Since it was established in 2010, ICI’s Curatorial Intensive has become a leading global program for curatorial professional development. Participants gain critical new skills and perspectives on curating; engage with the cultural landscape of their host city through site visits and connect with local arts professionals; advance their practice in partnership with faculty mentors; and develop their personal projects. Most importantly, they build supportive relationships with other curators in their region and experience level, creating cohorts of emergent leaders who change the field together.
Our first cohorts traveled to New York from across the globe; today, unlike any other curatorial professional development program, our Curatorial Intensive takes place around the world. Here, curatorial innovation is deeply informed by local and regional concerns, and made accessible to emerging arts professionals through physical and conceptual proximity. To date, 45 Intensives have taken place in more than 25 cities, and each is an entirely unique meeting of people and ideas that transform careers and lives.
Intensive alumni join a global network of curators who recognize, support, and connect with one another all over the world, and participation leads to many opportunities. Our "Intensives In Action" series showcases alumni who have brought their Curatorial Intensive proposal to life, and shows how diverse a transformative, independent curatorial practice can be.
After participating in the Curatorial Intensive, alumni go on to take many major steps in their careers. For example, Jorell Legaspi returned home to Manila as Deputy Director-General for Museums of the National Museum of the Philippines, while Viviana Checchia became Director of Void Art Centre in Derry, where she had traveled for the Intensive in 2013. Others, like States of Becoming curator Fitsum Shebeshe, further their independent practices and create vital new knowledge.
The structure of the Curatorial Intensive also creates strong bonds among both faculty and participants, and gives curators many opportunities to learn from one another through both formal mentorship and peer support. In 2013, Koyo Kouoh (1967-2025) joined the Johannesburg Intensive as a faculty member, one of numerous times she would collaborate with ICI. Participant Marie Hélène Pereira later became Director of Programmes at RAW Material Company, which Kouoh founded; after Koyo's passing, Pereira joined the team for the 2026 Venice Biennale to help complete her vision.
As the program has grown, collaborators who first joined the Intensive as participants and emerging curators have returned as mentors and even hosts of the program in their home countries. For example, Riksa Afiaty (Intensive alum, Auckland 2019) hosted the 2024 Indonesia Intensive, including organizing site visits and providing mentorship. We’re honored to be a part of this cycle of growth and development in the field!