Announcing the 2025 Class of the CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice

Now in its eleventh year, the Seminar will provide twelve outstanding students from around the world with the opportunity to engage in the critical responsibilities of museums today.

The 2025 class will meet in-person in New York City for an intensive two-week program this July. The curriculum includes one-on-one mentorship, Columbia Business School coursework, conversations with leaders in the field, including curators, CCL alumni, and museum directors, and site visits to museum exhibitions and collections, storage, conservation, artist studios, and more.

With the support of the Mellon Foundation, CCL is proud to provide advanced graduate students and emerging cultural professionals with the knowledge and networks to pursue careers in museums. This year’s class represents eight different universities and diverse fields of study, which include Contemporary Caribbean art, Byzantine art, 18th century French decorative art, Egyptian art, Contemporary African art, and more. The class brings a wide range of scholarship and expertise that promises to expand and advance the impact of our field.

Class of 2025
Paulina Ascencio Fuentes, New York University, Sociocultural Anthropology

Charmaine Branch, Princeton University, Modern and Contemporary Art of the Black Diaspora

Shiro Burnette, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, Egyptian Art and Archaeology

Alexandra Dennett, Harvard University, Modern Art & History of Photography

Rachel Hunter Himes, Columbia University, Visual and material culture; 18th-19th century France and Britain

Elif Karakaya, University of Rochester, Modern and Contemporary Art

Sheyda Aisha Khaymaz, University of Texas at Austin, Modern and Contemporary Art of North Africa

Maysa Martins, University of Texas at Austin, Modern and Contemporary art of the Black Atlantic

Earnestine Qiu, Princeton University, Byzantine Art

Ashley K. Raghubir, University of Toronto, Contemporary Caribbean Art

Ana María Sánchez Lesmes, Boston University, Latin American Art and History of Art Curatorship

Chahrazad Zahi, Boston University, Modern and Contemporary African Art

CCL is delighted to welcome the 2025 Seminar class into our network and looks forward to their future accomplishments.