20 students
Dates: November to May (Wednesdays and Saturdays)
Application Deadline: October 17
Eligibility: 10th, 11th, or 12th graders who are 15+ years of age
Teen Council gives you a role in shaping youth programming at a major media museum, from planning film festivals to developing workshops. You work closely with museum educators, filmmakers, actors, and programmers, which helps you to understand different aspects of the media and audiovisual fields. The program emphasizes curation, event planning, and project management, allowing you to learn how public-facing events move from concept to execution. You’ll also be involved in collaborative work with teens across the city, contributing to museum initiatives that highlight youth perspectives. For students looking at entertainment internships with the right mix of creativity and organizational work, this program offers a clear look at how a media institution operates.
10. Film Consortium San Diego Volunteers/Internships
Location: Film Consortium, San Diego, CA
Cost/Stipend: Not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Volunteers: year-round; Internships: during the spring semester
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school and college students
This program introduces you to San Diego’s film community by contributing to events, productions, and organizational projects. Volunteers often assist with event coordination and communication tasks, offering insight into how festivals and screenings are assembled. The internship track adds opportunities in editing, production support, marketing, or event planning, depending on your interests. Because the work is ongoing throughout the year, you see how creative teams manage projects beyond the production phase. If you're exploring entertainment internships for high school students, this structure lets you experiment with film-related roles without committing to a single specialization.
11. Fresh Films Weekly Filmmaking Program
Location: Different locations such as Atlanta, Boston, etc., or virtual
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Year-round programming; internships are typically in the summer
Application Deadline: Varies depending on the location
Eligibility: Teens between the ages of 13 - 19 years
This program runs during the school year and takes you through every major stage of filmmaking: pre-production, production, and editing. You rotate through different on-set roles and learn how to handle lighting, camera work, audio, and post-production tasks. Each project introduces a new format, from music videos to documentaries, so you build a versatile skill set along the way. Throughout the semester, you meet numerous industry professionals who provide a realistic insight into film and media careers. By the end, you built a portfolio of completed work and an opportunity for a paid entertainment internship with Fresh Films.
12. MOCA Teen Program
Location: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Academic year
Application Deadline: June 1
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors
At MOCA, you work with contemporary artists and museum staff to understand how exhibitions and teen-centered programs are developed. You help to plan both in-person and virtual events, including Teen Night and digital content, gaining experience in event production and media creation. You also manage parts of the program’s social media presence, strengthening your communication and digital engagement. Discussions often address challenging themes in contemporary art, and the program encourages you to analyze and respond to them thoughtfully. This hands-on exposure to creative project planning and museum operations makes the program a strong match for students pursuing art or media-related internships.
13. Chicago Philharmonic Summer Internship
Location: Chicago Philharmonic, Chicago, IL
Cost/Stipend: Not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 4 students
Dates: During the summer
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students in the Chicago area
In this summer internship, you learn how an arts organization operates while participating in a musical component led by professional musicians. The program covers marketing, development, operations, and community engagement, so you understand how an arts nonprofit runs its day-to-day activities. You collaborate with staff in multiple departments, which helps you to understand how communication and logistics come together for public programming. By dividing your time between administrative tasks and music-focused activities, you see how performance and management intersect in the cultural sector.
14. Student Historian Internship Program
Location: The New York Historical, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $700
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 25 students
Dates: Summer and academic year internships
Application Deadline: Summer: applications open in February; Academic year: applications open in May
Eligibility: 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who live and attend school in the New York City metro area, and areas of New York State, Connecticut, and New Jersey
As a Student Historian, you use the museum’s archives and collections to research a specific historical theme and translate your findings into digital projects for the public. You meet regularly with historians, librarians, and digital humanities staff to learn research methods and interpretation. The work involves substantial reading, writing, and collaboration, which helps you to sharpen your analytical and communication skills. You also gain experience in digital media production as you convert your research into educational materials. This program is well-suited for students who want academically rigorous work connected to the broader world of cultural institutions and public storytelling.
15. The Met High School Internship Program
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Stipend of $1,100
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Summer (8 weeks) and spring semester
Application Deadline: Summer: applications open in February; Spring semester: October 27
Eligibility: 10th and 11th-grade students who live and attend high school in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut
This internship provides access to multiple areas of the museum world, including curatorial work, social media, design, education, and imaging. You participate as an individual and in small groups with Met staff, which helps you understand how different departments collaborate with exhibitions and public programs. The structure is flexible enough that you can explore different interests, even if art isn’t your primary focus. Spring interns also take part in museum-wide teen events, gaining experience in public programming and event support. If you’re looking for entertainment internships for high school students that combine creativity with professional skill-building, this program offers a broad view of museum work.
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