The de Appel Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam is one of the earliest curatorial training programmes in the world. It was created in 1994 to help emerging curators learn through praxis rather than only studying theory. What distinguishes it is its small group size and deep emphasis on collective praxis. Participants travel together, meet artists and cultural practitioners, and build lasting relationships while exploring how to shape public cultural programmes through curating a project together at de Appel and beyond.

de Appel invites applications for the 2026/27 Curatorial Programme, a ten-month programme that brings together a small international group of participants to collectively study, travel, research and develop a curatorial project together in Amsterdam.

The 2026/27 edition is centred on a set of interconnected themes and practices that de Appel is engaged with: land, co-ownership and housing, governance, and (art) economy and class. These themes are approached not as abstract subjects, but rather as lived social and political conditions that shape cultural work today within institutions and across wider social contexts.

At de Appel, we’ve come to understand curating as a practice that exceeds exhibition making. Alongside the development of exhibitions and public programmes, participants engage with questions of institution-building, collective governance, economic sustainability, and structural change, exploring how curatorial practice can move from critique toward the construction of alternative forms of organisation and how that changes content.

Running for ten months, the programme brings together five to six participants who work and travel collectively. Participants meet with artists, cultural practitioners and organisations, building long-term relationships. They engage in shared reading, writing, discussion and reflection. The programme culminates in a collectively curated project developed by the group.

The programme is organised around three thematic modules: Governing Otherwise, Transvestment and Assembling Land. Governing Otherwise focuses on practices of collective governance and alternative forms of organisation. It examines how cultural institutions can rethink decision-making, responsibility and inclusion, and how structural and thematic concerns can be aligned in everyday institutional practice. Transvestment: Alternative (Art) Economies and Class addresses questions of economic survival, autonomy and sustainability. It explores commons-based approaches, redistribution of resources and experiments that challenge market-driven logic within cultural production. Assembling Land: Land and Housing investigates land and housing as a site of political struggle. Tutors and site-specific visits will examine artistic and curatorial practices engaged with shared ownership, commons and collective approaches to land and place. Find more information about the curriculum here.

The participants learn through peer learning, meeting with artists, curators and cultural practitioners, visiting art institutions in the Netherlands and abroad, as well as working collectively on an exhibition to open at de Appel in the summer of 2027.

The programme is open to curators, producers, cultural practitioners, artists, collectives and researchers interested in collective practice, institutional experimentation and socially engaged curating. Applicants should be prepared to work collaboratively and critically within a group setting.

An information session will take place online on 16th of February at 15:00 (CET). During the session the de Appel team will give a brief introduction to the program, as well as open time to answer your questions.

To sign up and receive the link, please email Curatorial Programme coordinator Maria Nolla at maria[at]deappel.nl

○ Programme duration: 19 October 2026 – end of July 2027

○ Location: Amsterdam, with travel

○ Application deadline: 1 March 2026

○ Interviews: 14 and 15 April 2026

○ Online information session: 16 February 2026

You can find details on the fees and funding, and conditions of participation here.

Please send your application to Curatorial Programme Coordinator Maria Nolla before 1st of March. Based on the submitted documents, around twelve candidates will be shortlisted. The shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by an international jury on 14th and 15th of April and up to five participants will be selected and informed promptly.

Interviews will take place in person at de Appel in Amsterdam, we will inform you about the jury shortly before.

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 number of applications we expect to receive, there will be no further correspondence about the results.

Your application should consist of one single PDF document (YourName_CP_2026) in English, including the following items:

1. Filled in application form;

2. CV and curatorial portfolio including selected relevant projects;

3. Two written references of (former) tutors, colleagues, or community members, in English.