CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: ICMA News Editor (2026, 2027, and 2028), 3-year term

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: ICMA News Editor (2026, 2027, and 2028), 3-year term

The ICMA seeks applications for the Editor position of our triannual ICMA newsletter, ICMA News. This is a three-year appointment, starting in September 2025 and the first issue under the new editor will be released in March 2026. The editor is an ex-officio member of the ICMA Publications Committee and the Board of Directors.

ICMA News is a primary channel for communicating with membership, and the position of editor is therefore vital in the life of the organization. Released triannually (Summer, Winter, Spring), the newsletter provides reports, news, and content regarding the activities and scholarship of ICMA members, the ICMA organization, and the medieval art community more broadly. The editor collaborates regularly with ICMA officers, and interacts with ICMA members around the world. The editor also oversees the position of Assistant Editor for Events and Exhibitions, typically held by a graduate student. Note that the editor is not responsible for the graphic design or distribution of the newsletter (as these specialized tasks are handled by a design assistant and the ICMA’s Executive Director respectively).

The editorship requires creativity, initiative, detail-oriented attention, demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, and a deep involvement in the field. The editor invites and edits short feature articles for the newsletter, which are of interest to members and reflect current issues in the field, and, in consultation with ICMA officers, shapes each issue to reflect the current priorities of the ICMA. The editor also solicits reports, photographs, and other content from the President, Vice President, and Executive Director of the ICMA, as well as from committee chairs.

If you are interested, please upload a brief statement of interest and current CV HERE by Thursday 25 September 2025, 6pm ET. Applicants will be notified shortly thereafter for further discussions on the position.

ICMA-Kress Research and Publication Grants, due 21 September 2025

The ICMA-Kress Research and Publication grants ($3,500) are now available to scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD.

Due Sunday 21 September 2025. Upload application HERE.

With the field of medieval art history expanding in exciting ways, it is crucial that the ICMA continue to encourage innovative research that will bring new investigations to broad audiences. These grants are open to scholars at all phases of their careers. Priority will be given to proposals with a clear path toward publication.

If travel is a facet of your application, please include an itinerary and be specific about costs for all anticipated expenses (travel, lodging, per diem, and other details). If you aim to inspect extremely rare materials or sites with restricted access, please be as clear as possible about prior experience or contacts already made with custodians.

If your application is for funds that will support the production of a book, please include a copy of the contract from your publisher, the publisher’s request for a subvention, and/or specifics on costs for images and permissions.

Preference will be given to applicants who have not received an ICMA-Kress grant in the past.

Please submit these documents for your application:

1) A detailed overview of the project (no more than three pages, single spaced). Please also confirm that your ICMA membership is active and specify whether or not you have been awarded an ICMA-Kress grant previously.

2) A full cv.

3) A full budget.

4) Supporting materials – an itinerary (for applications involving travel), a contract and schedule of costs (if a press requires a subvention), or table of anticipated fees for image permissions (if applicable).

Please note: If you are applying for funds to support the production of a book, please do not upload the entire typescript or portions of the text.

The application should be submitted electronically HERE. Recipients will be notified in November 2025.

Questions can be addressed to Ryan Frisinger, Executive Director, at awards@medievalart.org.

Failure to include all required materials adversely affects the review process.

Participate in the ICMA: Leadership and committees, nominations and self-nominations due 20 August 2025

PARTICIPATE IN THE ICMA
Leadership and committees 

• Call for nominations and self-nominations: Secretary, Board of Directors, Associates, and Nominating Committee

• Volunteer for a committee 

Put simply, the ICMA is able to do its work thanks to the members who volunteer their time, energy, and ideas to the organization. As everyone knows, this is a critical moment for our organization and for the arts and humanities more broadly. We are seeking members who are willing to help guide the ICMA in supporting our intellectual community.

How can you help? By offering to stand for election to the ICMA Board of Directors or in another leadership capacity, or by volunteering to serve on a committee. 

Several leadership roles available in 2026: Secretary, membership on the Board of Directors, membership as an Associate, and membership on the Nominating Committee. Full descriptions of these positions can be found in our bylaws, available HERE. To nominate yourself or a colleague for one of these positions, see the links below.

We also are seeking volunteers to staff our committees. You can offer your service to any of our committees (those noted with asterisks * are new this year), with service starting this fall: 

• 75th Anniversary Committee (beginning the planning for our anniversary which will occur in 2031) * 

• Advocacy

• Audit

• Development (formerly Friends of the ICMA) 

• Digital Resources

• Finance

• Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)

• International Engagement *

• Membership

• Programs and Lectures

• Publications

• Social Media Working Group*

• Website Task Force *

For more details on the roles of these committees, or to volunteer for one of them, please see below for descriptions and time commitment.  

