Each year, up to 6 CP participants, chosen by a jury of practitioners, join a network of alumni and advisors who continue to transform the social life of art. People of various backgrounds or formations are encouraged to bring their knowhow and experience to the table. They must be as ready to learn from each other as they are from the invited advisors and mentors they will meet along the way.
Over the last 29 years, CP alumni have gone on to lead and to found world-renowned and locally grounded initiatives; many have made strides as curators of biennials and signature exhibitions, and as the artistic directors and teams of the documentas. De Appel’s CP now aims to nurture a new generation of cultural practitioners who are allies of artists and builders of institutions and communities. At stake is the role of art as a space and time to pose vital questions — to pause, to reflect, and to participate meaningfully in processes of profound social change. Defending such a space-time for a broader public sphere takes great resourcefulness and organizational agility.
For further information please contact CP Coordinator Maria Nolla. *
Please send your application to CP Coordinator Maria Nolla before the deadline. Based upon the submitted documents, around twelve candidates will be shortlisted. The shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by the international jury at the end of January 2024 and up to two collectives/six participants will be selected and informed promptly.
Only completed applications will be considered. Applicants who are not selected for an interview will receive an official letter by email. Due to the large amount of applications, there will be no further correspondence about the results.
Your application should consist of one single PDF document, in English, including these items:
1. Cover page including the following information:
Name, nationality, date of birth, country of birth, current address, email and telephone number.
2. Motivation letter, stating why your collective would like to participate in the programme. State clearly which aspects of your collective’s future plan you would like to develop, and from this which questions and resources you plan to bring to the lumbung of collectives-participants (max. 500 words).
3. Responses to the following questions (max. 300 words each):
–What is the social role of an exhibition or art institution in your personal experience and how do you want to shape that role in the future? Include a description of a formative experience with an exhibition or institution.
– What ways of collective living and/or organising do you practise and why do you choose to do so?
4. CVs of the persons in your applying collective, as well as of the collective as a group (max. 2 pages)
5. Two written references of (former) tutors, colleagues, or community members, in English.
This PDF should be emailed by January 15th 2024 to the Curatorial Programme Coordinator Maria Nolla (maria [at] deappel.nl). Any questions can also be emailed to Maria Nolla.
The tuition fee for the Curatorial Programme is 3.000 EUR.
All workshops, sessions, advisors, excursions and travel and transport costs (excluding per diems) related to research for curricular activities are covered by de Appel. De Appel also provides a budget to realize each edition’s final outcome (the format of this public presentation is determined collectively).
Non-European citizens need to apply for a temporary resident permit (student visa). More information can be found on the website of the IND, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service of the Ministry of Security and Justice. The costs for a temporary resident permit for the duration of the programme are 174 EUR. In order to be eligible for the residency permit, a single person should have a monthly minimum budget of 870 EUR throughout their stay in the Netherlands. Any person living in the Netherlands must have health insurance from a Dutch insurance company. The costs is approx. 110 EUR per month.
Participants of the Curatorial Programme are required to live within daily access to Amsterdam during the programme year. To secure housing in Amsterdam you are advised to budget between 700 and 900 EUR for monthly rent. While ultimate responsibility for housing rests with each participant, the Coordinator is able to advise on options.
Please keep in mind that it has become increasingly difficult to find housing in Amsterdam. De Appel strongly advises all participants to start searching for options as soon as they receive confirmation of enrollment.
Participants are eligible for various forms of financial assistance to cover tuition fees and in certain cases living expenses.
We encourage you to inform yourself about opportunities particular to your region and specific needs.
Although de Appel cannot grant stipends, we help selected participants with locating funding opportunities.
For help with identifying private and government grants which may be applicable to you, please contact CP Coordinator Maria Nolla.
The Curatorial Programme of de Appel is a post-graduate course, meaning it does not provide an academic degree. Thus an academic degree is reciprocally not required; curators, artists and cultural practitioners of diverse backgrounds may apply provided that they have proven critical reading and writing skills of a graduate academic level, as well as prior working experience at a public art institution/artist-run space.
De Appel’s Curatorial Programme is a full-time course of study. Seminars and group work are planned four days a week. While travelling, participants are expected to be engaged fully.
This requires participants to commit fully, meaning any external employment, initiatives, writing engagements, activities and participation on committees requires approval in writing by the CP Coordinator.
Submitting feedback
Feedback should be submitted in writing, with a clear motivation and signed by the person submitting it. The feedback should be submitted to the Coordinator of the Curatorial Programme, Maria Nolla: maria [at] deappel.nl, Schipluidenlaan 12, 1062 HE, Amsterdam.
Clearly state your name, date, subject / topic and brief description of the feedback.
Handling of the feedback
All feedback will be responded to by the Coordinator and or the director of de Appel within 14 days.
Complaints will be dealt with within set deadlines. Upon receipt of complaint, de Appel will conduct an investigation and respond within 2 weeks. If more time is required for the investigation this will be specified before the two week investigation period concludes. The qualified team members to receive the complaint include the CP coordinator and one of the members of the direction.
If needed, within 2 weeks the Coordinator will give the person submitting feedback the chance to further elaborate on their feedback. After such a meeting, there will be a moment to evaluate if further steps are needed. If the outcome is not satisfactory, the person giving feedback can decide to file a complaint.
We are committed to a robust conflict resolution process in order to foster a nourishing space. If you have any issues or concerns, please be aware of our process as follows:
1. If comfortable to do so, we strongly encourage all parties involved to speak to one another directly - where safe and appropriate - as we have found that issues can often be resolved this way. If this approach is not possible, any issues or concerns can be dealt with in the following ways:
2. An informal complaint: involves a written statement sent to the directors. An informal complaint will be taken seriously but does not involve an official investigation unless the matter is deemed to be serious and/or criminal.
3. A formal complaint: a formal complaint is investigated through Mores.online and engages the complainant directly. A formal complaint often engages external consultants and mediators. The decision of Mores.online is binding for the Appel and any consequences will be dealt with within 2 weeks.
4. Mediation: This facilitated type of conflict resolution involves an objective third party. If mediation is deemed to be the appropriate process, a discussion occurs with someone from our staff and/or board in conjunction with the affected parties to select an appropriate trained mediator. Mediation may take the form of a transformative justice process, reconciliatory meeting(s), a facilitated conversation etc.
All complaints will be registered and kept on file for five years, and no longer, unless they are explicitly withdrawn, in writing. Complaints received after one month following the conclusion of the Curatorial Programme course cannot be processed by de Appel.
de Appel’s Curatorial Programme is supported by Ammodo and the Stichting Hartwig Foundation.