Call for Applications: Museums Next Generation 2025 (US Candidates)

This unique opportunity will allow them to engage with the French museum landscape, exchange ideas, and build connections with peers across the Atlantic. 

The call for applications will be open from March 10, 2025, until May 16, 2025.

Overview

In 2023, Villa Albertine, with the support of the Albertine Foundation, launched a new accelerator program: Museums Next Generation. This initiative aims to strengthen ties between French and American museums by fostering a new generation of professionals aspiring to leadership roles in museum institutions and helping them gain insight into the professional landscape of the other country.

Additionally, the program supports participants in building a transatlantic network to encourage new synergies within the French-American professional community.

Villa Albertine provides participants with comprehensive financial support for the duration of the program, including transportation and accommodation.

Each year, the Museums Next Generation program invites young museum professionals to participate in an immersion program in France (for American professionals) or in the US (for French professionals).

In partnership with the Institut National du Patrimoine –a higher education institution under the French Ministry of Culture that trains museum curators– and FRAME –a network of 32 museums in France and North America– this third edition of Museums Next Generation will welcome seven American museum professionals to Paris and the South of France from November 3 to November 14, 2025.

The program for U.S. applicants aims to:

• Enhance knowledge and comprehension of the various aspects of the French museum ecosystem.
• Inspire American professionals in their own practices and to compare them with the practices of their French counterparts.
• Strengthen the international perspective of a young generation of American curators and their networks across the Atlantic.
• Introduce a new generation of American curators to the French professional community.
• Connect professionals with different specialties to create innovative new collaborations.

Throughout the ten days, fellows will participate in:

• Talks on the specificities and challenges faced by French museums in their scientific, educational, organizational, and philanthropic pursuits.
• Exclusive meetings with leaders and prominent figures in the field (directors, curators, development and sponsorship officers, educational managers, sponsors, etc.).
• Visits to the most prominent and innovative institutions in the country.
• Networking events with French professionals.

A detailed schedule of the immersion program will be provided later. From the nation’s capital to the Grand Est, the 2024 cohort engaged with top professionals at the Louvre, Musée Rodin, and Centre Pompidou, along with visits to Strasbourg and Nancy. Take a look back at last year’s lineup here.

Eligibility Requirements

Candidates must:

• Currently serve as curators, associate curators, or assistant curators at American museums
• Have 5 – 15 years of relevant experience
• Have no prior experience as directors of museum institutions
• Possess US citizenship or work in the US

Applications will be evaluated based on the quality of the candidate’s background and their interest in participating in the program.

Applicant Profile

Fellows are selected based on their achievements (exhibitions, publications, etc), as well as their experience in managing innovative museum projects. Moreover, candidates’ ability to envision museums of the future and their interest in international and managerial concerns, which position them as potential leaders, will be considered.

Fellows will be selected by a jury of French and American museum professionals.

Applicants are invited to submit their applications via this online form no later than May 16 at 10:00pm ET.

Candidates will need to specify their professional background, their completed and ongoing projects, and their motivations for participating in the program.

Deadlines