Watch what happens when you participate in the Curatorial Program’s Practicum. As an essential and exciting component of curatorial training, it offers hands-on work experience in a gallery, museum, archive or other cultural institution. For the motivated student, this immersion in a work environment can provide opportunities for networking, creating strong collegial relationships and easing the transition from academia to a job you have trained for.
Carleton’s strong and dynamic partnerships with local institutions in a wide number of fields is unique. Situated in the National Capital Region, Ottawa-Gatineau provides exceptional access for cultural work experience at all levels — municipal, provincial, national and international.
With the addition of a Curatorial Studies Diploma, Carleton’s Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture will surely develop capable and well-rounded students of high value to employers in the National Capital Region, and across Canada. – Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Library and Archives Canada
The Curatorial Program takes advantage of this geographic situation at every opportunity. A Partnerships and Placement Coordinator is available to find creative solutions with students in defining their projects and arranging placements that are best suited for the student, the institution and Carleton University.
The projects span museum management, exhibition preparation and research, educational programming and film archiving. Partnering institutions have included National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of History, National Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa Art Gallery, Canadian Museum of Nature and Carleton University Art Gallery. Consult our Practicum Partners page for a more extensive list.
“This program has allowed me to work as a curatorial assistant at the Canadian War Museum and to really develop my theoretical knowledge which while continue to inform my curatorial practice.” – Sarafina Pagnotta, Ph.D. Candidate
Students in the Curatorial Program are permitted to count practica completed in the course of their MA studies in other departments against their diploma, provided they submit a report relevant to curatorial work.
Combined with seminars in critical museology and the history of museums and galleries, a`s well as cutting case studies in international museology, the Practicum places our students at an advantage when they make their career move.
All students planning to enrol in a practicum course should carefully review ahead of time assignment requirement and deadlines as detailed in the course outline. Click here to review the Fall 2023 or Winter 2024 course outlines.