Welcome to our new Genesis Young Curator, Losal Chiodak

We are thrilled to announce that Losal Chiodak has joined the team as our new Genesis Young Curator, a role supported by the Genesis Foundation.  Offered in partnership with Tate Britain and Chisenhale Gallery, Losal will spend three days a week working with us and, for the first six months, will spend the equivalent of one day a week with the curatorial team at Tate Britain, working on all aspects of the exhibitions and displays programme. For the subsequent six months, Losal will spend one day a week at Chisenhale Gallery, working on the organisation’s Engagement Programme.

By working across the three institutions, Losal will gain practical insight into the process of curating and producing ambitious art and engagement projects in a range of settings, both within and outside of a gallery context.  The aim of the role is to support Losal to develop in his career, build his knowledge of contemporary art and surrounding discourse, and establish new professional connections, including other young curators from a range of backgrounds currently underrepresented in the arts.

This year-long position responds to the acute lack of representation in the visual arts in the UK of young curators from diverse backgrounds which was highlighted in our ground-breaking Panic! report, published in Spring 2018. The Panic! report highlighted that of people working in galleries, museums and libraries, only 2.7% are from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

We hope this position will also encourage other organisations to create new, entry level roles for those from underrepresented backgrounds, to ensure routes in to the creative industries become as open and varied as possible.

Losal will start on 25 February and joins us from Counterpoint Arts, an organisation that engages with refugee and migrant experiences and expression, where he was part of their communications team.

Losal Chiodak says:

“I’m extremely excited to be joining the Create team and to have the opportunity to learn from new colleagues across the three institutions involved in this venture. I plan to make the most of this role and bring everything I can to this opportunity. I hope that I will be able to take and expand on the innovative ways Create considers participatory arts, and find new ways to give back to our local communities.”

Create Artistic Director, Hadrian Garrard, says:

“We look forward to welcoming Losal to the team here at Create London. We were blown away by the amount of applications we received for this post – a sign of how few and far between such positions are. We also hope more organisations will consider learning from Panic! and introducing further roles which address the systemic issues embedded in our industries.”

Harriet Capaldi, Genesis Foundation Managing Director, says:

“When the Genesis Prize was awarded to Hadrian in 2016 it began a discussion between us about the need for a programme that addressed the lack of training opportunities for young arts professionals from minority backgrounds. Hadrian devoted his prize money to starting Create’s first Young Curator Award programme and everyone at the Genesis Foundation is delighted that this programme has now been extended and that they’re partnering with Tate and Chisenhale Gallery.”

Since the publication of the Panic! report, authored by Dave O’Brien, Orian Brook and Mark Taylor, we have continued to look at ourselves and put its findings at the heart of our projects. It’s informing all our work, from the way we recruit staff and artists, to the type of projects we take on, whilst consistently making sure we share our learnings at every opportunity. In the 10 months since publication, the Panic! report has inspired podcasts, conferences, press campaigns, MP inquiries and more. Read the report here.