School of Visual Arts (SVA)
Masters program in Curatorial Practice
132 W 21st Street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10011
macp.sva.edu
The two-year Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Practice (CP) focuses on professional training, grounded in history and theory. The explosive growth of curatorial venues—including museums, Kunsthallen, alternative spaces, art fairs, biennials, cultural centers, and private and corporate collections—offers many opportunities, and this is at the core of the program. Hands-on teaching and training with leading curators, professional networking, and preparation for job placement are central to CP. Based in Chelsea, in the center of the New York art world, CP takes full advantage of New York’s arts institutions and professionals, providing countless prospects for study, personal meetings, mentoring, and professional development. Students attend exhibitions, lectures, and events in the program and around the city every day without travel from outside the city. It is all at their fingertips.
Curatorial Practice faculty work in significant New York institutions, while curators, museum and gallery professionals, and artists from around the world engage with us every week. Building an international network of professional connections is an integral part of the program, complementing practical, rigorous training in every aspect of curatorial work. Public exhibitions in New York galleries take place at the end of the first and second years. As well, CP has partnered with leading institutions in New York and internationally for ongoing projects, including research, publications, workshops, and events. Further, CP has established an exchange program with the MA in Curating at Goldsmiths College, London.
The curriculum is founded on a series of case-study seminars, practicums in every aspect of exhibition-making and other forms of knowledge production and presentation, writing workshops, philosophy and theory seminars, and programmatic engagements with professionals who meet with the students as a group and on an individual basis. Students have the enormous resources of SVA at their disposal with more than 20 graduate programs, as well as the vast facilities of the school that include studios, workshops, galleries, laboratories, and libraries. New York’s art, design, film, and performance worlds are all around us. Specialized training in research methodologies initiates the program, while students in their second year enter into mentorship and internship programs. Internships take place with New York, national, and international institutional partners.
Our tuition is significantly lower than other curatorial programs to offset scholarships offered elsewhere, though CP does provide small support grants in addition to limited work placement at SVA, all on a competitive basis.
Faculty
Faculty and faculty-at-large include Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Charlotte Cohen, Fine Arts Officer, Urban Developer Manager, US General Services Administration, New York; Ana Paula Cohen, independent curator, São Paulo; Joshua Decter, art critic, curator, art historian, New York; Thierry de Duve, historian and philosopher of art, New York; David Frankel, Editorial Director, the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tim Griffin, Director and Chief Curator, The Kitchen, New York; Matthew Higgs, Director, White Columns, New York; Hou Hanru, Artistic Director, Maxxi, National Gallery of 21st Century Art, Rome; Thomas Huhn, Chair, BFA Art History, SVA, New York; Daniel Kunitz, Editor-in-Chief, Modern Painters, New York; Steven Henry Madoff, chair, SVA MA Curatorial Practice, New York; Chus Martinez, Director, the Institute of Aesthetic Practice and Theory, Basel; Manon Slome, President and Chief Curator, No Longer Empty, New York; David A. Ross, former Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art and Chair, SVA MFA Art Practice, New York; Charles Renfro, Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York; Jovana Stokic, deputy chair, SVA MA Curatorial Practice, New York; Jennifer Tobias, librarian, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Mick Wilson, Director, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg.
Rolling admissions
We are accepting applications now. Applicants with a prior background in curatorial work are particularly encouraged, as are art historians and artists whose enterprises are relevant to advanced work in today’s expansive curatorial field. Visit us online for more information about the program and to apply.
