NEW YORK, NY.- The Frick Collection, long known for its prestigious art historical fellowships, announces the growth of these offerings through the creation of six new positions, underwritten by a series of major gifts. Alongside the ongoing Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellowship, now in its third decade, the Frick hosts new curatorial, conservation, and music-related roles, supporting many of the museum’s activities while expanding access to career-shaping experiences for rising arts and culture professionals.
The six new positions, created since 2024, are the Ayesha Bulchandani Music Fellowship, the Alexis Gregory Fellowship for European Decorative Arts, The Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund Conservation and Curatorial Fellowships, the Louis Vuitton Curatorial Research Associate, and the Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Fellowship. The longstanding Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellowship continues with a new appointment this fall.
Commented Axel Rüger, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, “For generations, The Frick Collection has served as a vital training ground within the cultural sector, with alumni from our renowned fellowship programs holding significant directorial, curatorial, and scholarly posts across the globe. We have long wanted to expand these opportunities and now, with enhanced spaces in our buildings and generous funding from multiple donors, we are able to do so. We are so pleased to continue mentoring the next generation of professionals in our field, and we extend our deep appreciation to the organizations and individuals who have made this possible.”
The Ayesha Bulchandani Music Fellowship, established in 2024 in honor of Annette Patricia Bulchandani, supports recent college graduates or university students pursuing degrees in performance, composition, musicology, music production, or other relevant fields. Fellows in this semester-length role support the Frick’s internationally acclaimed annual concert season along with the daily activities of the Music and Performance Department. First-generation college students and/or students requiring financial support for tuition are strongly encouraged to apply. The inaugural fellow, Bria McCarty (2025), has stayed on in a new, full-time position in the department. This summer’s fellow is Liam Oley, a recent graduate from Vassar College with a B.A. in Music and English.
This fall, the Frick will appoint its first Alexis Gregory Fellow for European Decorative Arts. This one-year position will offer invaluable training for scholars who have recently obtained a master’s degree or are pursuing a doctorate in the study of European decorative arts. In collaboration with the Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, the fellow will conduct research for collection displays and future special exhibitions. The position also includes a travel stipend to support the fellow’s own research, which can include visits to collections, libraries, and conferences. This fellowship is made possible by the Alexis Gregory Foundation, whose late namesake—a collector and the founder of Vendome Press, a highly respected publisher of art and architecture books—bequeathed a significant group of fine and decorative works of art to the museum in 2021.
Through a recently announced sponsorship, the Frick has also created a two-year position, the Louis Vuitton Curatorial Research Associate. Beginning in September, the position will be filled by Yifu Liu, currently the Frick’s 2024–26 Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. Liu’s scholarship explores cultural exchange between Europe and China in the eighteenth century. In this role he will conduct further research on the Frick’s extensive collection of Asian porcelain, bringing long-overdue focus and attention to these holdings.
In addition, Liu—who organized the Frick’s acclaimed exhibition Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette (through August 3, 2026)—will deliver lectures and presentations on his findings and will provide general support to the Curatorial Department on publications, exhibitions, gallery displays, and programs.
Louis Vuitton’s generous support as a principal cultural sponsor in 2026–28 also provides vital funding for the Frick’s three upcoming major exhibitions and for one year of free Louis Vuitton First Fridays.
Greta Llanes Serrano was recently selected to become the Frick’s first Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund Conservation Fellow, a two-year role supporting the Conservation Department in the preventative care and preservation of the museum’s European sculpture, decorative arts, and historic interiors. Serrano, currently a graduate intern at the Frick, is completing her M.A./M.S. degree in the Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation program at SUNY Buffalo State University. Taking up the fellowship post at the Frick this fall, she will participate in departmental activities including documentation, interventive treatment, research, and technical study of both permanent collection works and loans featured in upcoming special exhibitions.
