The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) Foundation Engagement Programme for International Curators (EPIC) fosters exchange and partnership between UK-based curators (Awardees) and US-based curators (Liaisons). The programme offers curators a rare and valuable platform for cross-cultural networking and exchange. By engaging with their counterparts, participants build and/or strengthen international relationships, lead multi-national conversations, and advance their professional skills. Partnerships are not project-based, but instead specifically focus on the reciprocity of information, experiences, and insights to help curators gain new perspectives, approach challenges with fresh ideas, and encourage global thinking. You can find out more about the programme here.
In 2023 Art Fund and AAMC are inviting two UK-based and two US-based curators to take part in the 2023 programme, which has been developed with an aim to enable UK curators to engage meaningfully and with authority on the international stage, developing their own experience and learning while also raising the profile of their institutions and collections abroad. Through this programme we hope new relationships will be brokered between institutions in the UK and internationally, stimulating collaboration on all areas of activity from research, to loans and public programmes.
Taking place throughout 2023, this fully funded programme includes funding to travel and attend the AAMC Art Curators Conference in New York in May 2023; support for two in-person visits – one in-person visit by the U.K. Awardee at the U.S. Liaison’s institution, and another in-person visit by the U.S. Liaison to the U.K. Awardee’s institution; receive an invitation to the AAMC Foundation’s Program Alumni Reception; to enjoy a 2-year AAMC membership allowing access to AAMC’s suite of curatorial development opportunities; and to receive complimentary Art Fund membership for two years.
International Awardees and US Liaisons will work together to programme a webinar that would be presented to the full AAMC membership, developing the themes and content collaboratively.
This year’s conference will take place 6 – 9 May 2023 in New York. Through a hybrid format, AAMC hopes to ensure access to the Conference content to much of our audiences and allow for a range of engagement with our sessions. The programme will include live and virtual speakers on panels and keynotes alongside in-person and virtual networking and socialising opportunities.
Questions that arise from the 2023 theme will include:
How can we find ways to shift the power away from a singular, curatorial voice to develop methods where curators take the role of facilitators in a process of learning and discovery, equally engage with colleagues in the creation process, and share their leadership? How can we learn from grassroots initiatives that seek to reinvent structures in our arts organizations? How can art institutions empower their communities, for example by serving as mass vaccination sites, voter registration centers, and places of relief for activists for change? How can curators lift up and give power to the unseen and unheard to highlight and address the deep fissures that arise from the erasure of people and cultures in our academies and arts organizations?
Eligibility and criteria
Applications that fulfil the following criteria are particularly encouraged:
Programme components and other benefits include:
The deadline to apply is 12pm US ET on Thursday 11 January 2023.
If you wish, please feel free to contact the Programmes team at Art Fund to discuss your proposal before applying.