14 Jan 2011

Wesleyan University: Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance - call for applications

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts (CFA) has launched the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), which brings arts professionals together to re-imagine contemporary notions of how we manage, produce and present performance. The ICPP will examine curatorial tools and practices from the fields of visual arts and performance, in order to better understand and improve upon the ways in which performance is made and produced.

Professional Certificate Program
Starting in 2011, the ICPP will offer a nine-month professional certificate program in Curatorial Practice in Performance. Students will study artistic and curatorial practice, social and cultural context, and entrepreneurial strategies and complete an independent project in consultation with an advisor.

Through a close examination of the practical and theoretical concerns of performance work, graduates of the ICPP certificate program will deepen their knowledge and skill base, enhance their professional relationships, and become better advocates for performance in the marketplace.

The certificate is a low-residency, nine-month program intended for early and mid-career working professionals such as presenters, managers, curators, and artists. Students will complete work online in between on-campus intensives at Wesleyan University. Dates for the 2011–12 on-campus intensives are: July 9–24, 2011, November 18–20, 2011, and March 3–5, 2012.

Instructors and guest lecturers include ICPP Director Samuel A. Miller, Wesleyan professors Katja Kolcio and Claudia Tatinge Nacimento, and field professionals Doryun Chong of MoMA, Philip Bither of the Walker Art Center, and Judy Hussie-Taylor of Danspace Project. Artists in residence are TBA.

Applications for 2011-12 are due on February 1, 2011. Financial aid is available.

Responding to Contemporary Performance Practice
The ICPP was founded in 2010 by Wesleyan graduates Samuel A. Miller (President of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) and Pamela Tatge (Director of the CFA) in partnership with Judy Hussie-Taylor (Executive Director of Danspace Project) in response to the co-existence and cross-pollination of idea- and technique-based performance practice, which has created a dynamic dialog within the performing arts field.

The ICPP aims to understand how performance can function within multiple landscapes, by building new models for understanding contemporary performance practice. The ICPP will serve as a meeting-point for academics, professionals, and students to share ideas and resources in both formal and informal ways. By creating a rigorous and creative learning environment, enhanced and energized by the outside activities of its students and instructors, the ICPP will provide students and instructors with a base for their future professional endeavors.

Filling a Gap
Currently there is no post-graduate program in the United States that addresses curatorial practice in performance. The ICPP looks to fill this gap, as an interest in contemporary performance continues to thrive even as the recent economic recession has hit arts organizations particularly hard. The ICPP is committed to training performing arts professionals who will build on the momentum of contemporary performance by using new information and resources as creatively as possible, while also understanding how historical practices have shaped where we are now.