In 2028–29, the Frick will appoint its first Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund Curatorial Fellow. During a one-year tenure, the fellow will work with a senior member of the Frick’s curatorial team on various projects, including researching subjects for upcoming exhibitions, writing essays for Frick publications, and contributing to educational public programming.
The two Nord Fellowships are designed for outstanding recent graduates from diverse backgrounds. Priority will be given to first-generation college students and candidates who have financed their post-secondary studies with need-based scholarships, educational loans, or a combination of both. These fellowships also offer a travel stipend to enrich the experience.
The Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Fellowship, initiated in 2024, recruits scholars who wish to pursue research in the field of portrait medals from around the years 1400 to 1900. Appointed for six months at a time, each Scher Fellow enjoys the opportunity to work closely with curatorial and education staff on research for permanent collection displays and special exhibitions. Scher Fellows are funded by an endowment supporting the Frick’s Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Center for the Study of Commemorative Medals, established in 2022 by the Schers, who are leading collectors of the medium. The fellowship has been occupied thus far by Maximilian Kummer and Maria Ruvoldt. Virna Ravaglia, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Genoa, will take up the post this fall.
A longstanding and internationally renowned cornerstone of the Frick’s activities, the Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellowship continues to offer two-year positions for Ph.D. candidates pursuing curatorial careers in art museums. Its next scholar, Rachel Himes, will fill the role starting in September 2026. The Poulet Fellowship provides invaluable training in the field of art history, as well as unparalleled access to the permanent collection and to Frick Art Research Library resources relevant to the candidates’ dissertations. Fellows’ time is divided between completing their degree and gaining museum experience by working closely with the Curatorial Department on publications, special exhibitions, and symposia.
Poulet Fellows are funded by an endowment established by the Mellon Foundation in 2011, following earlier grants beginning in 2002. Originally known as the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellowship, the program was renamed in 2012 to honor Anne L. Poulet, Director of The Frick Collection from 2003 to 2011. The fellowship is now in its third decade. The current Poulet Fellows are Yifu Liu (2024–26)—whose work is detailed above as the incoming Louis Vuitton Curatorial Research Associate—and Stephanie Wisowaty (2025–27), who recently earned her Ph.D. from Yale University and whose scholarship explores the materiality and mobility of thirteenth- through fifteenth-century Italian painting.
The newly appointed 2026–28 fellow, Rachel Himes, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French decorative arts and material and visual culture. Her dissertation is entitled Black Luxuries: Race, Slavery, and Abolition in French Decorative Art, 1794–1848. She returns to the Frick having previously held roles in its Education Department, starting in 2015, and an internship in 2014.
Since the Poulet Fellowship’s establishment, the Frick has welcomed twenty-four scholars to the role, with Himes becoming the twenty-fifth. Several former fellows became permanent employees of the Frick, including Xavier F. Salomon (Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, 2014–25), Charlotte Vignon (Curator of Decorative Arts, 2009–20), and, most recently, Aaron Wile, who was appointed as John Updike Curator in April 2026.
Alumni of this program currently hold prominent positions at the University of Amsterdam, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Domaine de Dampierre-en-Yvelines, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Kimbell Art Museum, the Lowe Art Museum, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museu Fundación Juan March, The National Gallery in London, Oberlin College & Conservatory, Seoul National University, Tulane University, and Vassar College.
Thanks to generous donors and foundations, the Frick has also long offered paid internships, a robust program that has grown substantially over the years. These opportunities are hosted by a wide variety of departments throughout the institution, enabling students and recent graduates to explore cultural career paths in fields ranging from curatorial, educational, library sciences, and horticultural work to numerous administrative fields. This initiative began in 2013 with the establishment of the Ayesha Bulchandani Curatorial and Education Internships for Graduate and Undergraduate Students. This was followed by the addition of the Elizabeth M. Gordon Graduate Summer Internship at the Frick Art Research Library, Eichholz Foundation Internships in the External Affairs Department, the Lucy Lesseur Brown Family Horticulture Internship, as well as opportunities supported by Virginia and Randall Barbato.
