Site Gallery

About our organisation

Site Gallery is Sheffield’s international contemporary art space. Through exhibitions, commissions and long term participation programmes, we connect people with contemporary art as a way to explore ourselves, each other and the world around us.

Alongside our public programme, we work closely with communities across the city to create spaces for experimentation, critical thinking and creative development. Nurturing talent and building confidence at every stage, from young participants to emerging artists, is central to how we operate.

The challenge

Site Gallery is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation with 12 staff members and an annual turnover of around £500k. We welcome over 40,000 visits annually and support more than 50 young people each year through our weekly long term programmes Society of Explorers and Creative Producers.

We were looking for two students to help us with our participation programmes; The Society of Explorers and the Creative Producers. Each programme is a weekly meet-up group for young people to help them connect with art, and make friends. The interns would help us set up for workshops, gather evaluation materials, support us on gallery visits and give one-to-one support to the young people where needed.

What we did

Over three years, the programme has contributed to a growing network of emerging practitioners connected to Site Gallery and to Sheffield’s wider cultural community. The University of Sheffield internship partnership strengthens this work while creating structured and paid opportunities for students who have faced barriers within higher education.

Our interns support two of our participation programmes built on long term relationships.

The Society of Explorers supports young people aged 14 to 19 to explore contemporary art through collaboration and experimentation.

Creative Producers is a programme for young adults aged 18 to 25, developed by and for care experienced young people, where creativity becomes a way to build confidence, connection and agency. Both programmes feed back into Site Gallery, ensuring our relevance to young people and helping us better support Care Leavers.

Participants co-shape projects, work alongside professional artists, develop skills and contribute to exhibitions in our main gallery. Interns support more than 20 workshops during their 70 hour internship. They help prepare materials, set up spaces, capture reflections from sessions and contribute to exhibition production.

They gather food and refreshments thoughtfully, sometimes linking it to the theme of the session, and support young people to document their ideas within their personal portfolio booklets.

Facilitation develops through repetition, reflection and responsibility. The more sessions you support, the more instinctive your ability to read a room becomes. Interns build this experience incrementally, gaining access to a level of applied learning that can be difficult to secure without unpaid routes into the sector.

Additional staffing allows us to be more attentive within sessions. Many of the young people we work with are neurodivergent or navigating complex circumstances. Having interns present creates more space for observation, adaptation and one to one engagement.

Reflection before and after sessions is built into the internship. Interns are supported to think critically about communication, collaboration and delivery.

They also gain insight into the wider cultural ecology of the city, observing exhibition changeovers, attending previews and speaking with artists and partners. Interns have joined us from disciplines including Architecture and English, demonstrating that participation practice connects across creative and social fields.

Communication skills develop in ways that extend beyond academic study. Former interns remain connected, returning for openings and events and staying in touch. They become part of our extended community.

The result

For Site Gallery, the partnership strengthens our ability to deliver sustained participation programmes while investing in the next generation of practitioners. Interns contribute to documentation, evaluation and workshop delivery while gaining insight into how cultural organisations operate behind the scenes.

Participation programmes are often the first point of entry into the arts for young people. They are also frequently the least visible forms of cultural labour. By investing in internships within participation teams, the University is not only supporting student employability but strengthening an infrastructure that enables inclusive cultural access in the city.

Sustained partnerships of this kind show what is possible when higher education and cultural organisations work together with shared intent. They create tangible opportunities, strengthen local infrastructure and contribute to a more equitable and confident cultural sector in Sheffield.

This partnership strengthens our participation delivery and creates accessible routes into cultural practice for emerging professionals. It also demonstrates how universities and cultural organisations can work together in practical ways that benefit students, communities and the wider creative ecology of Sheffield”

Site Gallery