Curatorial Associates Program – Sydney X Ho Chi Minh City

IMAGE CREDIT: Curatorial tour from ‘Pollination 2018’. Image courtesy of The Factory

About the opportunity

The Australia Council’s Curatorial Associates Program gives Australian curators a unique opportunity to build Asia consciousness and capability, foster relationships with international artists and develop an understanding of alternative curatorial contexts.

We work in partnership with select local hosts and counterparts in South and South East Asia to support a range of experiences.

In 2020 we are offering two associateships for Australian curators in Asia:

The successful candidate will receive an amount of $8000 AUD and are responsible for their own travel, visas, accommodation, meals and allied expenses for the 6 week period of the program.

The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre

The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre is the first purpose-built space for contemporary art in Vietnam. As an independent organisation, the space is:

  • a ‘factory’ of critical ideas
  • a site of constant physical transformation
  • a network of people who strive to speak about tangible and intangible cultural memories that matter and are indelibly unique.

The Factory understands the social system that they operate in, but want to challenge its limits, acknowledging artists today as interdisciplinary thinkers who reveal unique ways of conceiving our journey into the 21st Century – artists’ ideas are nurtured and celebrated as constructive observations of our social world.

Zoe Butt serves as the current Artistic Director of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and the selected candidate will spend 6 weeks with the team assisting the realisation of ‘Re-Aligning the Cosmos’ project, which will be in production mode from April – November 2020.

In a reciprocal piece, a Vietnamese curator will be hosted for a 6 week period at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Applications for the incoming curator from Vietnam will be managed through 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

Please check the general eligibility requirements  on the Australia Council website.

NB: Vietnamese speakers are strongly encouraged to apply.

Australia Council staff will consider applications according to the assessment criteria in consultation with the hosts in Australia and Vietnam.

You should address the following criteria in your application:

  • An open mind towards what constitutes curatorial labour
  • Skills in writing, research and artist/organisation liaison
  • Sensitivities toward government regulations surrounding art and culture in Vietnam
  • Interest in contemporary art in Asia
  • How the proposed activity strengthens your professional practice
  • The timeliness of the proposed activity to your curatorial trajectory
  • How the proposed activity enables you to discover and work with new artists in emerging markets
  • How the proposed activity grows your capacity as a curator
  • Your ability to work effectively across a range of contexts and cultures
  • Your approach to working collaboratively and willingness to do logistical work
  • Additional material can be submitted to help support your application, including a CV and letters of support.
  • You are not required to submit a budget with your application.

The Australia Council encourages applications from applicants who identify as First Nations, from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disability, and people living in regional and remote areas.

The Australia Council’s programs and processes are designed for accessibility and best use by a diverse demographic. We work with individual applicants to find the best approach to accommodating access, childcare, carer and other support needs. Please contact us at least 2 weeks prior to the closing date to discuss your access and support requirements.

The way Australia Council grants payments are made has changed. Effective immediately, grant recipients will no longer send an invoice for payment of a grant. Instead, after you accept our offer of funding, we will pay your grant into your nominated bank account and send you a Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI).

Important information for administered grants

If you plan to have your grant administered by a third party, applicants will now need to ensure that the administrator is registered on the Australia Council online system before you begin your application. This means you cannot complete or submit an application if your administrator is not registered.

Click on the ‘Apply now’ button at the bottom of this page. Applications must be submitted via the Australia Council’s online system.

Note: applications to International Development Opportunities do not count as an application to the Australia Council Grants Program.

If you are applying as an organisation, please specify the staff member(s) who will participate in this activity as part of your application. If this changes, please notify us as early as possible as this may affect the status of your application.

A print friendly MS Word file can be accessed here.

Applications are now closed

Applications close:  7 February 2020, 11:59pm (AEDT)

Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Role: Curatorial, research, writing, production, artist/organisation liaison

Length of placement: 6 weeks

Dates: April – May 2020 (exact dates to be confirmed with The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre)

Grant amount: $8,000 AUD

Notification: 6 March 2020

Contact

To discuss your application, please contact Nithya Nagarajan, International Market Adviser, South and South East Asia.

Ph: +61 2 9215 9324

E: n.nagarajan@creative.gov.au 

Related Links

Eligibility

You can only submit one application to this closing date for Arts Projects – Organisations.

Only organisations may apply to this category.

Organisations that provide a service to the arts are welcome to apply. International organisations can apply for projects that benefit practicing Australian artists, their work or Australian audiences.

Applications for funding to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander panel must come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

You can’t apply for a grant if:

  • you have already submitted an application to this closing date for Arts Projects – Organisations
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to the Australia Council
  • you are an individual or group
  • you receive funding through the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework
  • you will receive multi-year investment via the Four Year Funding program from 2021 to 2024.

We fund a range of activities, for example:

  • professional skills development, including mentoring and residencies
  • the creation of new work
  • practice based research
  • creative development
  • experimentation
  • collaborations
  • touring
  • festivals
  • productions
  • exhibitions
  • performances
  • publishing
  • recording
  • activities to develop the arts sector
  • promotion and marketing
  • market development activity
  • activities that creatively engage communities.

You can’t apply for the following activity:

  • projects or activities that do not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or arts professionals
  • projects or activities that do not have a clearly defined arts component
  • projects that have already taken place.

Once you submit your application, we will send you an email acknowledging receipt of your application.

After you submit your application, we first check it meets the eligibility criteria for the grant or opportunity to which you are applying.

Applications to the Australia Council Grant Programs are assessed by arts practice peer panels against the published assessment criteria for the relevant grant program.

We aim to notify you of the outcome of your application no later than 12 weeks after the published closing date for the applicable grant round.

 

The Australia Council also offers a variety of other grants and opportunities which are not assessed in the same way. Please refer the guidelines for the relevant grant or opportunity to find out how it is assessed.

Useful links

For FAQ’s relating to the grants model, please click here.

Please contact the Artists Services team.