The Courtauld Institute of Art and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) have announced a new partnership that will give postgraduate curating students access to the gallery’s collections, archives and staff as part of their studies.
The partnership will form part of the Courtauld’s MA Curating programme, with the first students joining the course in 2027 and taking the new National Portrait Gallery module in spring 2028.
The 12-week elective, called Working within Institutions, will be available to 12 of the programme’s 48 students and will be co-taught by NPG professionals and Courtauld faculty.
Students will work with the gallery’s archives and examine how its collection is conserved, managed, expanded and displayed. The module will also explore how major exhibitions are developed, alongside learning programmes, audience engagement and questions around access.
Mark Hallett, the Courtauld's director, told The Art Newspaper that the module would give students “a comprehensive introduction to institutional work” by exploring curatorial roles alongside areas such as registration, education and development. It would also highlight “the specialist skills, teamwork, and modes of public engagement required to run a large-scale museum successfully”.
The partnership grew out of conversations between Hallett and Victoria Siddall, director of the National Portrait Gallery, over the past year about what Hallett describes as their “shared ambition to train a new generation of brilliant curators”.
Hallett told The Art Newspaper that providing practical experience alongside academic training is particularly important for students hoping to enter the visual arts sector.
“We want to ensure that practical experience, alongside theory, is central to their degrees with us, so they are ready to enter the sector immediately,” he says.
In a statement, Siddall says she hopes the collaboration will “create meaningful opportunities for students and help to shape the future of our sector”, as well as “inform our own thinking about what museums can be today”.
A spokesperson for the Courtauld told The Art Newspaper that the new programme will “sit alongside other placement choices” on the curating course and will be an “an annual opportunity for reach new cohort on the MA”.
“The distinction of this partnership is that it is a long-term formal collaboration,” the spokesperson explained, highlighting potential for dissertation co-supervision and postgraduate research opportunities.
The partnership comes three years after the NPG reopened following a major redevelopment. The Courtauld is currently redeveloping its academic campus at Somerset House on the Strand, which has been closed to students since 2018.
Now taught from the Courtauld's Vernon Square campus near Kings Cross, the MA Curating programme is led by Devika Singh and Sofia Gotti. Singh was previously the curator of international art at Tate Modern and curated the Voices section of Paris Photo in 2025, while Gotti was part of the curatorial team for the 2024 Venice Biennale. The pair will also guest curate the Spotlight section of Frieze Masters in London in October.
