The Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) in St Louis, Missouri, has selected a new batch of students for its annual Teen Museum Studies (TMS) programme, in which the students will learn and develop skills for a future career in the museum sector.

The highly sought-after scheme, which is a free pre-professional youth programme, offers participants the opportunity to learn from CAM staff members in all departments – ranging from exhibitions to public relations to accounting.

While working with CAM, the youth volunteers will also operate across The Missouri History Museum, the MUNY, Metro Theater Company, Craft Alliance, Perennial, the Northside Workshop, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts and the Firecracker Press among others, helping to provide real world application and instruction to the young people involved in the scheme.

The course is designed to help the volunteers gain confidence and cultural authority while discussing the complex visual language of the art they encounter.

The six-week programme will culminate in a mini-exhibition curated by the teens taking the TSM programme. New for 2014, students who successfully complete the entire course will be eligible for a paid stipend.