Applications for the 2015 Venice Internship Program are Now Open

United Arab Emirates, September 17, 2014 – The National Pavilion United Arab Emirates (UAE) la Biennale di Venezia announced that they are now accepting applications for the 2015 Venice Internship program, a specialized internship program offering a unique opportunity for young Emiratis and long-term residents of the UAE to live and work in Venice for a period of one month serving as custodians and docents of the National Pavilion UAE during the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. The National Pavilion UAE is commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and supported by the UAE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development.

The program, which runs throughout the six-month duration of the Biennale, aims to create a legacy of highly skilled art practitioners in the UAE equipped to take the national contemporary art and cultural scene boldly into the future. It provides a platform for interns to get hands-on experience in putting together and managing a large-scale exhibition at one of the most-acclaimed, non-commercial art events in the world, working alongside curators, artists and exhibition managers. Not to mention exposure to a strong network of regional and international industry practitioners. The Venice Internship will continue its partnership with the prestigious Ca’ Foscari University in Venice which will facilitate the inclusion of a select number of Italian interns to work side-by-side with their UAE counterparts at the pavilion. This partnership has been developed to foster a true exchange of cultures between the interns and to allow the UAE interns to engage further with Italian customs, language and knowledge thus enhancing their local experience in Venice.

“The Venice Internship provides an excellent platform for young people of the Emirates to hone their talents for a future career in arts and culture. It offers a unique opportunity to engage with arts and culture at an international level, and to establish local and international networks through exposure to top figures in the artistic community”, noted Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan, Founder of the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. “We are delighted and indeed honored to be supporting it,” Her Highness added.

Once awarded a place in the program, the interns undergo a comprehensive art educational program based on partnerships with leading cultural institutions in the UAE, designed to enable them to engage fluently with the content of the exhibition in Venice as well as to speak more broadly about the dynamic art scene of the UAE. The educational program continues in Venice where the deployed interns engage in assignments based on the city’s extraordinary art and cultural institutions and the temporary exhibitions of the Biennale in partnership with Ca’Foscari University.

This is not the first time that the National Pavilion UAE has hosted interns. In fact, since its inaugural participation at la Biennale di Venezia in 2009, the National Pavilion UAE has engaged with over 100 interns, with many pursuing careers in the arts industries post their participation at la Biennale di Venezia.

For more information and to apply, visit nationalpavilionuae.org. Applications close on November 15, 2014.

National Pavilion UAE la Biennale di Venezia

The National Pavilion UAE was established to endorse the UAE’s contemporary art practices on an international platform and provide a foundation to support the nation’s diverse and developing cultural scene.

The UAE’s participation at la Biennale di Venezia commenced in 2009 with a national pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, and has continued in subsequent editions of the art exhibition since. 2014 marked the UAE’s first participation at the International Architecture Exhibition.

The commissioner of the National Pavilion UAE, Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, is a philanthropic, non-profitable organization with a deep commitment to developing and supporting the arts and culture of the UAE. It is the family foundation of Her Highness Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan.

Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al-Qasimi, President and Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, has been appointed as the curator for the National Pavilion UAE at the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. She is a practicing artist who received her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2002), a Diploma in Painting from the Royal Academy of Arts (2005) and an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London (2008). In 2003 she was appointed curator of Sharjah Biennial 6 and has continued as the Biennial’s Director since that time. She is Chair of the Advisory Board for the College of Art and Design, University of Sharjah, Member of the Advisory Board, Khoj International Artists’ Association, India, and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, and serves on the Board of Directors for MoMA PS1, New York, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, the International Biennial Association, Gwangju and Ashkal Alwan, Beirut.