Past Programs

Art Critic Mentoring Program

Organized in collaboration with CUE Art Foundation, the Art Critic Mentoring program provides seven writers annually with the opportunity to work with an established art critic appointed by AICA to compose a long-form critical essay on one of CUE’s exhibiting artists. Over the course of two months, each writer conducts studio visits with an exhibiting artist and composes a long-form critical essay, which will be published by CUE in a printed exhibition catalogue and online. The program is open to writers of any age in the early stages of their careers. Writers are awarded a $600 honorarium.

To read past essays, browse the archive.

Art Writing Workshop

The Art Writing Workshop was a partnership between The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant and AICA-USA from 2009 to 2020 . This program paired ten emerging art writers with eminent voices in the field, facilitating deep critical engagement with art in regions across the US.

Over the course of a six-month period, from January to June, the workshop participants explored conversations, ideas, thinking, writing, style, and voice that are crucial to the future of criticism. The program assisted participants on improving specific pieces of writing, some of which have been published on AICA-USA's online magazine.

Jennifer Kabat

Director, Art Writing Workshop

Awarded a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for her criticism, Jennifer Kabat’s essays have appeared in Best American Essays, Granta, Harper’s, BOMB, Frieze, McSweeney’s, The New York Review of Books, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer and The White Review. Together with Kate Newby, she collaborated on “The January February March” to explore specific sites and recently worked with the artist Marlene McCarty on a project in Buffalo, NY exploring capitalism and modernism and invasive weeds. Her essay for that project, “The White Deer,” was excerpted by Chris Kraus in a recent issue of An/Other magazine. She has contributed to artists’ monographs and catalogues for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Whitney Museum and others. Her writing has been included in exhibitions at Arnolfini and Index in Stockholm. Jennifer teaches at the New School and in the Art Writing MFA at SVA and is working on a book about grief and modernism. She lives in rural upstate New York and serves as a volunteer firefighter in her town.

Program Cohort

  • Mentors: Marek Bartelik, Avis Berman, Michael Duncan, Peter Frank, Janet Koplos, Peter Plagens, Michael Rush, Richard Schiff, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: JD Beltran, Daniel Boehl, Matt Christy, Kurt Eidsvig, Cora Fisher, Christian Frock, Jeanne Gerrity, Susan Kunimatsu, Sophie Landres, Daniel Miller, & Katey Schultztion text goes here

  • Mentors: Annette Grant, Eleanor Heartney, Hayden Herrera, David Levi Strauss, Suzanne Muchnic, Peter Plagens, Mark Rosenthal, Richard Schiff, Gregory Volk & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Natalie Bell, David Buuk, Colin Edgington, Mark Feldman, Erin Langner, Carol McCusker, Patricia Mora, Christina Schmid, Deanna Sirlin, & Adam Welch

  • Mentors: Stephanie Barron, Eleanor Heartney, Christopher Knight, David Levi Strauss, Kim Levin, Peter Plagens, Nancy Princenthal, Alex Scrimgeour, & Susan Snodgrass

    Mentees: Nawal Asfour, Graham Beck, Dawn Chan, Travis Diehl, Joel Kuennen, Annie Larmon, Meg Onli, John Powers, Pamela Renner, & Kate Sutton

  • Mentors: Betsy Baker, Eleanor Heartney, Barbara MacAdam, Peter Plagens, Nancy Princenthal, Raphael Rubinstein, Richard Schiff, Susan Snodgrass, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Ingrid Chu, Sarah Coleman, Julia Cooke, Daniel Glendening, Rachel Hooper, Gwenael Kerlidou, Andrea Kirsh, Adam Kleinman, Kathleen MacQueen, & Catherine Wagley

  • Mentors: Bill Berkson, Holland Cotter, Barbara MacAdam, Peter Plagens, Raphael Rubinstein, Barry Schwabsky, Susan Snodgrass, Marcia Vetrocq, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Andrew Alexander, Stephanie Cardon, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Victoria Gannon, Daniel Gerwin, Rebecca Louise Hunter, Elisabeth Jacquette, Sarah Pollman, Genevieve Quick, & Amy White

  • Mentors: Bill Berkson, Robin Cembalest, Holland Cotter, Carol Diehl, Barbara MacAdam, David Pagel, Peter Plagens, Raphael Rubinstein, Marcia Vetrocq, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Larissa Archer, Ian Epstein, Richard Fletcher, Bean Gilsdorf, Jason Hoelscher, Natasha Kurchanova, Lynn Maliszewski, Kari Rittenbach, & Sarah Bay Williams

  • Mentors: Betsy Baker, Bill Berkson, Robin Cembalast, Holland Cotter, Eleanor Heartney, David Pagel, Peter Plagens, Nancy Princenthal, Barry Schwabsky, & Susan Snodgrass

    Mentee: Ellen Mara De Wachter, Ian DeLen, Sheila Dickinson, Elissa Favero, Nicholas Frank, Sarah Griesbach, Emily Holmes, Christina Catherine Martinez, Danica Sachs, Sarah Sharp, & Stephen Squibb

  • Mentors: Stephanie Barron, Robin Cembalast, Rachel Corbett, Carol Diehl, Peter Plagens, Nancy Princenthal, Judith Stein, Edward Sullivan, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Margot Bouman, Claire Breukel, Sarah Hamill, Colony Little, Melissa Mednicov, Zlatan Pobric, Sheila Regan, Seph Rodney, Kristine Ronan, & Iona Whittaker

  • Mentors: Negar Azimi, Robin Cembalast, Holland Cotter, Charles Desmarais, Constance Lewallen, Carolina A. Miranda, Peter Plagens, Barry Schwabsky, Judith Stein, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: John Anderson, Robyn Day, Lara M. Evans, Robert Goyanes, Lauren Mackler, Nicole Miller, Maia Nichols, Laurie Rojas, Meredith Sellers, & Mimi Wong

  • Mentors: Negar Azimi, Holland Cotter, Charles Desmarais, Eleanor Heartney, Carolina A. Miranda, Peter Plagens, Barry Schwabsky, Judith Stein, & Lilly Wei

    Mentees: Sasha Archibald, Leora Fridman, Jillian McManemin, Jennifer Peterson, Anthony Petro, Ethan Philbrick, Marina Reyes Franco, Karen Schiff, Megan Voeller, & Jody Zellention

  • Mentors: Andrew Berardini, Maurice Berger, Holland Cotter, Charles Desmarais, Claudia La Rocco, Siddhartha Mitter, Sharon Mizota, Peter Plagens, Judith Stein, & Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

    Mentees: Dominique Clayton, Patrick Jaojoco, Megan N. Liberty, Joshua Lubin-Levy, Amanda Maddox, Whitney Mallett, Julie Potter, Danni Shen, Mebrak Tareke, & Drew Zeiba

  • Mentors: Hannah Black, Paul Chaat Smith, Jace Clayton, Holland Cotter, Emmanuel Iduma, Chris Kraus, Claudia LaRocco, Sharon Mizota, JD Pluecker, & Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

    Mentees: Kayla Anderson, Rehema Barber, Kimberlee Córdova, Leah Gallant, Elizabeth Hamilton, Charlene Lau, Minh Nguyen, Eva Recinos, Ana Tuazon, & Simon Wu

    Read this cohort's essays in the AICA Magazine.