Courtauld Institute and National Portrait Gallery join forces for new curators: new academic partnership in London

Two prestigious London institutions, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), have announced a new academic partnership that will give postgraduate curating students direct access to the gallery’s collections, archives and staff. The long-term agreement will be integrated into the Courtauld’s MA Curating program, giving students a rare chance to learn the profession from inside one of the world’s best-known museums.

The first cohort of students will enroll in 2027 and take part in the new National Portrait Gallery module in spring 2028. The 12-week elective module, titled “Working within Institutions”, will be open to 12 of the program’s 48 students and will be taught jointly by NPG professionals and Courtauld academics.

During the module, students will immerse themselves in the gallery’s archives and study the methods of conserving, managing, expanding and exhibiting the collection. The program will also cover the development of major exhibitions, learning programs, public-engagement strategies and access issues. Mark Hallett, the Courtauld’s director, told The Art Newspaper the module would offer students “a comprehensive introduction to institutional work”, exploring curatorial roles alongside other areas such as registration, education and development, and highlighting “the specialist skills, teamwork and modes of public engagement needed to run a large-scale museum successfully”.

The collaboration grew out of conversations over the past year between Hallett and Victoria Siddall, the National Portrait Gallery’s director. Hallett described it as “a shared ambition to train a brilliant new generation of curators”, stressing that hands-on experience, alongside theory, must be central to the degree, “so that they are ready to go straight into the sector”. In a statement, Siddall expressed hope the partnership would “create meaningful opportunities for students and help shape the future of our sector”, also serving “our thinking about what museums can be today”. A Courtauld spokesperson told The Art Newspaper the new program would run as “an annual opportunity for each new master’s cohort” and would be offered “alongside other practice options” within the curating course.

The initiative comes three years after the NPG’s reopening following a major development project. The Courtauld is also developing its academic campus at Somerset House on the Strand, which has been closed to students since 2018. The MA Curating program currently runs at the Vernon Square campus near King’s Cross and is led by Devika Singh (former curator of international art at Tate Modern) and Sofia Gotti (part of the curatorial team of the 2024 Venice Biennale); both will also be guest curators of the “Spotlight” section at Frieze Masters in London this October.

Source: USA Art News (via The Art Newspaper) — https://usaartnews.com/news/courtauld-and-npg-launch-curatorial-partnership/