The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School is calling for applications for the 2018-2020 Vera List Center Fellowships. Two fellowships will be awarded, each spanning ten months and linked to the Vera List Center’s 2018-2020 biennial curatorial focus theme « If Art Is Politics. »

The Vera List Center Fellowships support individuals whose work advances the discourse on art and politics. The appointments provide the opportunity to develop a project drawing from the resources of The New School, to expand on it in collaboration with students and faculty, and to bring it to the public through the Vera List Center’s interdisciplinary programs.

The Vera List Center is a research center and a public forum that focuses exclusively on advancing research, scholarship and public discourse on contemporary issues at the intersection of art and politics. The fellows contribute to the intellectual foundation of the center, and through their fellowship projects advance the understanding of these and other questions. Through multi-disciplinary curatorial programs we aim at advancing our understanding of these issues: for 2018–20, we’re mining the questions of whether and how artist practices constitute political practices.

« If Art Is Politics »
For the next two years, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics will ask: if art is politics, how is it politically viable and does it acquire political agency? If so, how does it shift or affect the sites, practices and participants of political processes in ways that traditional forms of political involvement might not? If art is politics, does politics then take place in museums, in studios and on the street, and how are art’s institutions implicated in such a new political order? If art is politics, where does it take place, how does it constitute political engagement, and who is participating?

Fellowship benefits
The VLC Fellowship is part-time, non-residential, and carries a USD 10,000 stipend. Each fellowship is highly individualized depending on the project. The fellows are supported by a graduate student research assistant, have access to a wide range of activities throughout The New School, and enjoy extensive library privileges. Meetings and informal gatherings with New School faculty, past fellows and other constituencies are organized on a regular basis and offer opportunities for professional and social exchanges. Curatorial, organizational and financial support is provided for public presentations of the fellowship project.

Eligibility
Journalists, scholars, activists, visual and performing artists, critics, public intellectuals, curators, and cultural practitioners working in any field where they engage art and politics are encouraged to apply. The New School is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution and encourages applications from minority candidates as well as from individuals without institutional affiliation.

Considerations
–Artistic and/or scholarly excellence of the proposed fellowship project
–Significance of the project to the candidate’s long-term practice
–Does the proposal relate to the focus theme in explicit and creative ways?
–Does the fellowship project reflect and benefit from the association with The New School?

Timeline
April 1, 2018: application deadline, followed by reviews by members of the VLC staff, the VLC Advisory Committee, past fellows and New School faculty.

April: finalists are invited to expand on their proposals.

June: announcement of fellowship appointments.

Fellowship terms: ten months between fall of 2018 and spring of 2020.

Expectations
Organize and present public events at the Vera List Center as well as contribute to the programming at the center during the course of the fellowship.

Participation in the life of the Vera List Center—biannual meetings with the Advisory Committee and, as desired, participation in study groups, classes, social gatherings and trips, or collaboration on joint projects with Fellows and others.

For details on the VLC Fellowship, application form and procedures, please click here.