California College of the Arts
San Francisco Campus
1111 Eighth Street
T 415 703 9500
Oakland Campus
5212 Broadway
T 510 594 3600
The Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice is founded on the belief that exhibitions are the medium for thinking through, presenting, and learning about contemporary culture.
Where curatorial discourse has, over the last 25 years, focused on the role of the curator, conversations are once again increasingly centering on his/her work. Our revised curriculum takes account of this shift, privileging exhibition-making opportunities and primary engagements with artists and arts institutions.
San Francisco offers a rich landscape of alternative and experimental creative practices, both historical and contemporary, as well as ample opportunities to speculate about the future. Taking advantage of our geographical location, the Program seeks to uncover local collaborative, artist-led, and other curatorial initiatives in order to contribute to and challenge existing paradigms of exhibition-making internationally.
The reconceptualized curriculum provides students with a flexible framework for research and investigation, balanced with opportunities for developing exhibition and publication projects. First-year courses focus specifically on exhibitions—their history, form, and design—and are supported by seminars on contemporary and global art history, theory and criticism. Classes devoted to the visual and textual analysis of artworks are augmented by firsthand encounters with artworks in archives, studios, and private and public collections.
Stressing the refinement of a personal curatorial vision, the second year is concentrated on research-driven and project-based learning with the collaboration and mentorship of faculty: a written thesis project, pursued individually, and a collectively authored exhibition for CCA’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
Our faculty are practicing curators, art historians, and other art professionals from prominent Bay Area institutions. In addition, an international roster of more than 200 visiting curators, critics, scholars, and artists from around the world have taught classes here since the program was launched. And more than 100 students have graduated and gone on to successful careers as independent curators and in museums, galleries, public art agencies, and arts publishing.
Qualifications for admission
We welcome highly motivated applicants from a broad spectrum of cultural, professional, and academic backgrounds. And we particularly encourage applications from students who are interested in thinking broadly about innovative forms of exhibition making and who find inspiration in current artistic practice and potential in the curatorial role. Prospective applicants will have:
–an 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
–a strong interest in contemporary art
For full details on the application process and requirements please visit www.cca.edu
Or contact Curatorial Practice program manager, Lisa Friedman ([email protected] or T 415 551 9213).