Application

The master’s program Cultures of the Curatorial is a continuing education program. It is intended for applicants from a variety of disciplines and professions—artists in all media, arts communicators such as curators and critics, and scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—who are interested in committed work in the cultural field and wish to acquire, in a concentrated, scholarly fashion, additional qualifications for their future professional practice in the realm of the curatorial.

Applicants must have a university degree with professional qualification (bachelor with at least 240 ECTS points or Magister/Master/Diploma) in a program relevant for an occupation in the cultural field and must have acquired professional experience of no less than a year after completing their studies.

The application will takes place on the online platform of HGB Leipzig only. There you need to submit several documents to provide information about your interest in the program, your educational background, and your previous and current professional activities:

• certificate of a university degree with professional qualification (bachelor’s, master’s, diploma) in a program relevant to activity in the cultural field, in a program with a period of study corresponding to at least 240 credits based on the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) or at least eight standard semesters (PDF, max. 5 MB);
• proof of practical professional activity in an area relevant to the program for, as a rule, no less than one year after receiving a higher education degree with professional qualification (information, optional certificate via PDF (for example a job reference), max. 5 MB);
• curriculum vitae, including mailing address and nationality (PDF, max. 5 MB);
• a portfolio describing previous and current professional activities, which are relevant to the program in text form including visual material (PDF, max. 15 MB, the description should not exceed one typewritten page per project, links to relevant websites are optional);
• a critique of an exhibition you have seen within the past twelve months (PDF, max. 5 MB, not to exceed two typewritten pages);
• letter of motivation explaining your interest in the program (PDF, max. 5 MB, not to exceed one typewritten page);
• letter of recommendation from someone who can judge your scholarly and/or professional qualifications (PDF, max. 5 MB).

Applicants whose native language is not German and who have not obtained their professional higher education qualification according to Paragraph 1, Item 1 at a German-speaking institution are required to demonstrate prior to commencing studies that they have adequate knowledge of the German language in one of the following ways (PDF, max. 5 MB):

• the "Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang" – DSH (German-language exam for university entrance) with an overall score of at least (DSH–1) or
• the "Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache" – TestDaF (Test of German as a foreign language) with at least TdN 3 in all partial examinations or
• the examination „telc Deutsch C1 Hochschule“ or
• the "Prüfungsteil Deutsch" (German test section) qualification exam of the foundation courses.

The following applicants are exempted from the language certification requirement:

• Holders of a graduation certificate that corresponds to a German higher education entrance qualification;
• Holders of the "Deutsche Sprachdiplom der Kultusministerkonferenz—Stufe II" (DSD II);
• Holders of the "Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung" (ZOP) of the Goethe-Institut or an institution commissioned by the Goethe-Institut;
• Holders of the “Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom” or “Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom” of the Goethe-Institut.

All supporting documents must be submitted in German or English. If the certificate of a university degree and/or the letter of recommendation is not in German or English, an officially notarized translation (PDF, max. 5 MB) must be submitted with it.

Please mark all PDF’s with your name and the designation of the respective application material (for example JaneDoe_UniversityDegree).

Students are admitted in the winter semester in alternate years. 

Beginning of the next cycle of the study program: Winter semester 2023/24. 

Next timeperiod to submit an application for admission: 01.03.2023 until 30.04.2023 (11:59 pm)

All application materials must be uploaded to the academy’s online platform. 

The admission jury will review all applications and choose those applicants to be invited for an interview. In June 2023 the jury will conduct interviews with selected applicants. The applicants will be informed about the results shortly after.