The ICMA is an inclusive organization. We seek participation from members at every career stage, with a broad range of research specialties, and from diverse professional and geographic origins. In addition to traditional research strengths, we also seek participation from scholars who query the “edges” of our discipline and who engage in the theorization of our methods and objects of study. We are brought together by a shared commitment, in the words of our Mission Statement, to “the study, understanding, and preservation of visual and material cultures produced primarily between ca. 300 CE and ca. 1500 CE in every corner of the medieval world.”

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LEADERSHIP ROLES
Nominations due 20 August 2025

We seek nominees (and self-nominees) for the following posts:

Secretary (3-year term, 2026-29)

• Part of the Executive Committee, Required to attend two annual board meetings, three annual Finance Committee meetings, plus 1-2 Publications Committee meetings. Must create and edit minutes for each meeting.

• Estimated time commitment: 30 hours per year

Board of Directors (3-year term, 2026-29)

• Required to attend two annual meetings and committee meetings (all Directors serve on a committee). The Board of Directors shall establish policy for the ICMA, supervise activities of the ICMA, and approve the annual budget. International members are encouraged to self-nominate.

• Estimated time commitment: 6-10 hours per year

Associates (3-year term, 2026-29) 

• Lend expertise to the ICMA and will help further the goals of the organization. Associates are invited to attend meetings of the Board without vote. Individuals residing anywhere in the world who engage with medieval art and architecture, but who may not view themselves as an art or architectural historian, are encouraged to self-nominate. 

• Estimated time commitment: 6-10 hours per year

Nominating Committee (1-year term, 2026)

• In charge of creating the slate of leadership candidates for the annual election

• Estimated time commitment: 10 hours per year

HOW TO SUGGEST CANDIDATES (OR YOURSELF) FOR A LEADERSHIP ROLE:

• Nominate a colleague HERE
  You will be asked to provide your name and email in the first stage; for the second stage, you will be asked to provide nominees’ name, email, post (can be multiple), and information to share with the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee will follow up with the nominee.
   

• Self-nominate HERE: 
  You will be asked to provide your name, email, and country along with a brief statement on why you would like to be a candidate. A CV and short biography is required.
   

If you have any questions, please contact our 2025 Nominating Committee Chair, Andrea Myers Achi at Andrea.Achi@metmuseum.org.

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COMMITTEE ROLES
Nominations due 20 August 2025

(new committees marked with an asterisk *)

75th Anniversary Committee *

• This is a newly formed committee to begin envisioning a celebration of the ICMA’s 75th Anniversary in 2031.

• Estimated time commitment: 10 hours annually

Advocacy Committee

• Devises ways to prepare ICMA members to advocate for the field of medieval art history and more broadly for the arts and humanities.

• Estimated time commitment: 20 hours annually

Audit Committee

• Oversees the annual financial review or audit (the latter occurring every third year), including approval of results from the previous year’s review/audit. The committee meets twice annually.

• Estimated time commitment: 6 hours annually

Development Committee * (formerly Friends of the ICMA)

• Tasked with high-level donor relations and securing funding for ICMA programming. This includes follow-up with specific individuals and being able to engage with donors who believe in ICMA’s mission.

• Estimated time commitment: 10 hours annually

Digital Resources Committee

• Creates online programming to benefit ICMA members, including “Mining the Collection” (at least once each year in conjunction with the ICMS/Kalamazoo conference) and “Medieval Coming Attractions” (twice each year).

• Estimated time commitment: 20 hours annually

Finance Committee

• Oversees the ICMA’s financial needs, budget, and endowment performance. The committee meets three times annually and recommends endowment draws and budgets for a board vote.

• Estimated time commitment: 10 hours annually

IDEA Committee

• Works to create useful programming and resources for ICMA members to enhance the inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility of their professional spaces (classrooms, museums, etc). Advises the Executive Committee on issues that arise which might inspire the ICMA to contact others outside of our membership circles to advocate on behalf of the organization on a matter of professional concern to the membership. Members also audit the ICMA’s activities to ensure our values are met.  

• Estimated time commitment: 15 hours annually

International Engagement Committee *

• Offers suggestions on how best to engage with and serve our members outside of North America. In 2025-26, this committee will continue the development of a lecture series to take place in Europe.

• Estimated time commitment: 15 hours annually

Membership Committee

• Oversees member activities, engagement, benefits, and recruitment.

• Estimated time commitment: 15 hours annually

Programs and Lectures Committee

• Sends out Calls for Proposals and selects our sponsored sessions at conferences, as well as working to organize the Forsyth and Stahl Lectures.

• Estimated time commitment: 20 hours annually

Publications Committee

• Meets once (and occasionally twice) each year to oversee our current publications: Gesta, the Viewpoints series, and ICMA News.

• Estimated time commitment: 5-10 hours annually 

Social Media Working Group *

• Will consider a social media strategy for the ICMA, specifically examining ways that the organization could produce what might be called “micro-learning” productions for dissemination online. 

• Estimated time commitment: 30-50 hours annually

Website Task Force *

• During the 2025-26 year, will carefully review our website, clarifying its navigation and working with the ICMA’s Coordinator for Digital Engagement to edit and update portions of it as necessary.

