Currently 3 active curatorial grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Asymmetry Art Foundation and Nottingham Contemporary offer a fully funded two-year Assistant Curator Fellowship embedded in the curatorial team of one of Europe's leading contemporary art institutions. The fellowship is geared towards an early-career curator who, to any extent, identifies with Chinese or Sinophone cultures or backgrounds, continuing Asymmetry's programme of curatorial fellowships at UK institutions (previous placements include Chisenhale Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery). WHAT YOU DO: contribute to exhibitions, artist commissions, live programmes, research, writing and institutional development, working across all stages of projects while developing independent curatorial work and joining Asymmetry's international network of scholars and practitioners. WHAT YOU GET: an annual salary of GBP 27,556 plus pension and National Insurance contributions, annual leave plus UK bank holidays, visa and legal fee assistance where required, and a travel and relocation allowance. ELIGIBILITY: early-career curators with roughly 1 to 3 years of experience, an educational background in art history, cultural studies or related fields, familiarity with contemporary artistic practices, direct experience collaborating with artists, and proficiency in English. Applications must be in English; accessibility support is available via fellowship@asymmetryart.org. APPLICATION: via the Asymmetry application portal. DEADLINE: 25 October 2026. The fellowship runs 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2029.
The UCLA Library Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP), funded by Arcadia, grants its ninth cohort of awards to preserve, document and digitize cultural heritage collections at risk from environmental conditions, political uncertainty, inherently unsustainable media, inappropriate storage, or communal and social change. IN SCOPE: 20th and 21st century materials, including print, photographic, film, video, audio, ephemeral and born-digital objects; all funded materials are published open access in the UCLA Library Digital Collections repository. GRANT TYPES: Planning Grants up to USD 20,000 over one year for organization, survey and inventory work before digitization; Project Grants up to USD 70,000 over two years for digitization and metadata creation on collections ready to digitize, or for curating existing digital assets; Regional Grants up to USD 100,000 over two years for digital collections combining materials from three or more institutions, families or archival repositories around one theme, community or historical event, hosted by an organizing institution with prior MEAP grant experience (consult MEAP staff before applying). There is also an invitation-only Emergency Grant track up to USD 10,000 (email meap@library.ucla.edu), and a new AV Grants track up to USD 100,000 for audiovisual archives opening April 2027 with selections in September 2027. TIMELINE: applications opened 14 September 2026; preliminary application webinar 15 October 2026; preliminary applications due Monday 16 November 2026 at 11:59pm Pacific Time via meap.smapply.io; preliminary decisions December 2026; detailed applications due 12 February 2027; awards announced summer 2027. Applications name teams working with the institutions, families or repositories that hold the collections; read the Program Guidelines and Project Eligibility documents on the MEAP site before applying.
apexart's Open Calls turn a curatorial idea into a funded apexart exhibition, selected by a crowdsourced international jury of more than 600 people in 70 countries. WHO CAN SUBMIT: anyone, from anywhere, with no fees at any level: trained and student curators, artists, writers and creative people regardless of experience, background or location. HOW: a 500-word proposal for a focused, idea-driven, original group exhibition, submitted through the online form during the proposal window. TWO ANNUAL WINDOWS: every October for exhibitions in apexart's NYC space, and every February (to early March) for exhibitions taking place anywhere in the world except NYC; for the international call you must propose a location you have actually visited, with the specific venue settled after selection. SELECTION: jurors vote anonymously online (each proposal gets an equal number of views, submitter names hidden); proposals are judged on the strength of the idea and how well it is communicated, not on connections or CV. WHAT WINNERS GET: a USD 10,000 budget (USD 8,000 for expenses, up to USD 2,000 curator honorarium, plus up to USD 1,000 venue-rental match outside NYC), with apexart covering insurance, publicity, the printed brochure, the opening reception and most logistics including loan agreements and shipping, and staff working closely with the guest curator. Winning proposals become part of apexart's next exhibition season. Check the site for the current window's exact dates; submission forms only go live during the proposal periods.