Call for Applicants

Grad application information


Accepting applications for an MA and PhD in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies, Queen’s University

Application deadline: January 31, 2023

Launched in the Fall of 2019, Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies is a collaboration between the Department of Film and Media and Agnes Etherington Art Centre, offering a unique opportunity for a funded one-year MA and a four-year PhD. The program’s three strongly interconnected areas of focus—studies, production, and curation —are designed to stimulate inventive dialogue in ways that ensure their respective influence, and in ways that open exciting points of access to multiple disciplinary formations. This collaborative tripartite structure is not offered in any other film, media, cinema, art or communication Master’s or PhD program in Ontario.

Housed in the state-of-the-art Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the Master’s and PhD in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies are unique because of their linkage to adjacent disciplines: film and media studies and, more generally, the study of screen cultures, film and media production, and curatorial studies and practice. These multidisciplinary programs provide students with a wide range of educational and professional opportunities, including academia, arts management, programming, media production (from mainstream media, to artistic and activist production), and curating.

Faculty members in the program straddle scholarly, programming, curation and creative practices. A rich program of visiting scholars, filmmakers, artists, and curators -- in the core professional development and elective courses -- provide opportunities for practice-based learning, allowing students to integrate new knowledge gained from other graduate-level coursework and to implement newly acquired skills in and beyond the gallery, festival and museum. A focused yearly Summer Institute brings together renowned scholars and practitioners, as well as Graduate students from other universities for intensive and focused study program.

Exhibition space will be available to students at the Art & Media Lab in The Isabel Bader Centre, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the Union Gallery (on an application basis), and/or online, to accommodate curatorial projects. The Vulnerable Media Lab offers opportunities for restoration, remediation and curation of media collections. The program offers seed funding for MA and PhD screen cultures curatorial projects (up to $350.00 per student). PhD students can also apply to the Dean’s project fund for up to $3000.

Research Areas

  • Film, Media and Screen Cultures
  • Experimental Media
  • Curatorial Studies
  • Moving Image Production (Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation, Open Media)
  • Film, Media and Performance Studies
  • Historical and Contemporary Film and Media
  • Archives, Curation, and Remediation
  • National Cinemas, Cultural Institutions and Curatorial Events
  • Feminist, Critical Race, Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ Screen Cultures
  • Environmental film and media

To learn more, please visit our Film and Media | Queen's University website, or plan to attend an upcoming virtual information session.

To start an application go to the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs Application

Any questions? Contact Mel Shumaker, Graduate Assistant, or Dorit Naaman, Graduate Coordinator.