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Purpose

The Aboriginal Curators Delegation to the Venice Biennale is an initiative to expand the international careers of Canadian Aboriginal curators through a collective presence at the 2011 Venice Biennale.

Competition Closing Date

Complete applications and support material must be postmarked on or before 1 March 2011. Late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Eligibility: Who can apply?

Four 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 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 necessary 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 more time to curatorial activity, if financially feasible.

Full time students are not eligible to apply.

Grant Amount

The delegation will leave Canada on 1 June 2011 (for arrival in Venice on 2 June 2011) and return on 9 June 2011. Cost of economy airfare and airport transfers will be covered by the grant, and will be based on your actual costs.

Accommodation for 7 nights in Venice will be provided, registration fees 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.

NOTE: As hotel and apartment vacancies are difficult to acquire during the Venice Biennale all accommodation will be pre-arranged, a shared common area accommodation with separate bedrooms has already been secured.

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.

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

Please download and 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.