MA Curating Contemporary Art
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2024
TUITION FEES
Request tuition fees
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* As the RCA received a high number of applications we encourage you to apply as early as possible to secure your place on your programme.
* visit the RCA website to find out about fees for this programme as well as scholarship and funding opportunities
Online Open Days
Join our online open days from 23-27 September to find out more about our postgraduate programmes.
Introduction
To provide prospective students with opportunities to find out about the RCA experience and programs we run several on-campus and online open days as well as events in various countries around the world. You can find out about upcoming events or watch replays of past open days on the RCA website.
Curating is a creative, dynamic, and diverse practice, constantly changing about its context, the work of artists and a range of cultural practitioners, and the interests and expectations of audiences. When you join the Curating Contemporary Art MA (CCA) you join a well-established and highly influential program and community of students actively contributing to how curating is understood, practiced, and thought about across the globe. As a highly international program, designed to develop your critical awareness of curating in a global context, we also place real importance on working collaboratively, peer-to-peer, as a way of learning together sharing knowledge and cultures, and testing ideas. When you graduate you will join a network of over 500 CCA alumni from across 47 different countries, many still working together, collectively shaping the practice of curating contemporary art and the spaces and places in which it is encountered.
Meet the RCA
We host a range of online and on-campus open days as well as recruitment events in cities around the world. These events can include 1-to-1 meetings and portfolio advice, informal chats, presentations, and sessions with staff, students, and alumni. Check the Check the RCA event webpage for details of upcoming events.
Next on-campus open day: Saturday 20 January, 2024.
Admissions
Curriculum
Programme structure
The programme is delivered across three terms and includes a combination of programme, School and College units.
Term 1
In the first term, you will engage with Curatorial Thinking, through talks and lectures by visiting curators, readings, seminars, and workshops, you will engage with genealogies of curating and contemporary issues affecting its production and organisation, such as globalisation and migration, the digital and networked culture, urbanisation and use of space, and changing understandings of publics.
Alongside this, in Ecologies of Curating, through site visits, lectures and workshops you will gain a curatorial insight into the complex and diverse range of spaces and places, galleries, museums and organisations, in which curating and programming takes place and on which the contemporary art ecology is dependent. Together these two units allow you to identify the relation between theory and practice in curating and programming, and prepare you for unit 3.
Term 2
In the second term, for unit 3, Curating in a Collaborative Context, you will learn how to work collaboratively in peer groups on a live project brief set with an external partner with a focus on generating curatorial proposals to professional standards of Shortlist and Stage 1 Feasibility. Mastering the skills of proposal development, including the commissioning of artists, designers, and programmers, you will learn the role and value of project research and planning, presentation, mediation, and advocacy. The final project proposal will be presented to external partners for response and critical evaluation.
Term 3
In the final term, as part of the Independent Research Project (IRP), you will work in your groups to curate a display of your project proposal and deliver a public-facing event, designed to generate audiences and critical debate. Additionally, the IRP supports each student to establish their own critical position in the field through the development of either a critical research essay or a creative project development plan.
Program Tuition Fee
Rankings
The Royal College of Art has been ranked the number 1 university for art & design internationally for the 9th consecutive year, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 – the largest world-wide survey of academic and industry opinion.
Scholarships and Funding
House of Fraser Bursary
Supporting students in any MA programme from the UK (Preferably Scottish nationals), experiencing financial hardship
Eligible Programmes: Architecture MA, Interior Design MA, City Design MA, Environmental Architecture MA, Ceramics & Glass MA, Contemporary Art Practice MA, Curating Contemporary Art MA, V&A/RCA History of Design MA, Jewellery & Metal MA, Painting MA, Photography MA, Print MA, Sculpture MA, Writing MA, Animation MA, Digital Direction MA, Information Experience Design MA, Visual Communication MA, Design Products MA, Fashion MA, Global Innovation Design MA/MSc, Innovation Design Engineering MA/MSc, Intelligent Mobility MA, Service Design MA, Textiles MA
Funding Categories: Financial hardship, Full time, Student preferably of Scottish origin
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: £10,000
Sir Frank Bowling Scholarships
The Scholarship supports 21 UK MA, MRes and PhD students every year from across all RCA MA, MRes and PhD disciplines.
Eligible Programmes: Architecture MA, Interior Design MA, City Design MA, Environmental Architecture MA, Architecture Pathway MRes RCA, Architecture MPhil/PhD, Ceramics & Glass MA, Contemporary Art Practice MA, Curating Contemporary Art MA, V&A/RCA History of Design MA, Jewellery & Metal MA, Painting MA, Photography MA, Print MA, Sculpture MA, Writing MA, Fine Arts & Humanities Pathway MRes RCA, Arts & Humanities MPhil/PhD, Animation MA, Digital Direction MA, Information Experience Design MA, Visual Communication MA, Communication Design Pathway MRes RCA, Communication MPhil/PhD, Design Products MA, Fashion MA, Global Innovation Design MA/MSc, Innovation Design Engineering MA/MSc, Intelligent Mobility MA, Service Design MA, Textiles MA, Design Pathway MRes RCA, Design MPhil/PhD, Healthcare & Design MRes, Intelligent Mobility MPhil/PhD, Materials Science MPhil/PhD, Computer Science MPhil/PhD
Funding Categories: Financial hardship, Students with Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage, or mixed Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage
Eligible fee status: UK fee status
Value: £21,000
The Tony Snowdon Scholarship
Applicants must make an application via the application portal on the Snowdon Trust website from Jan 2023: https://www.snowdontrust.org/scholarships
Eligible Programmes: Architecture MA, Interior Design MA, City Design MA, Environmental Architecture MA, Architecture Pathway MRes RCA, Ceramics & Glass MA, Contemporary Art Practice MA, Curating Contemporary Art MA, V&A/RCA History of Design MA, Jewellery & Metal MA, Painting MA, Photography MA, Print MA, Sculpture MA, Writing MA, Fine Arts & Humanities Pathway MRes RCA, Animation MA, Digital Direction MA, Information Experience Design MA, Visual Communication MA, Communication Design Pathway MRes RCA, Design Products MA, Fashion MA, Global Innovation Design MA/MSc, Innovation Design Engineering MA/MSc, Intelligent Mobility MA, Service Design MA, Textiles MA, Design Pathway MRes RCA, Healthcare & Design MRes
Funding Categories: Financial hardship, Students with a diagnosed physical or sensory disability
Eligible fee status: Any
Value: Up to £15,000 in tuition fees + £15,000 maintenance support