Application deadline: January 15, 2009
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco CA 94107
http://www.cca.edu/curatorialpractice
http://sites.cca.edu/curatingarchive
The Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts in San Francisco is a two-year master’s degree program offering an expanded perspective on curating contemporary art and culture. Alongside traditional forms of exhibition making, the program emphasizes the momentous impact in the last half century of artist-led initiatives, public art projects, site-specific commissions, and other experimental endeavors that take place beyond the confines of established venues. The program is distinguished by an international, interdisciplinary perspective, and it reflects San Francisco’s unique location and cultural history by placing a particular importance on the study of curatorial and artistic practices in Asia and Latin America. Our graduates have gone on to successful careers both nationally and internationally in the fields of independent curating, museums and galleries, public art agencies, and art publishing.
The program was established in 2003 by the curators Kate Fowle and Ralph Rugoff. It provides practical training in curating and organizing exhibitions as well as rigorous study in modern and contemporary art history, theory, and criticism. Many courses take place off-site—both in the Bay Area and farther afield in Tokyo, Tijuana, Utah, Detroit, and elsewhere. Close, ongoing partnerships with outside organizations such as the Center for Land Use Interpretation (and, on campus, with the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, which is recognized internationally as a center for innovative exhibition practices) bring students into direct contact with artworks, archival materials, and artists, and allow them to engage in original research and collaborative projects. The program also organizes numerous exhibitions, lectures, symposia, and other new forums for the discussion of ideas.
Central to the program’s philosophy is the development of the curriculum with faculty who are active professionals. Core instructors include curators, art historians, and other art professionals from prominent institutions throughout the Bay Area. More than 150 curators, critics, scholars, and artists from around the world have taught courses since the program was launched. Through critical examination of these visitors’ wide-ranging practices, students learn the intellectual and practical premises of current curatorial strategies and become familiar with diverse cultural, political, and institutional contexts for the exhibition of art.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR ADMISSION (application deadline: January 15, 2009)
• Undergraduate degree in the history of art, fine art, or other appropriate area of the humanities or social sciences
• Relevant practical experience in the visual arts and a demonstrated commitment to curating
• Strong interest in contemporary art
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
• Curriculum vitae
• 1,000-word essay outlining your curatorial interests and how you think the program will help you reach your professional and educational goals
• 1,000-word exhibition critique
• 2,000-word exhibition proposal
For full details on the application process please visit http://www.cca.edu/admissions/grad or contact Allison Terbush, program manager, at [email protected] or 415.551.9239.
OPEN HOUSE & INFO NIGHT: OCTOBER 30, 2008
Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco CA 94107
T: 415.551.9239
http://www.cca.edu/curatorialpractice
http://sites.cca.edu/curatingarchive
Image above:
Matt Coolidge, director of the Center for Land Use
Interpretation, on location in Plaquemines Parish,
Louisiana, with students from CCA’s Graduate
Program in Curatorial Practice.
For more information go to: http://www.cca.edu/curatorialpractice
