Application Deadline: June 30, 2024
Stipend Amount: $14,000 per quarter (Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarter) and tuition, fees, and health insurance covered for the academic year.
Number of Fellowships: 3
The Humanities Institute is excited to announce three new THI Yearlong Public Fellowships through the Moving Image Lab funded by the Mellon Foundation. The Moving Image Lab is a platform from which moving images, photographic works, exhibitions, and publications are produced, and it serves as a space for developing innovative pedagogy that prepares students for understanding and engaging with the diversity of human experience in cultural, historical, and social contexts, and for participation in crucial public conversations and social connectivity through contemporary art. The project is led by world-renowned British installation artist and filmmaker, Sir Isaac Julien KBE RA, and his long-time creative collaborator, producer and international curator Mark Nash. Julien and Nash are Professors in the Arts and Humanities Divisions at UC Santa Cruz
The Moving Image Lab has established 2024-2025 THI Public Fellowships at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Kramlich Collection in Napa, and the Isaac Julien Studio in London. The positions are a re-envisioning of the apprenticeship pedagogic model that emphasizes working as apprentice fellows alongside a highly productive professional artist and curator while gaining insights into their practice and skills. The focus is on honing creative skills as well as developing the professional skills necessary for students to develop and succeed as artists, producers, and curators after graduation. The fellowships provide an educational experience and transformational opportunity for students to engage in the professional practice of great artists.
In particular, this initiative aims to support students and artists of diverse backgrounds who are interested in pursuing careers in the global fields of art, media art, moving images, and arts curation and research.
Fellowship Site 1 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. Supervised by Claudia Schmukli, Curator-in-Charge of Contemporary Art and Programming at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | de Young Legion of Honor
*Download de Young Position Description
Fellowship Site 2 with the Kramlich Collection in Napa, California. Supervised by Evan Moore, Curatorial Assistant, Kramlich Collection
*Download Kramlich Collection Position Description
Fellowship Site 3 with Isaac Julien Studio London (and Moving Image Lab) in London, England, Supervised by Mark Nash and Sir Isaac Julien
*Download Isaac Julien Studio Position Description
Applicants can apply to be considered for all 3 positions and should rank their preference on InfoReady.
Applications will be evaluated based on a range of criteria. Please consider the following questions while writing your application:
- What makes you excited about this fellowship?
- Why are you particularly well qualified for the proposed position? What skills will you bring?
- How does this opportunity advance your PhD and open up opportunities for your career after you graduate?
- How do you envision diversifying the academy, museums, and arts organizations?
Fellows will receive:
- A fellowship stipend of $14,000 per quarter (Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025) and tuition, fees, and health insurance covered for the academic year.
- Each fellow will have access to research and travel funds during the duration of their appointment, amount TBD.
- Mentoring from the Moving Image Lab project, The Humanities Institute, and partner organization
Eligibility: The student must be:
- Enrolled in a doctoral or MFA program at UC Santa Cruz.
- Be within normative time and in good academic standing
- Enrolled in at least five credits of graduate-level coursework. Students are ineligible to apply while on leave.
- Enrolled in the program at least through Spring 2025, with preference given to student enrolled through Fall 2025.
- Interest in contemporary art and moving image is essential.
Application consists of:
- Application on InfoReady including your ranked preference for placements. Each of these fellowships have a requirement to be in person in different locations, including London. We will ask you to confirm on InfoReady that you will be able to meet in person when necessary if selected.
- Cover Letter (1-2 pages) outlining your interests in the positions and your qualifications (your research focus can but does not have to align with the projects).
- Resume (1-2 pages)
- Writing sample (please provide a sample that shows your relationship to contemporary art, moving image, and/or film).
- Contact information for your department Graduate Director who will be required to confirm through InfoReady that you will be within normative time and in good academic standing during the 2024-2025 Academic Year (they will be prompted to do this after you submit your application).
- Brief letter of support from a faculty member. References should submit their letters via InfoReady. When you click “Send Reference Letter Request” on a saved InfoReady draft application, the person will receive an email containing a unique link to a web page to upload their letter.
Make sure you use the “Login for University of California, Santa Cruz Users.” Please follow the steps in our InfoReady Guide if this is your first time using InfoReady. We encourage you to start your application as soon as possible to familiarize yourself with the InfoReady platform.
Once the application closes, top candidates will be selected for an interview via Zoom.
Questions? Please contact The Humanities Institute at thi@ucsc.edu
Banner image: Isaac Julien, Lessons of the Hour, installation view, Tate Britain, 2023. Courtesy the artist.