MA Curatorial Practice: call for applications and special events

Join the MA Curatorial Practice program at SVA in the heart of New York City to study curating with some of the art world’s foremost practitioners, surrounded by the energy of major museum exhibitions, hundreds of galleries, young artists, and countless cultural events.

MA Curatorial Practice is a two-year program focusing on practical training with our extraordinary faculty of leading curators, institution leaders, scholars, writers, and professionals who teach what they do at some of the world’s preeminent institutions. Your curatorial studies will include everything from hands-on training in workshops on exhibition design, lighting design, grant-writing, and critical writing to courses devoted to specific forms of curating, along with art history, art and social theory, and philosophy. You’ll have the chance to produce three funded exhibitions in our own space and at other venues in New York, and after a funded trip to one of the world’s prominent biennials, you’ll have a carefully selected internship at a major international art institution. Support scholarships are available, and diversity, equity, and social justice are central to our thinking.

Our students come from around the world. After graduation, they begin their professional careers at large and small institutions internationally, establish their own curatorial collectives and cultural spaces, and pursue independent curatorial projects. The program presents a variety of public events with leading figures in and beyond the art world, publishes books, and offers opportunities to extend exhibition-making into a global exchange of ideas on urgent social issues.

Now is the time to apply. The application deadline is January 15, 2023, with rolling admissions after this date. Visit us online for a special Information Session about the program on Thursday, November 17, at 10am EST by registering here, or apply now for fall 2023. 

As part of our program, we are pleased to announce three special online events coming soon. Please click on the titles of the events to register on Eventbrite and receive a Zoom link by email shortly before the event.

Wednesday, November 16, 2pm EST on Zoom
Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion
Award-winning curator, writer, and faculty member Sara Raza is joined by artist Ala Younis and curator and MoMA fellow Inga Lace to discuss Raza’s new book, Punk Orientalism: The Art of Rebellion, on art and resistance in the countries of the former Soviet Union and their complex relationships with the Middle East.

Wednesday, November 30, 12pm EST on Zoom
The Algorithmic State: James Bridle on AI and Interspecies Intelligence
Best-selling author James Bridle discusses the widespread social, cultural, and ecological implications of Artificial Intelligence with MACP faculty member Noam Segal.

Wednesday, December 14, 12pm EST on Zoom
The Algorithmic State: Art in the Expanded Technological Field, with Agnieszka Kurant, Jenna Sutela, and other guests to be announced
Artists Agnieszka Kurant and Jenna Sutela, with other guests, speak with MACP faculty member Noam Segal on rapidly evolving digital art practices, data harvesting, the expanded field of new social sculpture, new forms of art objects, and more. 

And we are also pleased to present in person at our CP Projects Space (132 West 21st Street, 10th floor), the first of our curatorial student exhibitions this Fall, Was I Dreaming?, curated by Diana Colón and featuring artists Capucine Bourcart, Diana Guerra, and Jun Ge. The exhibition is open by appointment, Monday through Friday, 10am–6pm through November 22. To visit the exhibition, please email macp [​at​] sva.edu.