Call for Applications Open: National Gallery of Canada’s 2026-27 General Idea Fellowship

Press Release

March 3, 2026

Deadline: April 10, 2026

The National Gallery of Canada is now accepting applications for its General Idea Fellowship, which encourages and supports advanced research in contemporary art. Now in its fourth year, the Fellowship offers CAN$15,000 in support, covering expenses and allowances, for at least four weeks of full‑time residency to be completed between May 31, 2026, and May 30, 2027. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 10, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Research projects must engage with the Gallery’s collections—particularly the Art Metropole collection, the General Idea fonds, the AA Bronson collection, and related materials—though projects do not need to focus exclusively on General Idea. All research will be conducted on-site at the National Gallery of Canada and may address any area of post‑war and contemporary art, including drawing, photography, printmaking, artists’ books, multiples, video, installation, or other media.

Eligible applicants
The Fellowship is open to Canadian and international art historians, curators, critics, conservators, graduate students, independent researchers and other professionals working in the visual arts, museology or related disciplines. The Fellowship is tenable only at the NGC. Researchers from outside Canada must verify the entry requirements for the Fellowship program on their own.

Previous fellow Cristina S. Martinez is an interdisciplinary art historian who holds a PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her Fellowship project investigated the physiology of General Idea and its corporate structure, while also teasing out legal and aesthetic dimensions. Her analysis offered clues into thought processes, methods of creation, and the mechanics of ideas.

The successful applicant will be announced in late spring 2026.

How to apply
For additional details about the application submission process and assessment criteria, visit gallery.ca/research/fellowships.

Qualified candidates, including Indigenous peoples, women, people of any sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, racialized people and people with disabilities, are invited to apply.

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For all media requests, please contact:

Pénélope Carreau
Public Relations Officer
National Gallery of Canada
pcarreau@gallery.ca

Josée-Britanie Mallet
Senior Media and Public Relations Officer
National Gallery of Canada
bmallet@gallery.ca

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