A new training course for aspiring curators from low socio-economic backgrounds has been launched by three former Tate specialists. Mark Godfrey, a former senior curator of international art at the Tate Modern, said, “There are so many people who are interested in curation but who don’t even want to pursue the profession because tuition is prohibitively expensive. There are a lot of them,” he says. He left the institution last year after openly criticizing the company’s decision to postpone the Philip Guston exhibition.
Godfrey will work with two co-directors to run a training program for new curators. Kerrin Greenberg, former director of the Tate’s International Collections Exhibition, and Rudi Minto de Wiis, who worked in the institution’s marketing department and co-chaired its Black. , Asian and Minorities (BAME) Network.
Creating Inclusive Jobs
The cost of a master’s degree, which has traditionally been the minimum requirement for hiring curators at institutions like the Tate, has largely restricted careers to those from privileged backgrounds. The Curating Contemporary Art MA costs £14,175 for UK students and £33,600 for international students.
The New Curators course is free for both UK and international students and provides up to 12 participants per year with a London living wage to help cover rent and other costs. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is welcome to join.
Education focuses on all aspects of a curator’s work, from planning an exhibition to creating curatorial statements and budget proposals. It also prepares students for some of the challenges they may face in their professional lives, using real-life examples, such as the controversy in the latest edition of Documenta, which contains artwork containing anti-Semitic imagery. “Students have to think about what decisions they would make if they worked for these organizations. Godfrey says.
Students meet a wide range of curators, artists and other art professionals and visit studios, galleries and museums in the UK and abroad. The aim is to provide them with a network of contacts and peers to help support their future careers.
The course also includes mentoring and mental health components to prepare students for the realities of working in the field. “How do you deal with difficult artists? How do you deal with rejection and different environments where you feel pressured to meet people with completely different backgrounds than you? , works with organizations like Young Minds, a mental health charity, and they are trying to help us. ‘, says Minto de Wiis.
Institutional network
A major advantage of this course is that participants complete a year with leading shows at important institutions. Her first year students joining the program in September 2023 will be organizing a large show at the South London Galleries the following summer. They oversee all aspects of the exhibition’s production, from communication with artists to installation of works, writing press materials and outreach to the community.
Exhibitions are then held at other partner institutions. The course also includes physical and virtual visits to a number of affiliated organizations such as the Barbican and Studio Voltaire in London, Haus der Kunst in Munich, the Museum of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, the São Paulo Museum of Art, A4 and many others. The Arts Foundation of Cape Town, the Sharjah Arts Foundation of the United Arab Emirates, etc.
Teaching is based at Camberwell’s South London Galleries (SLG), which has a long track record of community outreach and educational work. “While we have a history of funding various trainings at SLG, we are in a position to do something on this kind of scale that is fully aligned with our social justice values and promotes a more equal art world. There’s no,’ says director Margot. Heller. “Progress has been surprisingly slow in some ways because inequality in the art world is a systemic problem, but this program shows people what is possible and encourages others to do similar work. All the staff at SLG are thrilled to welcome these students and work with them,” she adds.
fundraising
To fund the program, the director drew on his contacts in the international art world. Founding donors include the trustees of major museums such as the Tate and Courtauld Galleries in London, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Ontario.
One of them is former investor Lee Mi-young, vice president of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and a member of Tate’s North American Acquisition Committee. “We desperately need new curator-like programs to create the art tastemakers of tomorrow. We need to broaden our pipeline so that we can do that,” she says.
Paying students for their time has a transformative effect, she adds. “At Whitney, summer internships were unpaid. So I finally funded an internship program so that the interns would be paid. Doing this had a very dramatic effect in terms of who could apply. ”
The New Curators course provides a 10-year fundraising strategy, says Kerryn Greenberg. “This includes individuals as well as philanthropists who have fully operational trusts and foundations and companies to support our exhibition programme. We are trying to make a truly transformative impact, but it comes at a cost.Having a quality exhibition and giving students the opportunity to make a difference costs money It’s not a cheap program to run, but I’m sure you can find the money,” she said, noting that “young and aspiring curators are taking this very seriously.” The program has an ethical funding policy in place, he added.
application
The application process for new curators is designed to be as inclusive as possible. We do not discriminate against people who have trouble expressing themselves in writing. Candidates are asked to record an audio file talking about a “cultural object or event” that they consider important. According to the entry guidelines, this could be “an exhibition, artwork, performance, publication, podcast, film, television series, advertising campaign, music video, design or fashion object.”
Godfrey is looking for someone who can “explain what he felt was important and urgent” about the cultural event of his choice and who “can demonstrate analytical thinking” in communicating it. That’s the curator’s job, they choose what they want you to see and think about, and that’s the main thing we’re looking for in the application process.”
The goal is to train 100 curators over the next 10 years. “We think of very different types of curation. Some curate exhibitions in large museums, but also smaller projects in artist-run spaces. I want to prepare myself so that I will not only be fully prepared and effective if I enter a large hierarchical institution, but also effective if I want to launch my own space.”
• First application New curator coursewill be released in September 2023 and is now open. The application deadline is February 5, 2023.