Getting Involved at the Gallery

The AGYU offers a number of opportunities for York students and other interested individuals to gain valuable experience in art gallery programming and administration. Through a commitment to an active engagement program, the Gallery seeks to develop a familiarity with the role played by contemporary public galleries within a broader cultural context. The experience gained through working and volunteering at a professionally staffed gallery provides students with critical knowledge and skills for their future careers in the arts. As important members of the AGYU team, volunteers are involved in diverse projects that include special events, tours, publicity, gallery monitoring, and fundraising.

Volunteer opportunities

The AGYU has a number of volunteer and apprenticeship opportunities for York University students and community members. Learn skills valuable to your career in the arts, gain experience working in a professionally staffed public gallery, and meet arists and arts professionals from across Canada and abroad.

Please click here to fill out our form to let us know you’re interested.

Student employment

We also have a few employment opportunities that are available each term for students on campus. The first is Work/Study positions, which run over the academic year (September to April) and over the summer (May to August).

Work/study positions (three, part-time):

https://sfs.yorku.ca/work-study-programs

Eligibility requirements for these positions are determined by York. They are for students who demonstrate financial need, so applicants have to fill out the student financial profile when it becomes available (usually in August for the academic year, and in April for the summer term. See https://sfs.yorku.ca/aid/sfp).

These positions are posted on the York careers website, located at http://careers.yorku.ca/online-system. Search for the gallery in the postings. You must apply for them through the careers website, not directly to the gallery.

Eligibility:

You may be eligible for the Work/Study program if you meet all of the following criteria:

Undergraduate student enrolled in a degree program.
Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person.
Demonstrate financial need.
Demonstrate satisfactory academic progress (i.e. you are not on academic warning/probation).
Have not defaulted on previous student loans or other government bursary programs.
Fall/winter session(September to April): full-time in both the fall and winter terms, that is, at least 60 per cent of a full course load (at least nine credits) in each term or at least 40 per cent (at least six credits) in each term for students with a permanent disability.
Summer session(May to August): student must be registered full-time in at least 60 per cent of a full course load (or 40 per cent of a full course load, for students with a permanent disability) or registered as a full-time student in the preceding winter term and returning to full-time studies in the following fall term.

Applications open in April for the summer session and August for the fall/winter session, and fill fast. When we hear about them, we send an email to all who have indicated they wanted to volunteer over the summer. They are also open to people who didn’t, as it is an open competition.

Applications require a cover letter which addresses why you want to work for a University Art Gallery and CV.

Young Canada Works (one, summer):

We also hire one student for the summer through the Young Canada Works program. This one is open to students across Canada, and has huge career-starter potential.

To apply to this one, you need to register on the Young Canada Works website (https://young-canada-works.canada.ca/Account/Login), where details of how to apply can also be found by searching for the Gallery in their job postings. The posting is usually up in April, and the position starts in May. We screen candidates until we’ve found someone to hire, so apply as soon as you can for this one. You apply directly to the gallery for the YCW position, not through the YCW website. Nonetheless, you must have registered at the YCW website in order to apply!

To be eligible, a student must:

be legally entitled to work in Canada;
be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or have refugee status in Canada (Note: Non-Canadian students holding temporary work visas or awaiting permanent status are not eligible.);
be between 15* and 30 years of age at the start of YCW employment (*where permissible under provincial/territorial labour laws);
have registered as a full-time student in the semester preceding the YCW job (as defined by their educational institution);
intend to return to full-time studies in the semester immediately following the YCW summer job;
be willing to commit to the full duration of the work assignment (minimum 30 hours a week);
not have another full-time job (over 30 hours a week) while employed with YCW; and
be registered in the YCW online candidate inventory