MA Curatorial Practice

To curate professionally entails skills-based learning, along with history and theory at its core. In the MA Curatorial Practice program at the School of Visual Arts—a two-year master’s degree, not just a certificate—our focus is on training you with leading curators in New York City and from around the world who comprise our award-winning faculty. Professional Practice workshops in writing, exhibition installation, exhibition design, lighting design, conservation, presentation-making, and grant-writing are accompanied by art history and exhibition courses, theory and philosophy courses, and small case study seminars that concentrate on specific forms of curating, archival work, and museum studies with instructors who teach what they do.

This skills-based training is applied in three fully subsidized exhibitions that you make in our own elegant gallery space as well as in industrial spaces in Brooklyn so that you are prepared to adapt to any curatorial setting, not just the standard white cube in which other programs prepare you. While other programs typically offer students a single show, the three you create in our program more fully prepare you to handle every aspect of the curatorial process, establishing your experience for your professional future. Part of that future is based on the networking professionals do in the art world, and in our program, you will have the opportunity to meet with more than 40 distinguished curators from across the globe who will become the basis for your own professional network and can aid you in your career.

To add to this, the summer between the two years of our program brings you an extraordinary opportunity, once again subsidized, to attend a major international biennial, which is followed by an internship at a prestigious cultural institution that you have selected carefully with us, where you will be embedded for a minimum of two months, guided by a mentor at the institution, providing further hands-on professional learning and opportunities for networking.

All of this practical knowledge, along with history, theory, and philosophy courses, and with our extraordinary faculty in the heart of the city, just minutes away from hundreds of art galleries and some of the world’s greatest museums, is an unparalleled professional training experience.

We offer substantial scholarships and are dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Please visit our website to learn more about our faculty and courses, and you can apply directly here. On December 12, join us online for an Application Q&A. Join us for an information session about the program on January 11. Attendees to either of these events have their 80 USD application fee waived. If you want to visit us, just call +1 212 592 2274 or email macp [at] sva.edu! We look forward to your application.