Carleton University’s Graduate Diploma in Curatorial Studies (Type 2 and Type 3) is unique in Canada in providing flexible, multidisciplinary professional training in curatorial practice and theory. It responds to the high demand for curatorial skills, which are essential in an extraordinarily wide range of contexts. Individuals with curatorial expertise are urgently required for work in a large number of North American cultural industries caught up in cycles of institutional expansion, renewal, and retirements. The demand is also being fueled by the global expansion of artistic and historic exhibition spaces especially evident in China, and massive digitization projects rendering collections, like those of India’s cultural institutions, visible to world audiences for the first time. To address this broad diversity of interests and applications, the Diploma combines practical modules, subject-specific training and broad academic education that will foster student success in the job market.

The Diploma is a 3.0 credit program comprised of two 0.5 credit pro-seminar courses in curatorial studies, one covering general theoretical and methodological issues, the other providing discipline-specific instruction in curatorial practices. Students take an additional credit in a cognate discipline (which, for the Type 2, may be fulfilled by courses from the student’s core discipline), and a 1.0 credit practicum in cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, galleries etc. Carleton’s location in the national capital provides access to cultural resources unparalleled elsewhere in Canada. These rich resources greatly contribute to and enhance the student-learning environment.

The Type 2 option is of interest primarily to students pursuing graduate degrees in Anthropology, Architecture, Art History, Canadian Studies, Cultural Mediations, Child Studies, Digital Humanities, Earth Sciences, Film Studies, Geography, History, Indigenous Studies, Communications Studies, Music, Sociology, Women’s and Gender Studies, etc. The Type 3 option is of interest to professionals working in Canadian cultural institutions and international students seeking to upgrade their curatorial qualifications and learn North American best practices.