Today Frieze and Deutsche Bank announced details of their 2025 Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curators Fellowship, which this year will partner with MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art.
Launched in 2020, the Emerging Curators Fellowship reflects Frieze and Deutsche Bank’s wider commitment to amplify diverse and underrepresented voices in the art world. Designed to address the significant lack of diversity in curatorial practice in the UK—the area of arts and heritage with the lowest proportion of Black and global majority professionals—the initiative supports emerging curators through 12-month, full-time, paid fellowships within leading arts organisations.
Previous iterations of the fellowship have been in partnership with Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Chisenhale Gallery in London, The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, and V&A East in London.
Eva Langret, Director, Frieze EMEA commented:
‘It is a pleasure to announce MIMA as our institutional partner for the Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curators Fellowship 2025. Now in its sixth year, this initiative demonstrates our active commitment to supporting the pipeline of diverse curatorial and artistic talent across the UK. We are proud to be building a wonderful cohort of future curators and museum directors around the country, and very happy to share that last year’s Fellow, Ben Selig, will be taking up a position as assistant curator at V&A East when his placement ends this summer.’
MIMA will receive a £45,000 grant to cover the fellowship costs, inclusive of the fellow’s salary, expenses, travel and research. Recruitment for this year’s fellow will commence in the summer of 2025, with the placement scheduled to start in November. The successful fellow will be announced during Frieze London 2025.
MIMA were selected based on the strength of their submission to the open call for institutions in 2024, chosen by a panel including Gus Casely-Hayford (Director, V&A East), Mary Findlay (Senior Art Curator, Deutsche Bank), Eva Langret (Director, Frieze EMEA) and Kinnari Saraiya (2021 Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curators Fellow, artist and Curator, Somerset House).
‘It is just brilliant to be this year’s chosen partner for the prestigious Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curators Fellowship, which has an excellent track record for nurturing talent. At MIMA we are deeply invested in developing and supporting new pathways into creative lives and careers and increasing equity in our sector. As part of the Teesside University, we co-lead the UK’s first Higher Degree apprenticeship MA in curating and through the national Future Curators programme, led by DASH, we support D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent curators. We can’t wait to begin work with partners and appoint the 2025 Fellow.’
Laura Sillars, Director of MIMA and Dean of Culture and Creativity,
Current curatorial fellows and alumnae:
Ben Swaby Selig, current curatorial fellow at V&A East; appointed assistant curator at V&A East
summer 2025
Sophia Allison, current curatorial fellow at The Whitworth
Amrit Sanghera, current curatorial fellow at Ikon Gallery
Kinnari Saraiya, curatorial fellow at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (2021-2023); appointed
curator at Somerset House May 2024
Amina Jama, curatorial fellow at Chisenhale Gallery (2020-2021)
Applications for the 2025 Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curator Fellowship will open in July via mima.art.
