Developed by Independent Curators International (ICI) in collaboration with The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the Curatorial Intensive in Beijing offers curators working in Asia and internationally the opportunity to participate in a week-long professional development program, exploring curatorial practice and artistic production in Beijing, as well as discussing the concepts, logistics, and challenges of organizing exhibitions in local and international contexts.

This program marks the second Curatorial Intensive in Beijing. The Curatorial Intensive is designed to immerse participants in a rigorous itinerary of conversations and presentations that support the process of developing an idea for an exhibition or program into a full proposal. It is targeted toward curators with a minimum of three years of practical experience, who are fluent in English, and who are working independently or in institutions.

Seminars, site visits, individual meetings, and roundtable discussions will be led by a group of professionals that includes María del Carmen Carrión (Associate Director of Public Programs & Research, ICI, New York), Kate Fowle (Director-at-Large, ICI, and Chief Curator, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow), Gridthiya Gaweewong (Artistic Director, Jim Thompson Art House, Bangkok), Snejana Krasteva (Curator, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow), and Carol Yinghua Lu (curator and art critic, Beijing), among others.

Application deadline: September 12

Application guidelines
12–14 applicants working internationally will be selected to participate in the Curatorial Intensive. The applicant must have 3+ years of curatorial experience. All applications must include a 500-word description of an exhibition or program idea that the applicant would like help in developing. This description should outline the proposal concept and any artists that the applicant is considering. Also required are a current 250-word bio, a 500-word letter of intent, and a 300-word text that describes a recent curatorial project that has made an impact on the applicant. To apply and for full application guidelines, visit ICI’s website.

Fees and scholarships
The program fee is 1,900 USD. Participants are also responsible for covering travel and accommodation expenses. Scholarship packages that subsidize or eliminate the program fees, accommodation and travel expenses are available and awarded based on merit. If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please include a letter of motivation with your application. Scholarships for curators from China will be supported by the Wu ZuoRen Curators Fund. Scholarships for curators from Turkey will be supported by SAHA.

For more information or questions, visit ICI’s website or email jessicaman@curatorsintl.org.

The Curatorial Intensive is ICI’s short-term, low-cost training program that offers a group of curators the chance to develop project ideas and make connections with professionals in the field. It also provides the invaluable opportunity for peer-group education, creating new networks internationally. The Curatorial Intensive takes place twice annually in New York, and in other locations in conjunction with institutional partners worldwide.
The Curatorial Intensive is made possible in part by grants from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and the Hartfield Foundation; and by generous contributions from Toby Devan Lewis, the ICI Board of Trustees, the ICI Gerrit Lansing Education Fund, and the supporters of ICI’s Access Fund. 

ICI (Independent Curators International ) connects emerging and established curators, artists, and institutions to forge international networks and generate new forms of collaboration through the production of exhibitions, events, publications, and curatorial training. Headquartered in New York, the organization provides public access to the people and practices that are key to current developments in curating and exhibition-making around the world, inspiring fresh ways of seeing and contextualizing contemporary art. Since it was established in 1975, ICI has produced 128 traveling exhibitions and profiled the work of more than 3,700 artists and curators, working with 478 museums, university art galleries, and art centers in 49 states and 42 countries worldwide.

The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), located in Beijing, the capital of China, is an academy where culture, history and art flourish. CAFA, as a leading institution for modern art education in China, provides a rich land for those who wish to learn, experience, and engage in creativity, which has nurtured a number of preeminent artists in the past 90 years.

www.curatorsintl.org