Program Dates: July 10-18, 2011. Application Deadline: March 18, 2011.

Program Dates: July 10-18, 2011
Application Deadline: March 18, 2011

Recognizing the need to support curatorial talent and provide low-cost practical training in the current economic climate, Independent Curators International (ICI) initiated the Curatorial Intensive — the first major short-course training program for emerging curators in the United States. Implemented in 2010, the Curatorial Intensive brings selected curators from around the world to New York for an 8-day, concentrated schedule of seminars, tutorials and meetings with ICI core faculty and guest lecturers consisting of leading artists, curators, critics, directors, and academics. Last year ICI organized two iterations of the Curatorial Intensive, bringing 31 curators from 14 countries and 13 states to New York to develop ideas for exhibitions and strengthen their curatorial thinking.

This summer, 10-14 curators from around the world will be selected from an open competition to participate in the next Curatorial Intensive for a rigorous 8-day schedule of workshops, discussions, critiques, and presentations, as well as site visits to local institutions, private collections, and artists’ studios. Teachers and advisors for this program include independent curators Cecilia Alemani,Regine Basha, and Teresa Gleadowe; Kate Fowle, Executive Director, ICI; Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy, Curator of Contemporary Art, Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros; Matthew Higgs, Director and Chief Curator, White Columns; and Christian Rattemeyer, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings, MoMA.

After the New York phase of the project is complete, ICI will continue working with participants long-distance to finalize their proposals for publication on ICI’s website. Based on ICI’s frequent requests from aspiring curators who approach the organization for advice with ideas for exhibitions, this program provides a practical and hands-on professional development course in the world of curating exhibitions.

The Curatorial Intensive was developed by ICI’s Executive Director, Kate Fowle, who joined ICI after working as the International Curator at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Prior to her time in China, Fowle spent 6 years in San Francisco at the California College of the Arts, where she was the director of the MA Program in Curatorial Practice, which she founded in 2002 with Ralph Rugoff.

The Curatorial Intensive is made possible, in part, by grants from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Dedalus Foundation, the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, and the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; and by generous contributions from Toby Devan Lewis, James Cohan, and the supporters of ICI’s Access Fund.

Read about the pilot Curatorial Intensive program in summer 2010.