Opportunities for Emerging Curators
Union Hall seeks to make professional creative opportunities accessible to the public and support the advancement of curatorial careers in the arts. This list was created for those who are first-time curators or at the beginning of their journey in art curation. Right now, we at Union Hall are producing our fifth annual Rough Gems Curatorial Program, consisting of three exhibitions organized by new and emerging curators.
Every organization defines ‘emerging’ a little differently. Requirements will differ for each opportunity listed on this blog. Scroll down to view opportunities in the categories of fellowships, calls for entry, and grants.
Many of these curatorial opportunities recur on an annual basis. We encourage you to stay up-to-date with the opportunities for which you would like to apply online via social media, website, or newsletters for updates on their application timelines. Be sure to check activity dates for each opportunity before applying.
This is a living blog; check back regularly for additions or changes. Union Hall is not affiliated with the organizations listed on this blog. For specific questions regarding content on this list please contact the organizations directly.
Residencies
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Fellowships
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Residencies // Fellowships //
Failure Lab at MCA Denver
Applications open May through June every year | Denver, CO
Duration: one school year
Eligibility: local
Financial Support: $300/semester
Failure Lab is a yearlong internship that gives high school interns the opportunity to learn through failure, play, experimentation, and art creation. Interns will work alongside an artist in the Denver metro area to produce an exhibition of work inspired by the guest artist’s compositional knowledge and the teens’ collective vision.
NXTHVN Fellowship Program
Deadline to apply is February 26, 2024 | New Haven, CT
Duration: 10 months
Eligibility: international
Availability: 7 artists and 2 curators
Financial Support: Curatorial fellows receive a $45,000 stipend disbursed quarterly. Studio fellows will each receive a $35,000 stipend disbursed quarterly.
Fellows will relocate to New Haven to participate in a mentorship-driven curriculum that includes professional development sessions led by visiting artists, curators, scholars, and practitioners. Selected fellows are also matched with a high school apprentice, for focused one-on-one mutual learning, which gives the next local generation a chance to grow and excel in creative fields. The fellowship year culminates with an annual group show at a prominent gallery space. Fellows will receive studio or office space, a stipend, and subsidized housing.
The VisArts Emerging Curator Program offers a unique opportunity for an emerging curator or artist with an interest in exhibition-making or curating to work with an experienced mentoring curator. The result is an exhibition, and to assist in the presentation of the mentor’s exhibition.
Smack Mellon Emerging Curators
Applications open in October of every year | Brooklyn, NY
Duration: 8-12 months
Eligibility: local
Financial Support: curatorial fee of $2,000 USD and artist honoraria $250-500
Smack Mellon seeks proposals from Emerging Curators based in the greater New York area for their annual Emerging Artists Summer Group Exhibition. The exhibition proposal should only include works by Emerging Artists. They define an Emerging Curator as someone independent or affiliated with an institution who is beginning their career as a curator with at least 3 prior curatorial projects completed.
Asian American Women's Arts Association Emerging Curators Program
Applications open in the winter of 2024 / 2025 | San Francisco, CA
Eligibility: International
Financial Support: $5,000 curatorial fee
Accepting proposals from artists and curators with little or no experience. Open to all women, trans, and nonbinary curators of color who are interested in curating exhibition themes relevant to AAPI artists. Through a series of guided workshops, consistent check-ins, and hands-on assistance, AAWAA provides mentorship and support for exhibition production from start to finish. Professional development workshops on Curating, Fundraising, Exhibition Planning, and Marketing/PR Mentors from AAWAA Staff and other arts professionals are provided, resulting in one public multidisciplinary art exhibit.
Emerging Curator Program - Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
Applications open in March of every year | Los Angeles, CA
Eligibility: local
Availability: one
Duration: 1 year
Financial Support: $6,000 total budget
The Emerging Curator Program is designed to discover curatorial talent in Los Angeles. This program may look a little different every year. In 2023, the program accepted curatorial proposals centered on film and video artworks that could be presented as a single program or programming series rather than an exhibition. Curatorial support includes provided space, project consultation, presentation assistance, and marketing and promotion.
Emerging Curators Fellowship - Sacramento Office of Arts + Culture
Sacramento, CA
Eligibility: local
Duration: 1 year
This fellowship accepts proposals from those interested in the visual arts curatorial field in the Sacramento area with limited experience, but strong interest in further exploring a curatorial practice. The result of the fellowship is the development and presentation of two exhibitions inside Sacramento City Hall with the assistance of a curatorial mentor.
Emerging Curators Institute Fellowship
Applications open in February of 2024 | Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota
Availability: 4
Eligibility: local
Duration: 9 months
Financial Support: $3,000 stipend + $2,000 exhibition budget
The Emerging Curators Institute (ECI) supports emerging curators from diverse backgrounds through a fellowship program consisting of in-depth research, professional development, and presentation program. Each fellow will participate in monthly educational meetings with their cohort, meet monthly with a mentor, and develop and produce an exhibition or curatorial project to be presented. ECI will provide support in the form of funding, designing an educational program that is responsive to fellows needs and interests, connecting fellows with a mentor, guest curators, and Minnesota arts organizations, who will guide their learning through a collaborative educational model.
