CCL Fellowship

About the Fellowship

CCL offers leadership training for art museum curators from all art historical specialties. Established in 2007, CCL’s core Fellowship program provides experienced curators with instruction from Columbia Business School faculty and exposure to real- world challenges faced by cultural institutions today.

Mentoring is a key element of the program and extends the learning outside of the classroom. Every year, directors and trustees from major museums across the world host Fellows for a weeklong residency (Click here for a complete list of placements). In addition to providing Fellows with mentors of their own, CCL charges its Fellows to mentor young people from communities that are underrepresented within the current ranks of the curatorial profession. Click here for more information on the Diversity Mentoring Initiative.

Applicants

CCL accepts applications from full-time curators working in art museums in North America and abroad; ten to twelve applicants are accepted each year. CCL looks for inspired individuals with an established record of:

Curatorial achievement: Successful candidates are distinguished within their fields of expertise but are interested in developing new skills that would enable them to become valuable partners in institutional decision making.

Advancing Equity: CCL believes that diversity, representation, and inclusion are synonymous with excellence. Successful candidates have demonstrated commitment to fostering these values both within their institutions and in the field at large.

Leadership experience: CCL is interested in applicants who look beyond their curatorial responsibilities. Many candidates have managed teams, mentored emerging professionals, and partnered with colleagues both within their museums and across the profession. Successful candidates seek to contribute to the larger goals of their organizations and engage in questions facing the field at large.

Creative and entrepreneurial thinking: CCL curators are innovative problem solvers and forward-looking agents of change. In the program, they learn not only subject-specific skills like managerial accounting, but also habits of strategic thinking that will help them solve problems, foster institutional change and build relationships throughout the museum and beyond.

Program Components and Dates

The program extends from January to May or June and includes the following segments:

• A two-week intensive program in New York City in January that includes teaching from faculty members at Columbia Business School and practical exposure and assignments provided by museums, cultural institutions, foundations, and other civic organizations across the city.
• A five-day individual residency in March or April with a museum director from an institution other than the Fellow’s home institution.
• A diversity mentoring project, designed, planned and implemented by the Fellow, assigned in January and covering the span of the Fellowship, intended to introduce young people from communities that are underrepresented within the current ranks of the curatorial profession to museum careers.
• A concluding week in May or June, crafted to the particular needs and experiences of the class. It includes instruction, coaching, and the presentation of a team assignment.

CCL 2025 Dates:

• The two-week intensive will take place in New York City from January 5-17, 2025.
• The dates of each residency are selected by the Fellow and the residency host based on the activities in the host museum.
• The concluding week of instruction will be determined following the selection of the 2025 class.

Curriculum

CCL carefully crafts a program that integrates theoretical presentations with practical application. In January, professors from Columbia Business School teach concentrated courses in nonprofit management, finance, negotiation, and long- range and short-term strategic initiatives. Engagements with museum directors, administrators, trustees, civic officials, and other cultural leaders provide insight into different models of leadership and the issues facing today’s institutions. 

The following areas are important topics addressed by the program:

• Change management
• Decision making
• Managing up
• Financial management
• Strategy
• Negotiation
• Organizational alignment
• Leading teams
• Governance
• Leadership and Personality 

In addition to this instruction, CCL Fellows engage with influential museum directors, administrators, trustees, civic officials, and other cultural leaders. These sessions provide CCL Fellows with unparalleled opportunities to not only discuss the current state of museums and cultural leadership but also receive hands-on instruction regarding strategy, fundraising, and board development.

Time Commitment 

Fellows must commit to full participation in all aspects of the CCL program, ensuring complete availability for all sessions and a wholly immersive Fellowship experience.  There will be four weeks of intensive in-person sessions that will not allow for concurrent obligations, during these times fellows are required to prioritize CCL as their primary commitment. In addition, Fellows are also expected to engage in ongoing projects that will demand their time and attention throughout the full five-month program.

Cost

CCL is proud to announce that, with the support of our Board of Trustees, the 2025 Fellowship will be tuition free. CCL covers the majority of travel, hotel, and food costs related to the program. For the two weeks in January in New York City and the final week of the program, the majority of meals and transportation from Monday through Friday will be organized by CCL; Fellows will be responsible for covering a small number of expenses for taxis and other incidentals. For the five-day residency, CCL will arrange the booking and payment of hotel and travel reservations and Fellows will receive a daily stipend for meals, transportation, and incidentals.

SUPPORT

CCL is grateful to its generous funders who make the CCL Fellowship possible, including the Board of Trustees and CCL Alumni. Lead support for the CCL Fellowship is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ford Foundation, Agnes Gund, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Susan and Charles Sawyers, and Thomas and Alice Tisch. Major support is provided by Charina Endowment Fund, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, Leon Levy Foundation, Marnie Pillsbury, Emily Pulitzer, Teiger Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Alice L. Walton Foundation.

The CCL Fellowship is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the National Endowment for the Arts.