MA Curatorial Practice

Rolling admissions
We are now on rolling admissions, accepting applications for places available in the program for fall 2024. Based in the heart of New York City, the master’s degree program in Curatorial Practice at the School of Visual Arts thoroughly prepares students for professional work as art curators, with our graduates going on to jobs in the field all over the world. Practical training is the core of the program, with workshops, seminars, and teaching on-site at museums and art centers that give our students the detailed knowledge they need to get hired as professionals. Our faculty are renowned working curators teaching what they do. History and theory are essential to our students’ educations as well, along with training to become better writers. Every week students meet with celebrated curators from around the world, gaining deeper understanding from a vast variety of cultural and professional perspectives—and building a global network of professional contacts for the future.

To add to this, in the summer between the two years of the program, our students visit a major international biennial and then experience a carefully chosen internship at leading art institutions. These internships are essential to hands-on training, increasing practical knowledge and skills, while building still more professional connections and experiencing new cultural settings that enrich our students personally and professionally. Students get to make three exhibitions/curatorial projects in our own gallery space and elsewhere in New York City, honing their skills still further toward employment in the field when they graduate.

For the 2024–25 academic year, we are thrilled to announce a new faculty member, Ruth Estévez, an internationally recognized curator who has also just been named co-director of Skowhegan, one of the country’s leading art residency programs. Ruth joins a faculty that includes Chrissie Iles, the current co-director of this year’s Whitney Biennial; Charles Renfro, principal in Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, one of the world’s most renowned architectural firms; David A. Ross, former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and other major art museums; Sara Reisman, Chief Curator of the National Academy of Design; Brian Kuan Wood, a founder of e-flux Journal; and many more.

Being in New York City is, of course, its own education, with hundreds of art galleries, major museums, and cultural venues of every kind within walking distance of our beautiful space here at the School of Visual Arts—an environment of endless possibilities to meet and work with emerging artists. Our own special programming, considering urgent social issues of the day, the state of technology and culture, and much more, adds to the wealth of knowledge and practical thinking that the program offers to our students.

Substantial scholarships are available as funds allow. You can find out more about the MA Curatorial Practice program at the School of Visual Arts here. Please feel free to schedule an appointment to speak to us or visit by contacting macp [​at​] sva.edu.