Independent Curators International
Applications close in January of every year
Eligibility: Regional and international
Duration: 8 months
Financial support: $10,000
Conceived to foster independent research, ICI’s Curatorial Research Fellowships offer a framework tailored to each curator’s field of critical inquiry. The fellows will receive mentorship specific to their research interests. Applicants must have a minimum of 5 years of experience working with contemporary artists. include opportunities for curators of African descent based anywhere in the world and BIPOC curators based in the U.S. Additionally, ICI offers fellowships supporting Indigenous curators in the U.S. as well as curators focusing on the Mississippi River Basin as a site of cultural production.
SPRING/BREAK Art Show
Accepting applications annually | Los Angeles and New York
Entry Fee: $75.00 - $160.00
Applications available every year for independent curators (up to 3 per app) as well as for galleries, nonprofits and project spaces. There is one show in LA and one show in New York each year centered around a given theme. This opportunity provides free exhibition space to each selected curator and low cost exhibition space for non-profits and galleries. Each curatorial proposal will be given one room/booth for exhibiting artworks. Special Projects will be given priority placement of room/booth and a larger sized exhibition area, if available.
Union Hall’s Rough Gems Curatorial Program
Applications open at the end of Summer/beginning of Fall every year | Denver, CO
Duration: 4-6 months
Eligibility: local
Availability: 3 curators/curatorial teams
Financial Support: Each curator receives a $900 stipend, and each artist receives a $300 stipend not to be used on materials, shipping, or costs of artwork production.
Rough Gems is the first and only curatorial program for new and emerging curators in the state of Colorado. Designed as a professional development and networking opportunity for exhibition makers in the Denver-area, three curators or curatorial teams (2 curators max) are selected each year. Culminating in a three week exhibition at Union Hall’s gallery in downtown Denver, the selected curators will be mentored by Union Hall’s Chief Curator, Esther Hz. Each curator and artist will be supported with stipends, marketing and PR support, installation support, exhibition photography, and more. One supplemental programming event of the curators choice will take place during the duration of their exhibition.
Call For Entry
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Call For Entry //
This section contains galleries and organizations in the greater Denver-area that occasionally open calls for exhibition proposals from emerging and established curators and artists. We encourage you to keep an eye out for updates from these organizations directly by following them online via their social media accounts, website, or newsletter. Other tips and tricks to learn about collaboration or proposal opportunities that may not be posted is by visiting galleries in person such as an opening reception or partaking in an event, or inquiring via online email or website form.
Firehouse Art Center
Longmont, CO
Dairy Arts Center
Boulder, CO
The Lincoln Center
Fort Collins, CO
Artwork Center for Contemporary Art
Loveland, CO
NEXT Gallery
Lakewood, CO
Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
Arvada, CO
Center for the Arts Evergreen
Evergreen, CO
RedLine Contemporary Art Center
Denver, CO
Spectra Art Space
Denver, CO
Grants
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Awards
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Grants // Awards //
Curatorial Research Fellowships - Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Grants awarded in the fall of each year
Eligibility: International - but US-based institutions are the majority
Amount: $50,000
Proposals are accepted from 501c3 arts organizations on behalf of curators at any stage of their careers, with or without institutional affiliation, working towards projects that will manifest at least two years after a grant is made. A letter of support from the director of the sponsoring organization must accompany the proposal. Grants are intended to cover expenses incurred during the research and development stage of an exhibition, public-facing project, or other visual arts-based initiative that contributes in an original way to contemporary visual arts discourse.
Teiger Foundation
Deadline to apply is February 14, 2024
Eligibility: United States
Amount: $50,000 - $150,000
The Teiger Foundation supports curators' growth and development as they work in or in partnership with organizations of all sizes. Applications are accepted in relation to exhibitions, performances, and projects both live and digital in the context of visual art. The grant does not fund projects unaffiliated with an established 501(c)(3) art or cultural institution; projects by individual artists, endowments, or capital campaigns; or projects that do not involve contemporary art.
INSITE Fund
Applications open in the spring of 2024
Availability: 6-12 grants
Amount: $5,000 - $10,000 each
Administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center, The INSITE Fund supports independent artists and artist collectives working across all visual media in the Denver Metro and Front Range. Awards will be granted to public facing visual arts projects that take place beyond the studio, museum, art center or traditional gallery setting. The fund does not support an individual’s ongoing studio practice, underwrite exhibitions in existing program schedules, or works of traditional theater. The fund does not support 501(c)3 organizations. The fund is meant to support short-term initiatives, events, and new collaborations.
Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award
The next deadline is planned for February 2025
Availability: three each cycle
Amount: $50,000 - $200,000
The Foundation supports innovation and experimentation at the curatorial level. During each award cycle, the Foundation supports curators partnered with established non-profit exhibition spaces in the early stages of exhibition development. The Exhibition Award provides the curator with resources to research, design and build a visual composition around a creative theme in contemporary art. The award encourages curators to challenge conventional thought through the exploration of critical ideas.
Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Research Grant
The next deadline is planned for February 2025
Amount: $10,000
Applications are accepted on a triennial basis from any curator, or curatorial team, applying in partnership with an established 501c3 non-profit (grants cannot be issued to individual curators but can be distributed through fiscal agents). Proposals should be to research a strong, thematic exhibition that puts the works of contemporary art and/or architecture in a new or unconventional aesthetic, historical, cultural, and/or social framework. You can apply for both the Exhibition Award and the Research Grant without filling out both applicants. See their website for more details.