For the fourth year, ICI partnered with Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation to offer travel grants for U.S-based alumni of our professional development programs to conduct research in France. Through the Étant Donnés Contemporary Art Curatorial Fellowship program, Ariana Faye Allensworth (ICI Curatorial Research Fellow, 2023; Intensive alum, New Orleans 2019), Mélanie Kress (Curatorial Forum participant, 2024), and Perwana Nazif each received a travel grant to further an ongoing research project and engage with the country’s contemporary art ecosystem.
Villa Albertine supports French-American cultural exchange in education and the arts. The research travel grant is intended to provide curators with expanded opportunities to conduct in-depth explorations of French cultural resources, as well as a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge among artists, professionals, researchers, and institutions. The Fellows also receive support from the Villa Albertine team and their connections with professionals in France, by expanding their network of relationships and directing them towards venues, artists, and directors of institutions of potential research interest.
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIPS:
Ariana Faye Allensworth (Senior Global Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, IDEO, California) plans to conduct archival research and visit artist-run galleries, independent publishing houses, and diasporic cultural spaces in Paris and Marseille in order to study how Black diasporic communities build and sustain collective cultural infrastructure.
Mélanie Kress (Senior Curator, Public Art Fund, New York) is engaging in curatorial research for the development of a major multi-institutional public art commission that will travel across North America from 2027–2030. During her research travels to Paris, she will work on a key phase of conceptual development while also researching artists in France whose practices engage sculpture, installation, and public participation.
Perwana Nazif (Artistic Director, Los Angeles Review of Books, California) explores the French movement of Institutional Psychotherapy as both subject and methodology. This project expands ongoing research and engagements with artists, clinics, and organizations in France, and will culminate in an exhibition in 2027.
