MA Curatorial Practice

MA Curatorial Practice at the School of Visual Arts: Accepting applications for fall 2022, apply now.

Join us in the heart of New York City to study curating with the art world’s foremost practitioners, surrounded by the energy of major exhibitions, young artists, and international debates! Pursuing curatorial training in the city is an opportunity unlike any other in the world for the extraordinary resources close by our space, with literally hundreds of galleries within walking distance, and major museums and artists’ studios all around us. The unparalleled intellectual and cultural life of the city enriches our program immeasurably, offering possibilities to every student that simply cannot be matched elsewhere. 

MA Curatorial Practice is a two-year program focusing on practical training with one of the world’s greatest curatorial faculties, who teach what they do at some of the city’s preeminent institutions. Together with a detailed background in philosophy and social theory, art-historical studies, exhibition history, case studies in specific areas of curatorial expertise, and workshops in hands-on practical training, MACP graduates enter the field of curating with substantial knowledge and professional experience.  

During the two years of the program, students produce three subsidized public exhibitions or other curatorial projects (including a culminating thesis exhibition); visit a major international exhibition (such as the Venice Biennale or documenta), where they meet with eminent international curators; and hold a two-month internship at a major institution abroad with a prominent mentor who plays a vital and ongoing role in their education and professional life. 

Our students come from all over the world and go on to work in large and small institutions internationally, form their own curatorial collectives with fellow graduates, and establish their own spaces, commercial galleries, and independent curatorial practices. The MACP program presents a variety of public events with leading figures in and beyond the art world, publishes books, and offers opportunities to extend exhibition-making into a global exchange of ideas on urgent social issues. 

The School of Visual Arts is one of the largest art schools in the US, with state-of-the-art facilities, an enormous range of artists, libraries, and access to a huge array of research institutions and cultural institutions of every kind.  

To learn more about the MA Curatorial Practice program at the School of Visual Arts and to apply for this coming September, visit here. Supporting scholarships are available. MACP supports diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

*Image above: This summer, MA Curatorial Practice students will visit documenta fifteen to study a major international exhibition firsthand, as the class of 2016 did for the previous edition of documenta.