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Awards & Scholarships

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto recognizes student achievement in the arts through three award opportunities:

The Art Museum Curatorial Residency Award

Each year, the Art Museum accepts applications from eligible students for the Art Museum Curatorial Residency Award. In 2023, the 8-10–week, full-time summer residency placement comes with a financial award in the form of a stipend of $3,000/month (~$19/hour). The award offers the successful candidate an opportunity to engage in curatorial work in support of upcoming Art Museum exhibitions. 

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto Award was established with gifts from three founding members of the University of Toronto Art Centre Volunteer Committee, Margaret McKelvey, Joy Alexander and Judith McErvel with matching funds from the University of Toronto Adjustment Fund and the Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund (OSOTF), and the Art Museum OSOTFF II Award established by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation with matching funds from OSOTF. In previous years awarding was made separately from the two funds. 

2023 Curatorial Project
The Art Museum is currently working on a curatorial project exploring the visual culture and history of North American Chinatowns. In preparation, we are seeking a Curatorial Research Assistant to prepare a reading list on key books, publications, and articles, as well as exhibitions, that have explored/explore the diasporic phenomenon of Chinatowns in the North American context. We seek to develop an index of online resources, as well as of scholars working locally, nationally, and internationally, including contemporary artists whose work draws on, examines, and takes on elements of this critical aspect of North American immigration and diasporic conditions.  

The ideal candidate is embedded in the research subject through their studies at the University of Toronto. 

Eligibility Criteria

  • University of Toronto student (undergraduate or graduate) registered in full- or part-time studies at U of T; preference to students who have some affiliation with University College 
  • OSAP-eligible 
  • Ontario resident 
  • Demonstrated engagement/background in one or several of the following: visual arts, studio, curatorial studies, arts management, art and/or cultural history, Transnational/Diasporic Studies, cultural geography, urban studies, and/or museum studies at the University of Toronto 

Application Process
Please forward the following materials by email to artmuseum@utoronto.ca

  • CV
  • Transcript
  • Statement of Interest (250 words), relaying a description of current/past engagement in the visual arts and how the residency might further career interests and goals 

Deadline: Sunday, April 30, 2023

Download in PDF


Past recipients

Page Image: Morris Lum, Remembering the Forestview, 2011 and 2021. Dibond mounted print. 36 x 28.5 inches. Photo by: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Reesa Greenberg Curatorial Studies Award

The Art Museum is pleased to announce Ingrid Jones as the recipient of the 2023 Reesa Greenberg Curatorial Studies Award. Jones is an independent curator, multidisciplinary artist, and creative director based in Toronto. Design and direction are the foundation for her curatorial practice utilizing installation, media, and collaborative projects to interrogate themes of marginalization and refusal. 

The Reesa Greenberg Curatorial Studies Award was created by Reesa Greenberg, an internationally renowned scholar on museums and exhibition studies, for academic excellence for a Master of Visual Studies (MVS) Curatorial Studies student at the University of Toronto at the end of the first semester. Greenberg’s donation provides an annual monetary award of $5,000 to a first-year MVS Curatorial Studies student, as well as a biannual award of $10,000 in support of international travel or a paid MVS Curatorial Studies Program internship at the Art Museum.

The Reesa Greenberg Curatorial Studies Award is adjudicated annually by visual arts and curatorial faculty at the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto. 

Read the full media release here.

The Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Awards

The student experience at the University of Toronto is more than classes and books. It is life on campus, in the community and in the world at large. The Cressy Awards recognize graduating students for outstanding contributions to improving the world around them and inspiring others to do the same.

For application information click here.

Student Engagement in the Arts

The University of Toronto celebrates student engagement and leadership in arts related initiatives annually with the University of Toronto Student Engagement in the Arts Awards. This recognition award is given to successful applicants who have made a leadership contribution to co-curricular arts activities at the University. These awards are given at a ceremony in late March, at the Art Museum, in conjunction with the University of Toronto Shelley Peterson Student Art Exhibition.

For application information click here.


Past recipients

The University of Toronto Student Engagement in the Arts Awards are generously sponsored by TD Insurance, MBNA, and Manulife.