Young people kickstart creative careers with London Borough of Culture internships in Wandsworth
A group of nine young people are taking their first steps into creative careers with paid internships at arts and culture organisations supported by Welcome to Wandsworth, the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture 2025.
Running from 15 September 2025 to 13 March 2026, the London Borough of Culture Internship Programme gives young people aged 18 to 25 the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the creative industries while earning the London Living Wage.
Host organisations include Battersea Arts Centre, a cultural hub in Wandsworth for over 50 years, On Da Beat, a platinum selling, dynamic audio production studio and talent management company, St George’s Hospital Charity, which provides creative activities for the wellbeing of patients, staff and visitors to St George’s University Hospitals Foundation Trust. Joining these are Theatre503, Wandsworth's new writing hub for emerging and developing playwrights, Putney Arts Theatre, the Royal Academy of Dance, London Children's Ballet, Royal College of Art and Chocolate Films.
The internship scheme supports young people to gain skills in areas like project support and communications while opening access to creative careers and contributing to Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture year. It will play a central role in building a pipeline of talent for Wandsworth’s cultural organisations and creating lasting pathways into creative careers for local young people.
Photography by Sian O'Connor
Meet the Interns:
Libby – Putney Arts Theatre
“I signed up to do this internship as I wanted to see if set making and prop building is what interests me. This internship lets me try a lot of different things, kind of all bundled up really neatly in the six months that this internship runs. So, I get a better idea of what I want to be doing in the professional world.”
“In the internship, I'm being exposed to so much more creativity, like being able to go to the What Next? meeting at Battersea Arts Centre, which isn't something I'd even heard of before this internship. And I get to hear what other really amazing companies are doing for Wandsworth and it's awesome.”
Joshua – Chocolate Films
“This opportunity really stuck out to me because it's very entry level and is trying to get people in there. As someone with no hard professional experience and no experience outside of the games industry, and as a multi-dimensional person, I want to figure out what I'm doing. It really spoke to me because it would help me get that kind of entry level experience that I really need to branch out professionally, as opposed to, like, my academic qualifications.”
Jarrod – Theatre503
“I have no work experience in the arts, but I did do media GCSE.I think this opportunity is a a lot better than others because it’s quite hands on, it kind of just puts you in the mix of it straight away, going through all the different kinds of, things that you can get involved with production – including, reading scripts and behind the scenes of theatre production and media production”
Iman – Royal College of Art (RCA)
“I just want to make money from creativity. But it's less about the money, more about just experiencing different creative sectors. Because the current role that I'm in combines my experience of recruitment and my love just for creativity. And it's just something I've never considered for myself, so I might dive into it a bit more after this.”
Niamh – London Children’s Ballet
“I haven't found any opportunities as good as this internship. Like, it is basically a way to kickstart your career, which is very unique. I found lots of the arts and culture sector were offering volunteer roles, which is great, but definitely I need a career. I need to start working.”
“I really didn't know what I was getting in for, to be honest and I didn't know if I was going to be in the office lots. But it seems like I'm going to be doing lots of different things. Tomorrow I'm going to be going to one of the schools to watch one of the ballet tours, so that's really, really exciting. The next day I'll go to a care home. I've been doing different things every day, which has been really exciting.”
Shanti – Battersea Arts Centre
“I'm currently working on an internship at Battersea Arts Centre, and I'm interning with the communications team.”
“I'm an artist, I paint and I'm also a singer, and I'm kind of currently working out how I want to balance my career with my passions. This is a big part of my journey with learning to refine some of my skills in a way that I can, like, make a career out of them.”
“I would say in terms of the whole London Borough of Culture internship process, it was it was very well supported. I think a lot of the opportunities that I found previously, were either paid, where you had to pay to go on them or I didn't meet the criteria to be able to get into them. So I would say this is unique in the sense that that there was a lot of support.”
Sadie – St George’s Hospital Charity
“I’m having a great time, I think it’s really different to a lot of my past experience, it’s really interesting to do art in a non-traditional setting with different challenges and employ creative problem solving.”
“This internship was different from other opportunities I saw because it was specifically for people with a connection to Wandsworth and I really appreciate the fact this borough is being recognised as the amazing hub of culture that it is, and more opportunities are being given to local people.”
“Wandsworth is special because there is so much culture. People have come here from everywhere and everyone brings something different with them. You only have to go as far the local markets to see an example of the amazing diverse communities we have here.”
Yuanye – Royal Academy of Dance
“I think the most important part of this internship is that I can get hands on experience at a well established arts institution and it gives me a great insight into the day to day process of how the events and activities here come about.”
“I think this opportunity is quite rare and precious because I have already got such a closer insight into how a large organisation works.”