Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) is an internationally oriented, academic university of the arts with the right to award doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. With around 1,000 students in the fields of fine arts, art education, performing arts, design, visual communication, art history and media studies, HBK is one of the largest art schools in Germany. Every year, the fellowship programme Braunschweig Projects offers seven artistic and one curatorial stipends on behalf of the state of Lower Saxony. 

HBK Braunschweig is now accepting applications for a twelve-month curatorial fellowship starting on 1 April 2026. Application deadline is 17 August 2025, 11:59 pm. 

Goals of the scholarship are

• to enrich the curatorial practice at HBK Braunschweig by developing and realising a curatorial concept for the final exhibition of the Braunschweig Projects programme 2026/2027. The curatorial fellow will therefore take part in the jury meeting to select the artistic fellows of Braunschweig Projects and will work closely with the selected artists during the course of the programme.
• to develop a curatorial project that is ideally connected to a museum, a collection, a scientific or a cultural institution in Lower Saxony. The project draft should consider research, preparation and implementation, the calculation, communication and possibly an educational or accompanying programme.

While the curatorial fellow can draw on the university's attractive network, the stipend offers great opportunities for the realisation of own ideas. Close cooperation and a connection to the work of the academic and artistic staff and especially the students of HBK is desirable. At the end of the funding period, a short final report should provide information about the activities undertaken.

A prerequisite for a succesful application is that the applicant has already gained initial curatorial experience (at least 3 years).

Funding is provided in the form of a stipend totalling €1,500 per month over a period of 12 months. A studio apartment in Braunschweig, designed for one person, will be made available rent-free for the duration of the fellowship. A contribution of €200 per month towards incidental living costs will be charged. Funding begins on 1 April 2026. Access to the studio apartments is from 15 April 2026. The fellowship holder is expected to spend at least 8 months during the HBK lecture period on site in Braunschweig. Participation in the Welcome Weeks, which take place from 20 - 30 April 2026, is mandatory

A scholarship cannot be granted if the applicant receives regular benefits from third parties (e.g. work grants, salary payments) or state funding during the funding period.

Applications must be submitted by e-mail with reference to the specific scholarship. Application deadline is 17 August 2025, 11:59 pm. Later submissions cannot be considered. The decision on the award of the curatorial fellowship will be made on the basis of the recommendation of an expert jury by the board of HBK Braunschweig.

The e-mail must include the following documents:

1. Completed and signed application form with personal information, a CV in table format, information on the candidate’s career as a curator and on previous scholarships, grants and fellowships in brief form, description of a curatorial project (PDF file, max. 1 MB; file name: CV_applicant name)
2. Evidence of curatorial work: portfolio with links to video and audio files available online, incl. password, if required (PDF file, max. 12 MB; file name: Portfolio_ applicant name)
3. External reference from the fields of higher education, the arts, and/or culture (PDF file, max. 1 MB; file name: Reference_applicant name)
4. Certificate of the highest academic degree. (PDF file, max. 1 MB / file name: Certificate_Name antragsteller*in)

The e-mail must meet the following requirements:

• Subject line “Curator Fellowship”
• Complete documents
• File types and names as described above, file size not more than 15 MB
• Received no later than 11:59 PM CEST on 17 August 2025

All documents should be sent in PDF format via e-mail to: kuratieren-stipendium@hbk-bs.de

Application form

• Call “Curatorial Fellowship 2026/2027”(PDF)

• Application form (PDF)