Application
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted in English using the online application form below.
Deadline:
March 2, 2026
Decisions will be announced by March 31, 2026
Before you Apply
Before you start your application, please prepare the following materials:
- Updated version of your Curriculum Vitae (PDF Format preferred)
- Graduate School Transcript (unofficial is acceptable). Students from European universities at which transcripts are not provided may submit similar documents (transcript of records, report of studies, etc.)
- 500-word statement discussing why the workshop is of interest; relevant previous research, classroom work, or teaching experience; and the impact the workshop will have on future research and professional development
- One letter of recommendation from a professor of Chinese Art History at your current university. Recommender should email their letter directly to cosw-info@umich.edu. Letters sent by the applicant will not be accepted.
Students are welcome to apply for both workshops in a single application, addressing their background and interest in each workshop in separate application statements. Include one recommendation letter that addresses the two workshop topics.
2026 Workshops
The Wan-go H.C. Weng Gift to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The workshop will focus on the 2018 Wan-go H.C. Weng gift of several hundred paintings, calligraphies, and related materials collected over six generations of a single family.
June 15 — June 19, 2026
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Materiality and Visuality of Chinese Domestic Gods
This ROM workshop opens a rare window onto under-researched fields: not only the material creation of worship within the home, but also artisanal workshops, their tools, models, and conventions for making images of domestic gods in different media.
August 17 — August 21, 2026
Location: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
Chinese Object Study Workshops Application
SUPPORT
This program is funded by a generous grant from the Kingfisher Foundation and advised by a steering committee: Jonathan Hay, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; Stephen Little, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Lihong Liu, University of Michigan; Natsu Oyobe, University of Michigan Museum of Art; Kathleen Ryor, Carleton College; Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jan Stuart, National Museum of Asian Art; and Peter Sturman, University of California, Santa Barbara. The University of Michigan Museum of Art is administering the program.
