2026 Call for Applications: Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art

San Francisco, February 13, 2026 – In partnership with the Asian Art Museum, The Asia Foundation announces a call for applications for the 2026 Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art, a program that supports exchange between emerging curatorial voices focusing on Asian and/or Asian American art. The application period opens on February 17 and closes on March 24 with final selections announced by mid-April. The 2026 fellowship will run from June 1 – August 31.  

Held every other year, the fellowship supports two emerging contemporary art curators–one from Asia and one from the United States – for a residency of up to three months at the Asian Art Museum. Fellows will be hosted by the Museum’s Contemporary Art Department under the guidance of Abby Chen, senior associate curator and head of Contemporary Art. Located in the heart of San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum is home to one of the world’s premier collections of Asian art, with more than 20,000 artworks spanning ancient jades and ceramics to contemporary video installations. Through exhibitions, cultural celebrations, and public programs for all ages the museum provides rich art experiences that unlock the past and spark questions about the future. 

2026 Fellowship Theme: Community-Centered Curatorial Practice  

The 2026 program will prioritize candidates whose background and practice are grounded in community-centered approaches to cultural work. Fellows will examine how community building can function as a curatorial, artistic, and institutional practice—rooted in lived experience, sustained relationships, and shared forms of knowledge production.  

Drawing on their professional and cultural backgrounds, fellows will explore models of community-centered practice across local, regional, and transnational contexts, including online and networked platforms. Fellows will also revisit selected exhibitions from the Museum’s history to consider how these projects might be reimagined to foster deeper connection, relevance, and dialogue with communities today.  Fellowship outcomes may include written reflections, public programs, experimental online platforms, and proposals that offer new frameworks for how exhibitions—past and future—can serve as connective infrastructures across communities, geographies, and networks.

For more details on the 2026 program, review the program brief.

Fellowship Support 

The fellowship provides:  

• Round-trip travel to and from San Francisco for the residency at the Asian Art Museum. 
• Housing and per diem for the duration of the residency (June 1 – August 31, 2026). Fellows should plan on being on-site at the Asian Art Museum during this period. 
• A $7,500 stipend for a self-designed study tour to support each fellow’s research, professional interests, and network-building. The study tour may include visits, consultations, and research across one or more cities and institutions over four or more weeks. This study tour is to occur after, or separate from, the residency period.

Eligibility 

The program seeks to build the capacity of the next generation of curators and takes an expansive approach to the concept of “curator”. The fellowship encourages fresh outlooks, approaches, and perspectives, and welcomes applicants from within or outside the institutional museum context.. 

The Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art contributes to the professional enhancement of specialists in the Asian art curatorial field through exchange between the United States and Asia and the Pacific. In 2007, Asia Foundation President Emeritus Dr. Haydn Williams established the Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art Program to honor his late wife, whose interest in art was stimulated by their travels. Mrs. Williams was also a docent at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. 

Apply for the Margaret F. Williams Memorial Fellowship in Asian Art Program online. For program inquiries, please contact [email protected].