Annual Curatorial Fellowship
The Curatorial Fellowship is designed to deepen students’ understanding of the intellectual and practical tasks of curation in a museum setting. It has provided students with hands on experience and highly valuable skills in the job market.
Beginning in 2015 the UMCA invites Studio Arts graduate students to collaborate with their Art History peers through participation in the Curatorial Fellowship exhibition. Working together on a collaborative exhibition project opens a breadth of possibilities for Art History and Studio Arts graduate students and provides a greater range of potential careers after school.
The Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition Fund
Since 2021, the Student Curatorial Program has been supported by The Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition Fund, a new endowment to support the UMCA’s Annual Graduate Student Curatorial Exhibition, which the Museum initiated in 2006.Eva Fierst was Education Curator at the University Museum of Contemporary Art from 2007 through 2017. As the UMCA’s first Education Curator, she helped further the Museum’s mission to serve as a training ground for future museum and art world professionals and explored new methods of exhibition presentation and interpretation.
Over the years, Eva worked closely with graduate students, faculty, and UMCA staff on the Curatorial Exhibition, which is the culmination of a yearlong independent project conducted by Art History and Studio Arts graduate students. The exhibition features work selected primarily from the UMCA’s permanent collection of more than 3000 works of art on paper. Students select a thesis for their exhibition; research objects; write labels, text panels, a press release, an exhibition announcement, and website information; write and submit a grant application; write and design a brochure; help design the exhibition layout and work on the installation; and assist with all other aspects of exhibition development.
This Program’s goal is to deepen students’ understanding of the intellectual and practical tasks of curation in a museum setting. It has provided students with hands on experience and highly valuable skills in the job market. Working together on a collaborative exhibition project opens a wealth of possibilities for Art History and Studio Arts graduate students and provides a greater range of potential careers after school.
Eva holds a B.A. degree from Smith College. She worked as a Teaching Assistant at the Summer Institute for Museum Studies at Smith College; the Jewish Museum Berlin, Germany; and at Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA. She is currently involved in community art projects and serves as a founder of The Art Salon, a forum for local artists.
Artifacts at the End of a Decade (Feb 25 – Apr 30, 2021), curated by Jill Hughes, 2021 MA Art History candidate, and Jessica Scott, 2021 MFA Studio Arts candidate, was the first Student Curatorial Exhibition to benefit from The Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition Fund.
The UMCA is grateful to the Eva Fierst Student Curatorial Exhibition Fund for support of this annual
museum project.
The following are links to the past Curatorial Fellowship exhibitions:
Masculine Identities: Filling in the Blanks: March 23 – May 14, 2023
We Gotta Get Out of This Place: March 24 – May 1, 2022. September 30 – December 11, 2022
Artifacts at the End of a Decade: February – April, 2021
Color in Containment: March 22 – April 29, 2018
5 Takes on African Art / 42 Flags by Fred Wilson : September 27, 2017 – December 10, 2017, January 23 – April 29, 2018
Eyes are For Asking: March 24 – May 1, 2016
Body Politic: The Anatomy of the Grotesque: March 26 – May 3, 2015
Fractured: The Modern Nude: March 27 - May 4, 2014
Shaping the View: April 3 - May 5, 2013
The Domestic Sphere Goes Pop: April 4 - May 6, 2012
The Minox and The Big Shot: Andy Warhol: September 23 - December 13, 2009
The Unexpected Encounters of Looking Again: November 28 - March 15, 2008
What Is Love: April 19 - June 3, 2007
Word and Image: May 4 - June 12, 2006
