OPEN CALL: Curator in Residence, 2023-2025

PS² is delighted to announce the call for our curator(s)-in-residence programme, supported by funds from Belfast City Council. 

About this opportunity: 

In 2023/24, we are targeting our curator(s)-in residence opportunity specifically towards those from minority cultural or ethnic backgrounds/identities who are under-represented in curatorial practice, including, but not limited to, applicants from: Black, Asian, Traveller, Asylum Seeker, Refugee, mixed and other culturally/ethnically diverse backgrounds. 

As an established organisation with a profound track record in nurturing the professional development of NI-based visual artists and practitioners, PS² has a responsibility to address a range of inequities and to identify the resources and expertise to support those selected for these opportunities. 

This is the first time we aim to fund this role upfront, in recognition of the financial barrier that exists for those who are already structurally disadvantaged. Whilst fundraising is an essential development skill that this role offers, the funded component will allow the curator(s) to settle into the role and the organisation, building networks and engaging communities, prior to any fundraising needs to take place. 

Alongside the opportunity to realise exhibitions and events - onsite and offsite - PS² can offer the curator(s) an office for curatorial research, networking and meetings (24hr access, wifi, printer) for the duration of the residency period. You can refer to a floor plan for the Project Space, if you wish, here and the PS² Accessibility and Inclusion Guide here.

About the curator(s)-in-residence programme:

The programme was established in 2011 and has hosted a number of curators who have gone on to make substantial contributions to the arts in the city and beyond. The programme offers a chance to work closely with PS² and to gain practical experience, supported by project artists, and PS² staff. The curator(s)-in-residence develop curatorial research and new projects, supported by the organisation. For PS², this is an exciting opportunity to be exposed to new ideas, fresh approaches, new networks and critique. This is an important long-term professional development programme for curators. Read more about how previous curators have approached the role here. 

Application Procedure

To apply, please send the following to Jane jane@pssquared.org by Extended to Friday 30th June, 6pm

:

• An application form, which you can find here as a Word document and as a PDF. 
  
• Your CV
  
• An Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form
  

Applicants with specific access needs can submit their application in an alternative format and are offered in-person support. Please email jane@pssquared.org if you would like to receive this information in a different format, e.g. paper format, large print version. You can view our Access and Inclusion Guide by clicking here. 

PS² is committed to equal opportunities in recruitment and employment. PS² strongly seeks to diversify our work, and recognise that opportunities for inclusion, both within the arts, and within Belfast, can be limited. Despite Belfast’s status as a City of Sanctuary, a recent report has found that many ethnic minority residents of Belfast still face racism, isolation and poverty. 

PS² acknowledges intersections with additional barriers - which may include lower socio-economic backgrounds, d/Deaf applicants and/or neurodiverse applicants, applicants with disabilities or long-term health difficulties, applicants with LGBTQIA+ identities, applicants with no formal education and of older age - and encourages applicants from Black, Asian, Traveller, Asylum Seeker, Refugee, mixed and other culturally/ethnically diverse backgrounds to indicate where PS² can provide additional support or resources to mediate these additional barriers. 

This opportunity is funded by Belfast City Council’s Arts & Heritage Small Grants scheme.

Online information session, Thursday 25 May, 1pm

Got questions about our curator(s)-in-residence opportunity, or the artist parent/artist carer residency? 

We’re hosting a Zoom session on Thursday 25 May at 1pm where we will do our best to answer them! We’ll also record the session for those of you who can’t make it. Please email jane@pssquared.org to receive the Zoom link. Feel free to send any questions in advance!

1pm - 1.30pm: we’ll take your questions on the artist parent/artist carer residency 

1.30pm - 2pm: we’ll take questions on the curator(s)-in-residence opportunity 

Please let us know as soon as possible if you have any access requirements or translation requirements for this session. 

Click here to access the Zoom recording. 

Additional information

About us

PS² started in 1993 as a self-organised artist- and studio collective in Belfast, with currently 9 studio artists and 3 year-long residency programmes for: a curator, critical writing and a collective. In 2004, a small ground floor shop in the studio building was used as a project space for invited artists. The project space quickly became an attractive and important platform for local and trans-local artists to experiment and create new and site specific work, open to the public. Funded by the Arts Council and other sources, PS² soon established an annual arts programme of around 20-25 projects with mainly emerging artists and cultural producers.
Chosen from proposals, invitations, recommendations, open calls and chance encounters, PS² works on average with 40-70 artists a year, in the project space and with longer term projects at outside locations in community contexts.
PS² has a clear curatorial vision and curiosity, working with artists whose work is experimental, original, risk-taking, of social relevance- and- artistically brilliant.
PS² is a vital springboard for the development of artists’ careers within the arts ecosystem of Northern Ireland (see Freelands Artists programme) and a feeder to larger organisations. PS² projects assist many artists being rewarded with individual funding, residencies, travel awards and /or employment in the arts sector. With innovative project formats of open calls, we specifically target artists and cultural producers, who might otherwise remain undetected and unsupported.