Curationist Fellows Program

Applications for 2024 are now closed.

Curationist invites researchers, writers, academics, artists, curators, and other practitioners focusing on cultural heritage or digital citizenship to apply for a 6-month fellowship to advance their projects with Curationist’s support. Selected participants are invited to join our efforts in digital cultural heritage co-creation, and and they will be supported by the Curationist editors and a digital archivist to research and develop an editorial feature to be published on Curationist.org.

Collaborative curation of open access cultural heritage content has great potential to advance and expand educational opportunities. How can ‌digital content, verified and cared for by galleries, libraries, archives, and museums be freed by open access policies without reproducing cultural appropriation and erasures? Fellows will have the opportunity to consider this question and more, hear from guest speakers, and share and receive feedback from mentors and peers on their research.

The Curationist Fellowship will be fully virtual for 6 months from March through August 2024. Fellows are expected to attend occasional seminars led by Curationist team members and peers, publish one feature essay on Curationist.org, and present their research.

All Fellows will be compensated a total of $3,000 USD for their participation and editorial feature.

Fellows Eligibility

This Fellows program is an opportunity for early to mid-career academics, writers, artists, researchers, librarians, archivists, and curators to engage with open access digital collections on Curationist.org, to develop a research topic with support, and to publish their research, expanding and diversifying cultural discourse. Drawing upon their original research and work, Fellows work across and ‌beyond academic disciplines to situate and connect open knowledge for public good. As public scholars, they hone and actualize the critical and creative work of collaborative curation.

Applicants to the Curationist Fellows program should:

• Have demonstrated an engagement with cultures that are underrepresented in cultural heritage sectors
• Be able to dedicate up to 15 hours per month to writing, research, and workshops
• Write fluently in English
• Familiarize themselves with Curationist.org, including editorial features and objects on the platform

Timeline

Applications will be open from December 22nd to January 26th, and the Curationist Fellows & Critics of Color programs will take place from March 2024 through August 2024.

Application

The application requires a submission of the following materials :

• Resume or CV
• Statement of proposed research interests of up to 350 words. Bear in mind that most cultural heritage objects available on Curationist.org are in the public domain. Please make sure your research interests align with what is found in Curationist's archives.
• Link to one or two objects in the Curationist Works as examples of what you would like to research
• 1-3 writing samples totaling no more than 5,000 words. These can be published, unpublished, blogs, etc.
• (1) recommendation letter (optional) - professional or community reference
  
  Please note that the Critics of Color Residency and the Curationist Fellows Residency use the same application process.
  
  
  

Jurying Process

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of art writers, editors, and archivists on the Curationist team.

Contact

For questions regarding the fellowship, please contact community@mhzfoundation.org

Curationist is an ecosystem for collecting and sharing cultural materials from the Creative Commons and public domain. We aim to build connections and deepen cultural awareness by collectively framing the world we share.