The Emerging Curators’ Capacity Building Program took place on 5–7 March 2026 in Tbilisi, Georgia, bringing together emerging curators of the Magic Carpets platform for three days of exchange, reflection, and professional development.
The programme included a public talk by Irena Popiashvili, curator and founder of Visual Artists Association of Arts and Design School (VAAADS), titled “On Curating – from Personal Experience to General Topics,” followed by a curatorial exercise and presentations of Year 2 project briefs by Magic Carpets curators.
Additional presentations were delivered by Aistė Paukštė (LT), Linda Krūmiņa (LV), and Paola Farfaglio (IT) under the theme “Beyond the Bubble: Reaching New Audiences,” sharing case studies from their curatorial practices. The Magic Carpets partner Latitudo Art Projects also presented plans for the upcoming End-of-Year Event in Rome scheduled for this autumn.
Participants also joined a series of workshops led by Fluxus Labas exploring questions such as What do I bring to the Magical Table?, What audiences do I want to reach by the end of the cycle?, Audience development and personal planning, and The co-curator’s role in the End-of-Year Event.
For the first time, the programme introduced one-on-one mentoring sessions with Diane Dever and Lewis Biggs, alongside a discussion titled “Aspiration and Reality: Managing Our Own Co-curating Expectations.”
The programme also included a visit to Art Center Kurorti, offering participants an opportunity to learn more about the local contemporary art scene.
As Nestan Nijaradze, the Artistic Director and Co-founder of Tbilisi Photo Festival, noted: “We’re Georgians and hospitality is part of our identity. For us it’s more than just being welcoming; it’s how we talk to the rest of the world. And that’s why we were dead set on bringing the Magic Carpets family and, especially, the Emerging Curator’s meeting right here to Tbilisi.
Here are the three big reasons why we just had to make this happen:
Emotional reason: We wanted to share everything we cherish about our city and homeland with our MC family. We wanted everybody to experience why we love being here. Simply put, we wanted everyone to fall in love with Tbilisi – its spirit and energy with its incredible “joie de vivre”, and its people.
Professional Reason: This was a chance for emerging curators to dive into the Tbilisi art scene, meet the key players, and spark the kind of networking and unforgettable moments that will lead to future collaborations. Plus, we wanted to show off our own professional journey – our institution, our reality, and everything in between as a possible source of professional inspiration for our emerging colleagues…
Political reason: In a reality shaped by global, regional and local political challenges, Cultural Diplomacy is our way to keep Tbilisi and Georgia on the international art & culture map. Bringing our European family of colleagues to Georgia is also a way of saying that we’re staying loyal to our values – political, professional, and emotional.”
This project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