• Estimated time commitment: 20 hours annually

HOW TO VOLUNTEER FOR A COMMITTEE:

To volunteer your service, use the form that you can find HERE. You will be asked to submit your CV and a brief paragraph describing your interest in the committee(s) you select. The staffing of committees is coordinated between the Executive Committee and Committee Chairs. We strongly encourage you to consider multiple committees, and to express an interest in serving where you are most needed if we are unable to accommodate your top choice.

If you have any questions, please contact our Executive Director, Ryan Frisinger, at icma@medievalart.org. 

ICMA Pop-Up: Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 14:00

ICMA Pop-Up
Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
Wednesday 27 August 2025, 14:00
Château de Chantilly
In-person

REGISTER HERE

ICMA members are invited to visit the exhibition Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry with other ICMA members. Exhibition curator Matthieu Deldicque, will give a 10 minute introduction. Afterwards, members are invited to a nearby café for an apéro.

Attendees are responsible for the their own ticket to the exhibition and for transportation to the Jeu de Paume at Château de Chantilly.

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Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry is the most famous manuscript in the world. Described as the ‘Mona Lisa’ of manuscripts, this collection of offices and prayers made especially for the Duke of Berry, brother of King Charles V of France, is a testament to the splendour and artistic refinement of the late Middle Ages.

Produced throughout the 15th century, this exceptional work was illuminated by the Limbourg brothers, distinguished artists affiliated with the courts of Burgundy and Berry, whose work profoundly transformed the course of art history. Consisting of 121 miniatures, Les Très Riches Heures capture the imagination with their depictions of historic castles, noble scenes and seasonal work in the fields that have shaped our perception of the Middle Ages.

To celebrate the restoration of this masterpiece, which has only been shown to the public twice since the end of the 19th century, an international exhibition has been set up, featuring almost 150 exhibits from all over the world. The exhibition provides visitors with an insight into each stage of the creation of the Très Riches Heures over almost a century and explains why the manuscript is still so popular.

The exhibition focuses particularly on the figure of Jean de Berry, his lavish patronage and his taste for books. For the first time since the prince’s death in 1416, all his books of hours known to date have been collected in one place. Manuscripts, sculptures, paintings and valuable works of art provide a comprehensive overview of the context behind the creation and dissemination of the Duke’s most ambitious work.

For more information about the exhibition, click HERE.

Call for Papers for ICMA-Sponsored Panel: 'The Archival Art Historian', College Art Association Conference, Chicago (18-21 Feb. 2026), Due by 29 Aug. 2025

Call for Papers
ICMA Sponsored Session
The Archival Art Historian

College Art Association Annual Conference 
Chicago, 18-21 February 2026

Due 29 August 2025

Art historians of the medieval past are often required to conduct research within varied archives that were not designed for art historical research: libraries, historical museums, private collections, cathedral crypts, parish churches or graveyards. Databases such as the Digital Index for Medieval Art, the Warburg Institute’s Iconographic Database and the ICMA Image Database are gradually revolutionising the study of medieval art. However, art historians of the medieval past must still frequently contend with generations of afterlives, layers of bureaucracy and confounding archival systems which rarely prioritise the visual. Working within these spaces presents both challenges and exciting opportunities for original interventions. This panel invites papers that reflect on the experience of conducting art historical research in archives that were not designed with art historians in mind.

This session aims to foster a productive discussion about the intricacies of art historical research and the position of archives therein. The 90-minute session will consist of five 10-minute presentations, followed by a round table discussion and Q&A. We therefore invite 10-minute presentations that reflect on: a single archival encounter, object, institution or methodological problem.

Papers should raise issues which may form the basis of a generative broader conversation between panellists and with the audience. Possible topics may include: discussion of working with unillustrated catalogues, the challenges of studying material that is still ‘active’ in a working context or the complexities which surround the creation of digital archives. We welcome papers which consider medieval archives and objects from across periods and geographies and we define ‘archive’ in the broadest possible terms, to include both digital and physical collections.

Submission guidelines
Please submit a 250-word abstract by Friday 29 August 2025, via CAA’s dedicated submission portal on the conference website.

To submit an abstract and for more information, visit https://caa.confex.com/caa/2026/webprogrampreliminary/Session16076.html

This panel is sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA). If your paper is accepted and you are not already a member of the ICMA, you will be required to join by February 2026. Some funding to assist with the cost of attending the conference may be available to speakers through the ICMA Kress Travel Grant Fund.

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Contributing panelists will have the opportunity to submit their paper for publication in a special issue of the open-access journal Different Visions, titled ‘Points of Friction’, and co-edited by Dr Millie Horton-Insch (hortonim@tcd.ie) and Dr Lauren Rozenberg (l.rozenberg@uea.ac.uk).

