V&A launches regional training scheme for photography curators
Two-year pilot to build expertise and unlock "dormant" collections
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is launching a two-year pilot programme to enable regional museums develop their photography collections and build specialist curatorial expertise.
The programme, which is supported by the Art Fund, will enable the V&A to work with two regional museum partners, one in each year, and offer mentoring and practical training in photograph curatorship to two paid trainee curators.
The programme is aimed at regional museums with art photography collections. The V&A said the programme aims to address the fact that many photography collections in the UK are “dormant” and inaccessible to the public because of a lack of peer support, specialist knowledge and financial resources in regional institutions.
The programme hopes to enable museums in the UK to develop expertise, raise the public profile of their permanent photograph collections and improve public access to them. The scheme is also intended to build collaborative partnerships and lay the foundation for a subject specialist network for photography curators in future.
The two trainees will spend six months training in the photography section of the V&A’s Word and Image Department, and will then undertake a standalone photography project at the partner museum under the guidance of a V&A mentor.
Projects may include an exhibition, publication, cataloguing of the collection or a refocus of collections policy.
The deadline for applications from prospective regional museum partners is 11 August.
The programme, which is supported by the Art Fund, will enable the V&A to work with two regional museum partners, one in each year, and offer mentoring and practical training in photograph curatorship to two paid trainee curators.
The programme is aimed at regional museums with art photography collections. The V&A said the programme aims to address the fact that many photography collections in the UK are “dormant” and inaccessible to the public because of a lack of peer support, specialist knowledge and financial resources in regional institutions.
The programme hopes to enable museums in the UK to develop expertise, raise the public profile of their permanent photograph collections and improve public access to them. The scheme is also intended to build collaborative partnerships and lay the foundation for a subject specialist network for photography curators in future.
The two trainees will spend six months training in the photography section of the V&A’s Word and Image Department, and will then undertake a standalone photography project at the partner museum under the guidance of a V&A mentor.
Projects may include an exhibition, publication, cataloguing of the collection or a refocus of collections policy.
The deadline for applications from prospective regional museum partners is 11 August.