The Detroit Curatorial Seminar offers a unique professional development opportunity for 6 Michigan-based BIPOC curators from November 2023 to April 2024, conceived by ICI in partnership with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Built out of ICI's Curatorial Intensive program, the Curatorial Seminar is a free, eight-session program that supports emerging curators based in a single location, advancing their capacity to establish a strong first-person approach to curating, support overlooked artists, and engage with local art communities while working outside of a large institution. The Seminar also provides a platform for participants to develop an idea into an exhibition or project proposal with feedback from hand-selected mentors, who provide a unique perspective on the participant's curatorial practice. Through this process, the Seminar seeks to build an affirming network of peers around shared values and support the sharing of knowledge among early-career curators.
The Detroit Seminar will primarily consist of three two-day workshops, held at the Wright and led by ICI and Wright staff, guest curators, and arts professionals (including a fundraising consultant) that focus on theoretical and curatorial case studies as well as pragmatic logistical training. Throughout the Seminar, participants will refine their exhibition and project proposals with feedback from one another and one-on-one mentorship sessions tailored to their individual needs. Group readings, studio visits, and other site visits are organized to encourage exchange among the curators. The Detroit Seminar concludes with a trip to Chicago in April 2024 to meet with their Chicago Curatorial Seminar counterparts and attend the Curatorial Forum programming.
Questions? Please reach out! Email Midwest Programs Manager Scott Vincent Campbell at scott@curatorsintl.org.