NEW VIDEO! FRIENDS OF THE ICMA PRESENTS MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS 2025-2026

NEW VIDEO

FRIENDS OF THE ICMA PRESENTS MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS 2025-2026

Wednesday 21 May 2025, 11am ET (15:00 CET)

https://chateaudechantilly.fr/en/collection/the-tres-riches-heures-du-duc-de-berry/; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459202

The Friends of the ICMA held the latest in a series of special online events on Wednesday 21 May 2025, 11am ET (15:00 CET). The hour-long program previeweed three medieval exhibitions, each introduced by its curator.

Mathieu Deldicque, Director of the Château de Chantilly, presented on the exhibition that he curated, “Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Musée Condé”, which is running from 7 June 2025 to 5 October 2025.

Melanie Holcomb (Manager of Collection Strategy at The Met Cloisters) and Nancy Thebaut, (Associate Professor in the History of Art at the University of Oxford), both Curators of “Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages”, introduced the exhibition, which will be at the MET Cloisters from 16 October 2025 to 29 March 2026.

Michael Rief, Assistant Director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen and Custodian of the Collection, and Till-Holger Borchert, Director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, spoke on the exhibition, “Praymobil. mittelalterliche kunst in bewegung”, which will run from 29 November 2025 to 15 March 2026

The panel was introduced and moderated by Stephen Perkinson, Professor of Art History, Bowdoin College, President of the ICMA.

To watch the video, visit the Special Online Lectures section of the ICMA website.

ICMA News, Summer 2025 now available online

ICMA News               

summer 2025
Melanie Hanan, Editor

Click here to read.
Also available on www.medievalart.org

INSIDE

SPECIAL FEATURES

Report and Resource
Medieval Art Embodied: Performing the York Mystery Cycle at Brooklyn College, The Met Cloisters, and the University of Toronto, By Lauren Mancia

Research and Teaching Tools from the Making and Knowing Project, By Pamela H. Smith


Exhibition Reports 
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, By Gabriela Chitwood

Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350 (National Gallery, London), By Judith Steinhoff


EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

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The deadline for the next issue of ICMA News is 15 October 2025. Please send information to newsletter@medievalart.org 

If you would like your upcoming conference, CFP, or exhibition included in the newsletter please email the information to EventsExhibitions@medievalart.org.

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2025: Sponsored Sessions + Reception, Wednesday 9 July 2025

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 

ICMA Sponsored Session
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
Viewing the Invisible: Multi-Sensory Approaches to the Divine in East and West, I & II
I: Wednesday 9 July 2025, 14.15-15.45
II: Wednesday 9 July 2025, 16.30-18.00
Esther Simpson Building, Room 2.12


ICMA Reception 
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
The Dry Dock
Wednesday 9 July 2025, 19:30-21:30
Student Meet and Greet at 19:00
All are welcome! Invite a colleague! 

Register HERE to help us know how many to expect at the reception.

Dream of Constantine and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge

ICMA Sponsored Session
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
Viewing the Invisible: Multi-Sensory Approaches to the Divine in East and West I

Wednesday 9 July 2025, 14.15-15.45
Esther Simpson Building, Room 2.12
Session 1202

Organiser & Moderator: Ioanna Christoforaki, Research Centre for Byzantine & Post-Byzantine Art, Academy of Athens
 
Multi-Sensory Experiences of Water and Water Motifs in Early Byzantium
Evan Freeman, Department of Global Humanities / Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Centre for Hellenic Studies, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

Liturgical Visions in the Life of Nephon (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca 1371z)
Vasileios Marinis, Yale Divinity School, Yale University

Looking at Relics, Seeking the Sacred
Cynthia Hahn, Department of Art & Art History, Hunter College, New York

Smelling the Divine: Multi-Sensory Devotion within the Cult of St Demetrios
Lucie Schwarz, Department of Art History, University of Pennsylvania

ICMA Sponsored Session
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
Viewing the Invisible: Multi-Sensory Approaches to the Divine in East and West II

Wednesday 9 July 2025, 16.30-18.00
Esther Simpson Building, Room 2.12
Session 1302

Organiser & Moderator: Ioanna Christoforaki, Research Centre for Byzantine & Post-Byzantine Art, Academy of Athens
 
Hierotopy and Singers 'on the Step': The Effect of Greek Liturgical Singing on Siculo-Norman Domes Joseph Williams, School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation,University of Maryland

Beyond Vision: Christians, Muslims, and Miracles at the Monastery of Our Lady of Saydnaya, 12th-13th Centuries
Pelia Werth, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins University

Unveiling the Sacred: The Late Medieval Practice of Covering Altarpieces and Devotional Images
Ralf van Bühren, Facoltà di Comunicazione Sociale Istituzionale,Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Roma

 

ICMA Reception 
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
The Dry Dock
Wednesday 9 July 2025, 19:30-21:30

Student Meet and Greet, 19:00
Reception, 19:30

All are welcome! Invite a colleague! 
Please register HERE, to help us know how many to expect (non-committal)


Join fellow ICMA members for a special off-site reception at The Dry Dock on Wednesday 9 July 2025 from 19:30-21:30. Students are invited to join early at 19:00 to meet other student colleagues. Complimentary drinks and small bites will be provided. Food is available for purchase.

