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Purpose

The Aboriginal Curators Delegation to the Sydney Biennale and New Zealand is an initiative to expand the international careers of Canadian Aboriginal curators through a collective presence at the 2010 Sydney Biennale and through a tour of New Zealand Maori visual art venues hosted by Creative New Zealand.

Competition Closing Date: 1 February 2010

Complete applications and support material must be postmarked on or before 1 February 2010. Late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

Eligibility: Who can apply?

Six Aboriginal curators at various stages in their careers will be selected to participate in the delegation. You must have at least three years of professional experience as a curator. You must also have some previous international experience. Both institutional and independent curators are welcome to apply.

This initiative is only open to Aboriginal people of Canada, who the Canada Council for the Arts defines as Status, Non-Status, Inuit and Métis people. 

You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You must also meet the Canada Council’s definition of a professional curator, which is someone, who:

• Has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions)
• Is recognized as such by his or her peers through a history of public presentations of their work in a professional context, and
• Has produced an independent body of work;
• Has made at least three public presentations of his or her work over a three-year period; and
• Has written at least two critical texts that have been published in a professional context.
• Is committed to devoting a majority of his or her time to curatorial activity, if financially feasible.

Full time students are not eligible to apply.

Grant Amount

The delegation will leave Canada on 3 May 2010 and return on 19 May 2010. Cost of economy airfare and airport transfers will be covered by the grant, and will be based on your actual costs.

Accommodation for six nights in New Zealand will be provided, as well as accommodation for eight nights in Sydney. Registration fees for the Sydney Biennale will be covered, and each delegate will receive a per diem amount which can be used to pay for meals and incidental expenses.

Any expenses incurred as a result of activities beyond the scope of the delegation or of the scheduled dates are the responsibility of the delegate.

Assessment of Applications

Assessment Process

Applications to participate in this delegation will be evaluated by an internal assessment committee composed of coordinators and program officers from the Aboriginal Arts Office, Visual Arts Section and Audience and Market Development Office as well as one external assessor.  

Before meeting, the assessment committee members will review all eligible applications. At the meeting, each application will be discussed and support material reviewed according to the assessment criteria. The decisions made by the committee are final. 

Assessment Criteria

Your application will be assessed based on the merit of the work that you submit and the potential positive impact of your participation in this delegation on your career development and on the overall profile of Canadian Aboriginal arts abroad. You should include in your application a statement about how this experience will impact your work.

Application Form

You should download the application form in the Audience and Market Development Travel Grants program.

Please complete the application form, and attach the following:

• Your most recent Curriculum Vitae
• Impact statement (no longer than 1500 words)
• Two of your recent professional publications (critical texts) 

Notification of Results

You will be notified, in writing, of the results of the competition approximately one month after the competition closing date.

The names of the successful candidates are available upon written request three months after the notification of results has been released.