The ESAP Fellowship supports and empowers early stage visual arts curators, educators and administrators working in United States arts spaces and institutions. Through building a long-lasting peer support system, and providing navigational tools and opportunities to create expanded professional networks and communities, the Foundation creates equitable visual arts career pathways and ultimately aims to strengthen and diversify the internal ecosystems of United States art institutions.
Our programs provide access to networks, professional development workshops, international research travel, mentorship, relational and soft skills coaching, and financial support for navigating systemic inequities. Each year, a different jury of esteemed arts professionals nominates candidates based on an agreed upon set of criteria, and we invite six of those individuals to participate in the fellowship cohort. Our guest program director, an arts professional who has already successfully navigated the challenges facing the respective cohort, designs the annual program details with a focus on the relational skills that specific cohort requires for career growth.
During the ten-month fellowship, the Foundation provides five empowerment prongs:
The Foundation collaborates with VERGE, a recruiting and human resources agency that focuses on the global majority, to provide the fifth empowerment prong. This prong includes access to additional mentorship opportunities, coaching, and career growth support.
César García-Alvarez
The Foundation’s inaugural Fellowship cohort consisted of six Latinx/e curators.
During the ten-month program, the fellowship provided five empowerment prongs: mentorship with a senior curator, a series of workshops with professionals focusing on relational skills, an unrestricted financial grant to help meet the cost of living, a robust international research trip, and ongoing support for professional growth through a partnership with VERGE, the recruiting and human resources agency.
The inaugural cohort traveled together to the 60th Venice Biennale vernissage, curated by Adriano Pedroso, in April 2024. In Venice, fellows attended events, tours, and gatherings where the Foundation opened doors to countless potential relationships and opportunities throughout the global arts ecosystem. As part of the Foundation’s partnership with the Biennale, each ESAP Fellow wrote wall and catalogue text for two Biennale featured artists.
With a focus on individuals from the global majority, VERGE matches exceptional talent with exceptional arts organizations—supporting both sides of the equation. The agency maintains career-long relationships with talent to ensure professional success, while providing art galleries, museums and artist foundations with the full-service recruitment and human resources support needed for change.
Carla Acevedo-Yates, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
César García-Alvarez, Executive & Artistic Director of The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, who also serves as the Guest Curatorial Director for the 2024 ESAP Fellowship
Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum
María Elena Ortiz, Curator, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