The Dry Dock is about a 10 minute walk from the University of Leeds campus, en route to central Leeds. 

The Dry Dock
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds LS2 3AX

https://www.socialpubandkitchen.co.uk/dry-dock-leeds

ICMA in Budapest: exhibition tour of "Master MS and his age" on Friday 20 June 2025. Register today!

ICMA in Budapest
Exhibiton tour of Master MS and his age
with Emese Sarkadi Nagy (curator) and Éva Galambos (restorer)
 
Friday 20 June 2025
3pm CET
Museum of Fine Arts, Heroes’ Square, Budapest

In person only

Register HERE

The Visitation. Master M.S. (Michel Schröter?), active ca. 1506. Lindenwood, oil-egg tempera, gilt;140 × 94.5 cm. 2151. Old Hungarian Collection; Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

ICMA members are invited to attend an exhibition tour of Master MS and his age at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, with one of the exhibition’s curators Emese Sarkadi Nagy and restorer Éva Galambos. A general introduction to the exhibition will be provided by Zsombor Jékely. 

The exhibition showcases one of the most significant yet enigmatic figures of medieval Hungarian art, known as Master MS. At the heart of the monographic exhibition is Master MS’s most famous work: the former high altarpiece of Saint Catherine’s Church in Selmecbánya (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia), dated to 1506. The seven surviving panel paintings of this monumental masterpiece of late medieval art have never before been brought together in a single exhibition.

Drinks to follow at 5pm.

More information about the exhibition: https://www.mfab.hu/exhibitions/master-ms-and-his-age/

This event was organized by Zsombor Jékely (Budapest). The event is open to current ICMA members as well as to art history students. This gathering is informal. Attendees are responsible for their own travel bookings and accommodation, if needed.
 
Click HERE to register.

MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS, 2025-26 - Wednesday 21 May 2025 online via Zoom

MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS, 2025-26
Register HERE

Please join the Friends of the ICMA for the latest in a series of special online events on WEDNESDAY 21 MAY 2025 at 11am ET (17:00 CET). The hour-long program will preview three medieval exhibitions, each introduced by its curator.

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry  (Musée Condé at the Château de Chantilly, 7 June -5 October 2025) Curator: Mathieu Deldicque

Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages (The Met Cloisters, 16 October 2025– 29 March 2026) Curators: Melanie Holcomb and Nancy Thebaut

Praymobil. mittelalterliche kunst in bewegung (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, 29 November 2025 - 15 March 2026) Curator: Michael Rief

Please feel free to notify colleagues and friends who may not be ICMA members about this event. 

For questions, please contact icma@medievalart.org

Call for Proposals: VIII Forum Medieval Art in Bochum, 23-26 September 2026, due Friday 23 May 2025

Call for Proposals
ICMA at the VIII Forum Medieval Art
Bochum, 23-26 September 2026
due Friday 23 May 2025

Work: Traces, Constellations, Valuations
(Ulrich Rehm, Ruhr-Universität Bochum in cooperation with Kirsten Lee Bierbaum, Technische Universität Dortmund)

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship at the VIII Forum Medieval Art (Bochum, 23-26 September 2026) for which the theme will be “Work: Traces, Constellations, Valuations.” Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members. 

Proposals to the ICMA must include a session abstract of 350 words and a CV of the organizer(s). A list of speakers is not required at the time of application. There is to be one session chair and a maximum of three speakers per section. The sessions will be officially selected in July 2025 by the conference organizers and the calls for papers for all sessions will be sent out in August.

Upload your proposals HERE by 23 May 2025.

Please direct all inquiries to the Chair of the Programs Committee: Alice I. Sullivan, Tufts University, USA, alice.sullivan@tufts.edu

The ICMA Programs and Lectures committee will select a session to sponsor and will notify the successful organizer(s) by 29 May 2025. The organizer(s) will then submit the ICMA-sponsored proposal to the conference organizers by 1 June 2025.

https://www.dvfk-berlin.de/en/kdm-call-for-sessions-2/

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A note about Kress Travel Grants
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, funds may be available to defray travel costs of speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions up to a maximum of $600 for domestic travel and of $1200 for overseas travel. If a conference meets in person, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. If a presenter is attending a conference virtually, Kress funding will cover virtual conference registration fees.
 
Click HERE for more information. 

Call for Proposals: International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026, due Friday 23 May 2025

Call for Proposals
International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026
Kalamazoo, 14–16 May 2026
due Friday 23 May 2025
 

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo. Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members.  
 
Proposals to the ICMA must include a session abstract and a CV of the organizer(s). A list of speakers is not required at the time of application. Organizers will have the opportunity to send out a call for papers after the session is selected by the ICMA and has been approved by the Congress Committee in July.
 
Upload your proposals HERE by 23 May 2025. 
 
