LAUNCH OF TOWNHOUSE CURATORIAL PROGRAM
Following a pilot curatorial workshop in May 2007, the Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art is pleased to announce the launch of a more comprehensive curatorial/arts management program to be carried out in the gallery from the end of March to the fall of 2008.
The curatorial program addresses the lack of training opportunities and the absence of any permanent course on arts management or curatorial practice in the region. It aims to create a package that will provide the groundwork for future programs in more formal learning environments such as colleges and universities. Townhouse has therefore invited several local universities to monitor the program in order to encourage them to introduce a curatorial or arts management course into their curriculum.
After issuing a call for applications in December 2007, a group of sixteen participants (from over fifty applicants) were selected, the majority from Egypt, with the exception of two Jordanian curators, a Bahraini and a Turkish curator. The program will capitalize on the leadership skills of these emerging arts professionals whose confidence and experience will undoubtedly contribute to the creation a dynamic learning environment.
The course will essentially be taught by cultural practitioners from Spain and the United Kingdom, with additional presentations made by local and regional arts professionals. Guest practitioners teaching the program will include Teresa Gleadowe, free-lance curator and former Director of the Program in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art (London), Gerald Lidstone, founder and Director of the M.A. in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths College (London), Ferran Barenblit, Director of the Centre d’Art Santa Monica (Barcelona) and Martí Peran, curator, art critic and professor at the University of Barcelona.
The program’s curriculum was defined in an initial meeting in Cairo at the end of January 2008, when the guest practitioners were introduced to the participant’s profiles and the local context, enabling them to design a program tailored to the needs of the region.
The program will start at the end of March 2008 and is structured around four modules on contemporary art theory, curatorial practice and fundraising. At the end of the course, participants will submit a curatorial proposal and an independent jury will choose a project to be presented by the Townhouse Gallery in the fall of 2008.
This program is generously funded by the European Union, the Spanish Embassy and the British Council.
For more information on the program, please contact Program Managers Laura Carderera at laura@thetownhousegallery.com or 010 706 7255 or Lucy Till-Awny at lucyrvtill@hotmail.com.
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