Curatorial Residency Program
The displacement of Bay Area artists and loss of non-profit arts spaces contributes to an increasingly homogenous and culturally inequitable arts landscape. Artists and community-based organizations contribute to the resilience of communities by creating space for people to come together, share their stories, celebrate beauty, mourn community losses, and transform their thinking. SOMArts provides a platform for artists’ intersectional identities through the Curatorial Residency program — A unique opportunity for emerging curators and artists to gain mentorship and support to execute a large-scale exhibition in our 31,000 square foot gallery. Prioritizing the voices of underrepresented artists, three residencies are awarded each season through an open call process. The residency is designed to offer emerging and mid-career artists and curators tools to further their curatorial practice and explore timely social issues.
Artists and curators selected for the program receive project grants up to $6,000, exhibition space in the SOMArts Main Gallery, installation, technical and event production support, and community engagement and public relations support from SOMArts’ experienced staff. This 9-month incubator has supported a wide range of artists, curators and cultural communities ranging from The Third Muslim (curated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yas Ahmed, 2018), Visions into Infinite Archives (curated by Black Salt Collective, 2016), WorkMORE! #6 (curated by Mica Sigourney, 2014) to Mourning & Scars: 20 Years After The War (curated by Roxana Leiva, 2013).
2020–2021 CURATORIAL RESIDENTS
Antoine Hunter, Bay Area Deaf Arts
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 14, 2021, 6-9pm
Exhibition Run: Friday, January 15–Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Fátima Ramírez, Josué Rojas, & Mauricio Ramírez,
CARAVANA: Mobilizing Central American Art (1984–Present)
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 11, 2021, 6–9pm
Exhibition Run: Friday, March 12–Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Duygu Gün and Bengu Gün, Mother’s Bosom
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 15, 2021
Exhibition run: Friday, July 16–Tuesday, August 24, 2021
PAST CURATORIAL RESIDENCIES
2019–2020
- Future Relations: A Resource for Radical Teaching presents F.T.P. curated by Fred Alvarado, Thomas Jones, and David Petrelli
- Recoding CripTech curated by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey Dolich Felt
- Unbound Roots curated by Alie Jones and Toshia Christal
2018–2019 - Reorienting the Imaginaries curated by Robin Birdd, Anh Bui, Shirin Makaremi, Renae Moua, and Lena Sok
- Forever, A Moment: Black Meditations on Time and Space curated by Yetunde Olagbaju and Kevin Bernard Moultrie Daye
2017–2018
- Diasporic Alchemy curated by Louis Chinn and missTANGQ
- The Third Muslim: Queer and Trans Muslim Narratives of Resistance and Resilience curated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yas Ahmed
- Game Recognize Game curated by Dania Cabello
2016–2017
- FOREIGN LANGUAGE MAGIC WORD MOTHER TONGUE curated by the New Urban Naturalists
- We’re Still Working: The Art of Sex Work curated by Maxine Holloway and Javier Luis Hurtado
- Touch On curated by James Fleming and Kelly Lovemonster
2015–2016
- Timeless Motion curated by Kerry Laitala, Antonella Bonfanti, Kathleen Quillian, Scott Stark and Mark Wilson
- Visions into Infinite Archives curated by the Black Salt Collective
- A Place of Her Own curated by Cynthia Tom
2014–2015
- DIS/PLAY curated by Fran Osborne
- Refuge in Refuse curated by Robin Lasser, Danielle Siembieda and Barbara Boissevain
- Glamorgeddon curated by Johanna Poethig, Angelica Muro and Hector Dionisio Mendoza
2013–2014
- WORK MORE! curated by Mica Sigourney
- Hidden Cities curated by Pireeni Sundaralingam
- All Possible Futures curated by Jon Sueda
2012–2013
- Dial Collect curated by Calcagno Cullen
- Overturn the Artifice curated by Jack Leamy
- Mourning and Scars curated by Roxana Leiva