Please direct all inquiries to the Chair of the Programs & Lectures Committee: Alice I. Sullivan, Tufts University, USA, alice.sullivan@tufts.edu 
 
The ICMA Programs & Lectures committee will select a session to sponsor and will notify the successful organizer(s) by 29 May 2025. The organizer(s) will then submit the ICMA-sponsored proposal to the ICMS by 1 June 2025.

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A note about Kress Travel Grants
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, funds may be available to defray travel costs of speakers in ICMA sponsored sessions up to a maximum of $600 for domestic travel and of $1200 for overseas travel. If a conference meets in person, the Kress funds are allocated for travel and hotel only. If a presenter is attending a conference virtually, Kress funding will cover virtual conference registration fees.
 
Click HERE for more information. 

New Video! ICMA Annual Lecture, Word/Play: Interiority, Performance, and Reading in Late Medieval Flanders, Alexa Sand

New Video

ICMA Annual Lecture

Word/Play: Interiority, Performance, and Reading in Late Medieval Flanders

Alexa Sand

Professor of Art History and Associate Vice President for Research at Utah State University

14 May 2025

The link to the video is on the Courtauld Lecture page of the ICMA website.

A small group of devotional, literary, and spiritually instructional texts from late thirteenth and early fourteenth century Flanders and Northern France contain a remarkable array of marginalia depicting performance practices and play, ranging from puppet shows to violent ball sports. In the environment that produced these books, reading, especially in a devotional vein, was not merely transactional or functional, and the books are part of a performance culture in which engaging in various outward behaviours, especially those associated with “play” in all its aspects was critical to creating the awareness of and experience of inwardness, including a heightened sense of one’s spiritual visibility to the divine. Drawing on scholarship in dance history, performance studies, and the history of sports, and responding to recent work by fellow art historians focusing on the nexus of sensory experiences – haptic, visual, aural, gustatory, and olfactory – that constitute what is sometimes characterised as “medieval somaesthetics,” this work situates the illuminated manuscripts and the acts of reading they engendered as indices of a much larger realm of experience and practice that constituted the prima materia of late medieval selfhood. Understanding how these particular objects, images, and performances constituted the field of its enactment, is pertinent to twenty-first-century phenomena of self-formation and self-perception within the relentlessly performative realm of media culture.

Alexa Sand is Professor of Art History and Associate Vice President for Research at Utah State University, where she has taught since 2004. She earned her Ph.D. in art history from UC Berkeley, with an emphasis on medieval French art and literature. Her book, Vision, Devotion, and Self-Representation in Late Medieval Art appeared with Cambridge University Press in 2014. Her most recent work has focused on medieval puppetry, including her 2021 essay in Gesta, “Puppets, Manuscripts, and Gendered Performance in the Hortus deliciarum.” She is cohost of the podcast Real Fantastic Beasts.

Organised by Dr Jessica Barker, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Art History, The Courtauld. This event is kindly supported by the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA), and the drinks reception sponsored by Sam Fogg. This Series made possible through the generosity of William M. Voelkle.

Call for Proposals: ICMA Forsyth Lecture, due 15 May 2025

Call for Proposals
ICMA Forsyth Lecture
due 15 May 2025

INVITE AN EXPERT TO YOUR CAMPUS!

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for an in-person Forsyth Lecture Series (with a virtual component) to be held at 2-3 venues in 2025-2026. Forsyth Lectures are to be co-sponsored by the ICMA and colleges, universities, or museums located east of the Mississippi River, or the Greater Midwest. We are interested in proposals that include in-person engagement between students, speakers, and the general public – and can include non-lecture events like seminars or object handling sessions in addition to at least one lecture. For example, Venue 1 hosts a lecture (both in person and online), Venue 2 hosts a seminar with students or a hands-on museum experience, Venue 3 hosts a lecture and student-focused discussion with the speaker. Proposals are open to suggestions and types of events at each venue as long as at least two venues participate and one lecture is presented. Lectures at all venues are also acceptable for the proposal but they need to be accompanied by a student-focused gathering. International exchange of scholarship is encouraged, though not required.

A lead organizer at an institution must work with 1-2 local organizers at other institutions to create the series of events. The first step will be aligning a potential speaker and interested institutions. The ICMA contributes $3,500 (total) toward the events, flexible dependent on the specific needs of the institutions and institutional budgets. Joint proposals—of two or more institutions—are welcome, as traditionally, lecturers are expected to speak at more than one venue. The hosts assume the responsibility of organizing the event, ideally working in conjunction with colleagues at other institutions; for publishing the details in advance on the ICMA website and ICMA News (the newsletter); and for reporting on the event after it is over.

In the application, please suggest the name(s) of appropriate speakers and indicate your willingness to host the event at your institution. Please indicate the format of the event and, if applicable, whether your college or university has the infrastructure for a Zoom (or other) webinar and the tech support to launch and troubleshoot a virtual component to the events.

For the Forsyth Lecture, please submit your CV and the CV of the proposed speaker, as well as a brief proposal/preliminary itinerary by clicking HERE.

