Center for Curatorial Leadership 2015

The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) seeks full-time curators who are currently employed at art museums where they are charged with the care, display, and interpretation of objects as well as the organization of temporary exhibitions. Nominations will be sought from museum directors and administrators, but self-nominations are also strongly encouraged. The CCL aims to train curators to assume leadership positions in museums in the rapidly evolving cultural climate of the twenty-first century. The mandate of the CCL is to identify within the curatorial ranks individuals who have the potential to become leaders, and to help them shape themselves into curators who not only take charge of the art in their care, but who are also capable of assuming the leadership responsibilities essential to high performance in today’s art museums. The CCL is premised on the conviction that there need be no contradiction between these two sets of obligations – indeed, that there must not be.
Applicants should be proven scholars and leaders in their field. They should also have demonstrated some leadership initiative, either in their museums or in other aspects of their lives (e.g., community service, board service, etc.).
Applications will be reviewed by the director of the CCL and a small committee of current and former museum directors.
Beginning January 4 – 16, 2015, the program will consist of the following: In January, a two-week intensive program in New York each January that includes teaching (led by faculty members from Columbia University Business School) and practical exposure and assignments (to be provided by museums, cultural institutions, and other civic organizations across the city); A mentorship/residency with a museum director from an institution different from the fellow’s home institution; A student mentoring project, assigned in January, to cover the span of the fellowship; A one-week program in May or June that includes instruction, coaching, and presentation of team assignment.