The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL), New York, has recently received almost $4 million in funding from institutions and individual donations. The new grants mark the end of CCL’s five-year pilot phase, and will enable cofounders Agnes Gund and Elizabeth W. Easton to expand the CCL’s programs over the next five years.
Among the program’s alumni are Gary Tinterow (director, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) Colin B. Bailey (soon to be director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), Michael Taylor (director, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth University) and Christophe Cherix (chief curator of prints and illustrated books, Museum of Modern Art, New York).
“Even though we have great statistics and metrics about our graduates’ professional success, in my heart it’s really not about advancing people up the food chain, it’s more about making curators better citizens,” Easton, CCL director, told A.i.A. by phone today. “Curators have a reputation for being focused on their exhibitions and publications, but with the skill set that CCL encourages, our graduates reach out and take a more sympathetic view of the other museum professionals who support their work.”
Since its founding in 2007, the CCL has trained curators from across the United States in executive leadership programs. Fellows participate in a program of residencies, mentorships, cultural projects and coursework meant to cultivate museum leadership from within the curatorial field.
The CCL’s new funding includes continued support from Gund, and a lead grant of $1 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Ford Foundation, the Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Fund at the Lauder Foundation, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Charina Endowment Fund and the Neubauer Family Foundation have also provided major funding.
PHOTO: CCL’s graduating class of 2013. Back row: Leo Jansen, Rebecca Rabinow, Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Nina Zimmer, Jason T. Busch. Front row: Andrea Grover, Emily Neff, Carlos Basualdo, Jessica Todd Smith, Judith Dolkart.