Please direct any inquiries to the Chair of the ICMA Programs & Lectures Committee: Alice Isabella Sullivan (alice.sullivan@tufts.edu).

The deadline for the nominations is 15 May 2025 for lectures to be planned during the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Call for applications: Assistant Editor for ICMA News, due 23 May 2025

Call for applications
Assistant Editor for ICMA News
due 23 May 2025

 
The ICMA/ICMA Publications Committee seeks an Assistant Editor for the Events and Exhibitions section of the triannual newsletter, ICMA News. This position, to be held by a current graduate student, will run a two-year term. Working closely with the newsletter Editor, the Assistant Editor for Events and Exhibitions will be responsible for gathering and managing relevant information on upcoming symposia, calls for papers, and exhibitions for publication in the newsletter.The Events and Exhibitions section is international in scope, and is a regular section of each issue. In addition, the Assistant Editor works with the Editor to identify graduate students to write exhibition reports for each issue. The Assistant Editor also helps the Editor edit the newsletter copy and final proofs before publication. An annual stipend of US$750 is provided.

For consideration, please send a brief letter of interest and current CV to Melanie Hanan, ICMA News Editor, at newsletter@medievalart.org, by 23 May 2025.

ICMA in Boston: "Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World" Wednesday 2 April 2025, 3pm ET - Register today!

ICMA in Boston
Tour of Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World
with exhibition curator Ladan Akbarnia

Wednesday 2 April 2025, 3pm ET
McMullen Museum of Art at Boston COLLEGE
In-person only

Register HERE

Star map depicting the northern and southern celestial hemispheres (with constellations inscribed in Devanagari). India, Jaipur, ca. 1780. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Pritzker Collection, Chicago. Photo: Michael Tropea.

ICMA members are invited to attend an exhibition tour of Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College with exhibition curator Ladan Akbarnia (The San Diego Museum of Art). 

Using wonder as a vehicle, Wonders of Creation illuminates the global impact of science and artistic production from the Islamic world and its diverse geographies and multifaceted visual cultures. Over 170 works, including illustrated manuscripts and paintings, maps, scientific instruments, magic bowls, luster dishes, architectural elements, and contemporary art, evoke wonder through a visual journey.

Drinks to follow at 5pm at an offsite location. 

Click HERE for exhibition and museum info.

Click HERE to register.

ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant - due Wednesday 19 March 2025

ICMA-KRESS EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Deadline for applications: WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025, 11:59pm ET

Upload materials HERE

Thanks to the generosity of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, ICMA members are eligible to apply for an ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant of $10,000 to support research and/or interpretive programming for a major exhibition at an institution that otherwise could not provide such financial support. Members from all geographic areas are welcome to apply.

As an organization, the ICMA encourages scholars to think expansively, exploring art and society in “every corner of the medieval world,” as characterized in our mission statement. With this grant, we hope to encourage colleagues to develop innovative exhibition themes or bring little-known objects before new audiences. We also aim to enhance the impact of exhibitions by supporting related lectures or symposia.

ICMA-Kress Exhibition Development Grant can be used to fund travel in the research and preparation stages of an exhibition and/or to underwrite public programming once a show is installed. This grant is designed to assist with an exhibition already in the pipeline and scheduled by the host museum.

We ask applicants to upload to the ICMA submission site:

• Applicant’s cv

• Description of the exhibition and its goals, including an overview of the structure of the exhibition – themes and estimated number of objects in each section of the show – and dates of the exhibition

• Statement of other sources of funding both secured and provisional, with specifics on the amounts already awarded and expenses to be covered by secured and provisional funding

• Sample wall panel for a subsection of the exhibition and sample labels for 3-4 examples of works in the show

• If the applicant seeks funds to travel to see objects for inclusion in the exhibition, a list of institutions to be visited, names of contacts at each, and key objects (with accession numbers) to be inspected

• If the applicant seeks funds for exhibition programming, specific information on gallery talks, public lectures, or symposium, with anticipated names of speakers and estimated dates

• Letter of support from the Museum Director or Curator with whom the applicant is working, confirming that the exhibition will be mounted

• If funds will be used toward a lecture or symposium connected to an exhibition, letter of support from institutional administrator/s (Dean, Provost, or Museum/Gallery Director) confirming that space at the organizer’s institution will be made available for the event/s

Applications will be reviewed by the ICMA Grants & Awards Committee and approved by the ICMA Executive Committee. The recipient will be announced in May 2025. An update report from the recipient will be due in late Summer 2025.

Questions can be addressed to Ryan Frisinger, Executive Director, at awards@medievalart.org

Upload materials HERE

STUDENT RESEARCH GRANT - DUE WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025

Student Research Grant
due WEDNESDAY 19 March 2025, 11:59pm ET

Upload materials HERE

This grant of $500 is intended to encourage an early-stage graduate student (someone enrolled in a post-baccalaureate graduate program, who may have received a MA or MPhil, or who is otherwise pre-ABD) to pursue research on cross-cultural visual connections involving art produced in parts of the medieval world that until recently have been studied separately. To be eligible, applicants must be involved in research on the connections between art of at least two of the following broadly-defined regions:  

• Africa

• Asia

• Europe and Byzantium

• North Africa, the Middle East, and the Near East

Funds awarded could be used to defray expenses of attending or presenting at a conference or visiting a museum, archive, or site. Applicants must be members of the ICMA (information on memberships can be found here).
 
