INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAM
The Independent Study Program (ISP) consists of three interrelated parts: Studio Program, Curatorial Program and Critical Studies Program. The ISP provides a setting within which students pursuing art practice, curatorial work, art historical scholarship, and critical writing engage in ongoing discussions and debates that examine the historical, social, and intellectual conditions of artistic production. The program encourages the theoretical and critical study of the practices, institutions, and discourses that constitute the field of culture.

Each year fourteen students are selected to participate in the Studio Program, four in the Curatorial Program and six in the Critical Studies Program. The program begins in early September and concludes at the end of the following May. Many of the participants are enrolled at universities and art schools and receive academic credit for their participation, while others have recently completed their formal studies.

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Studio Program
The participants in the Studio Program are engaged in a variety of art practices with an emphasis on installation work, film and video, photography, performance, and various forms of interdisciplinary practice. The program provides studio space and facilities in our loft in downtown Manhattan. The Studio Program exhibition is held in May.

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Curatorial Program
Curatorial Fellows collaborate to produce an exhibition. Working closely with the program’s faculty and curators at the Whitney, the students develop proposals for the exhibition. Once a proposal has been approved by the Museum’s curators, the students proceed to select artworks, arrange loans, and design and oversee the installation of the exhibition. The students write essays for and participate in the production of a catalogue accompanying their exhibition.

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Critical Studies Program
Critical Studies Fellows engage in individual scholarly research and critical writing projects through tutorials with a professional art historian, critic, or cultural theorist. The program’s faculty arranges tutorials and provides additional advice and guidance. A symposium is held in May at the Whitney, at which the Critical Studies students present papers.

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Faculty
The faculty of the ISP is available to meet individually with all members of the program to discuss their work or more general practical, theoretical, or historical questions. The program’s regular and visiting faculty members are Ron Clark, Mary Kelly, Benjamin Buchloh, Hal Foster, Laura Mulvey, Isaac Julien, Gregg Bordowitz, Andrea Fraser, Chantal Mouffe, Jennifer Gonzalez, and Eva Diaz.

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Seminars
Each week during the year, a professional artist, theorist, or historian conducts a seminar at the program. Members of all three components of the program participate in these seminars, which focus on the work of the seminar leader. In addition, all members of the program participate in a weekly reading seminar in social and cultural theory led by Ron Clark and members of the program’s visiting faculty. This seminar provides an occasion for the group to collectively study and discuss contemporary critical theory. There is a particular emphasis on the methodologies of critical cultural studies and social art history.

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Recent Seminar Leaders and Tutors

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The Independent Study Program is supported in part by Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, Inc.; the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.; the Easton Foundation; the National Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art;  the Edward and Sally Van Lier Foundation; and the Whitney Contemporaries of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Endowment support is provided by the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, Inc.,  the Helena Rubinstein Foundation; and George S. Harris.

The Independent Study Program is an equal opportunity education program. The Program does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other factor prohibited by law.

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Eligibility
Those eligible for participation in the ISP include graduate students, candidates for advanced postgraduate degrees, undergraduates with a demonstrated capacity for advanced scholarship, or those who have recently completed formal
academic study.  The ISP welcomes international applications.

Credit
Credit may be granted by the students’ home universities for work done in the ISP. Most cooperating schools grant twelve to sixteen credits for participation in the program. Students need to make the necessary arrangements to receive credit.

Tuition
Tuition for the program is $1,800 per year. Financial assistance in the form of reduced tuition is available on the basis of need.

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Application Deadline
All application materials and supporting documents must be received by April 1. Send applications to:

Ron Clark, Director
Independent Study Program
100 Lafayette Street, 5th floor
New York, NY 10013
Telephone: (212) 431-1737 / Fax: (212) 431-1783
Email: whitneyisp@whitney.org

Email inquiries are preferred. 
Faxed or emailed applications will not be accepted.

Notification
After a preliminary review of applications by the program’s faculty, arrangements will be made to interview final candidates. Studio Program and Critical Studies Program applicants will be contacted in late April; Curatorial Program applicants will be contacted in early May.

Application
There is no application form. Please do not apply to more than one program at a time.

All applications must include:

• A clear indication of which program (studio, critical or curatorial) you are applying for
  A résumé or C.V. including name, address, and telephone number (school and/or permanent)
• School you are currently attending or have attended, degree program, and expected date of graduation
• Two letters of recommendation (may be sent under separate cover)
• A statement discussing your work, educational experience, and intellectual interests (no more than 2 pages)
• An application fee of $15 (make check or a Western Union money order payable to Ivy Chokwe, Whitney Museum of American Art)

Studio Program applicants must also include:

• Reproductions of examples of your recent work—No more than 15 slides or photographs (slides must be enclosed in plastic sleeves).  Please do not send CD-ROMs.  No more than 30 minutes of film or videotape or DVD (do not send original material).
• Application materials must be enclosed in no larger than a 9 x 12-inch envelope. Oversize material will not be reviewed.

Curatorial Program applicants must also include:

• Writing sample (no more than 15 pages)
• An exhibition proposal (no more than 2 pages)

Critical Studies Program applicants must also include:

• Writing sample (no more than 15 pages)
• An individual research project proposal (no more than 4 pages)

Application material will be treated with care; however, the program cannot be responsible for loss or damage. Application material will be returned only if a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed with the application. Applications outside the U.S. must include international postage coupons. It is not possible to pick up your application in person.

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