SI believes that contemporary art can provide a platform for self-exploration, discovery, and creative risk taking for young adults. SI Teen and Young Adult programs provide a safe space to grow individually and collectively, and to make meaningful artwork and youth-centered programs together.
Past program topics have included: the art of wandering, rituals and magic, the artistic processes of making/doing/thinking, the architecture of education, time based media, site specific artworks, posters as artworks, environmental relationships, and more.
In-Residence with Visual AIDS
Oct 2026—May 2027
The Swiss Institute Teen Council (SITC) is a paid weekly opportunity for teens and young adults (ages 16–21) to explore different forms of leadership, collaboration, and self-agency through the lens of queer history, activism, and art at the Visual AIDS archive and arts and culture spaces across NYC.
Mar—May 2026
SI's newest educational offering is designed for young adults ages 20–26. The Young Adult Arts Immersion Cohort (YAAIC) is a mobile, dynamic, experiential engagement with contemporary art designed specifically for young adults who have followed a nontraditional education path and/or are not currently enrolled in a formal academic program.
2026—2027
SI’s weekly after-school Teen Class is offered during the school year for students 15–18 years old. As with all of SI’s teen programs, teens are paid for their completed hours. Each of SI’s teen classes is centered around a theme related to contemporary art and incorporates discussion, close looking activities, artmaking, trips across NYC, and individual and collaborative projects inspired by the theme.
SI’s summer teen program is presented in partnership with NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development’s (DYCD) Summer Internship Program (SIP). Applications for this program are not open to the general public. Our SIP is a six-week paid opportunity offered to juniors and seniors in DYCD’s program, and aims to foster career readiness and exposure to contemporary art institutions and art professions. Students gain exposure by visiting institutions and grassroots groups around NYC, meeting with a variety of working artists and arts professionals, conducting research, and creating art on their own and in workshops designed by guest artists. Throughout the summer, students create independent and collaborative projects around a program theme, which leads to a final public showing of student learning and work.