We are grateful to Robert E. Jamison, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Clemson University, for underwriting this grant. The grant recipient is to send their winning application directly to Robert E. Jamison as soon as the award is announced.

The deadline for submission is WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025, 11:59pm ET.  The winners will be announced at the Spring Board Meeting. Recipients will be asked to forward their winning application to Robert E. Jamison.

 
Applicants must submit: 

1. Description of the project to be undertaken, in 400 words or less.

2. Proposed budget.  Please be precise and realistic: if the budget exceeds $500, state how you will cover the remaining portion of the cost.

3. A curriculum vitae.            

NOTE ON FILE SUBMISSION: Please submit PDF files when appropriate with the file named as LAST NAME first, then the item. Example: SMITHdescription.pdf, SMITHbudget.pdf, SMITHcv.pdf

All applicants must be ICMA members.
All submissions are to be uploaded HERE.


A parallel grant is available via The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Technology, Science, and Art (AVISTA).  Students may apply for both the ICMA and the AVISTA grants but would be eligible to receive only one of the awards. 

Email questions to Ryan Frisinger at awards@medievalart.org. The winning application will be chosen by members of the ICMA Grants and Awards Committee, which is chaired by our Vice-President.

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Map of the world; with windfaces along upper and lower edge; stencil-coloured illustration to Ptolemy, 'Cosmographia', Ulm: Leonhard Holl, 1482. Coloured woodcut. © The Trustees of the British Museum Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

ICMA Graduate Student Essay Award - due Wednesday 19 March 2025

GRADUATE STUDENT ESSAY AWARDS
due WEDNESDAY 19 March 2025, 11:59 PM ET

Upload materials HERE

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) wishes to announce its annual Graduate Student Essay Award for the best essay by a student member of the ICMA.  The theme or subject of the essay may be any aspect of medieval art, and can be drawn from current research.  Eligible essays must be produced while a student is in coursework.  The work must be original and should not have been published elsewhere.  We are pleased to offer First Prize ($400), Second Prize ($200), and Third Prize ($100).

We are grateful to an anonymous donor for underwriting the Student Essay Award competition. This member particularly encourages submissions that consider themes of intercultural contact — for instance, between Latin Christendom and the Byzantine realm; among Jews, Muslims, and Christians; or the dynamics of encounters connecting Europe, Africa, and Asia. These are not requirements, however, and the awards will be granted based on quality of the papers, regardless of topic.

The deadline for submission is WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025, 11:59pm ET. The winners will be announced at the Spring Board Meeting in May. Recipients will be asked to forward their winning essay to the donor that underwrites the Student Essay Award competition.

Applicants must submit:

1. An article-length paper (maximum 30 pages, double-spaced, not including footnotes) following the editorial guidelines of our journal Gesta. A title page with essay title, author name, contact information, and affiliation must be included.

2. Each submission must also include a 250-word abstract written in English regardless of the language of the rest of the paper.

3. A curriculum vitae.

NOTE ON FILE SUBMISSION: Please submit PDF files when appropriate with the file named as LAST NAME first, then the item. Example: SMITHabstract.pdf, SMITHessay.pdf, SMITHcv.pdf

All applicants must be ICMA members.
All submissions are to be uploaded HERE.

Email questions to Ryan Frisinger at awards@medievalart.org. The winning essay will be chosen by members of the ICMA Grants and Awards Committee, which is chaired by our Vice-President.

New Video! ICMA Annual IDEA Lecture, Staging medieval art: Photography, archaeology, and living objects in Afghanistan, Martina Rugiadi

New Video

ICMA Annual IDEA Lecture

Staging medieval art: Photography, archaeology, and living objects in Afghanistan

Martina Rugiadi, Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thursday 6 February 2025 at 6:30pm ET

New York University and Online

Available to watch on the Special Online Lectures page of the ICMA Website: https://www.medievalart.org/special-online-lectures

Since centuries, the town of Ghazni has been the site of devotion, visited by those seeking to be blessed and healed at the tombs of its saints. Yet our scholarly gaze has primarily focused on the city’s short-lived royal past of the 11th-12th centuries, the remains of which were meticulously documented with stunning photographs in the 1950s and 60s. Uncovering these images, this talk aims to reveal broader, more inclusive histories that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Martina Rugiadi is Curator in the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she is preparing an exhibition on medieval Afghan marbles. As an archaeologist, she has worked mostly in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria, and now co-directs the Towns of the Karakum project in Turkmenistan. Her recent research explores medieval drinking, Islamic-period spolia, agency and visual languages, and the juncture of art history, cultural heritage, and the museum.