Join The New PhMuseum 2026/27 Online Masterclasses Program

Work with Aaron Schuman, Charlie Engman, Erik Kessels, Salvatore Vitale, Vasantha Yogananthan and Cécile Poimbœuf-Koizumi to advance your practice within a collaborative, international setting.

You can now apply to the 2026/27 edition of the PhMuseum Online Masterclasses Program, and work for 8 months as part of a selected group of practitioners to refine your creative methods and conclude a project.

Alternating collective tutoring, seminars, individual sessions, and studio visits, each masterclass exists in a community-driven environment, while providing concrete opportunities to exhibit, publish and distribute your work.

It is possible to take part in one or more programs, all sharing a single intake period running through 28 May, with classes beginning in October 2026 and ending in May 2027. Present your candidature before 30 April to access the discounted Early Bird fee, and be considered for the 5 fully-funded scholarships.

CRITICAE
Online Masterclass On Documentary Photography led by Aaron Schuman

How do we negotiate and navigate our relationship with the medium, in a time when nearly everyone is empowered to tell their own stories with a camera? In an increasingly confusing, hyper-individualized post-truth era blurring fact and fiction, entertainment and propaganda, how do we convey stories that are genuinely thoughtful and meaningful for both ourselves and others?

Led by internationally renowned photographer, writer, curator, and educator Aaron Schuman, this 8-month program will guide you to expand your creative practice and research methods. Its goal is to lead you to complete a personal project, while refining your photographic voice, your relationship with the medium, and your own critical documentary strategies.

Alternating between collective and individual meetings, you will be invited to explore the complex relationship between personal curiosity, creativity, research methods, and critical thinking. While questioning documentary histories and traditions, you will experiment with, and further evolve the possibilities of the medium through your own work.
Learn more and apply for free.

CURAE
Online Masterclass On Artistic Development led by Erik Kessels

In an era of digital noise, we have all become editors of our own lives – filtering our feeds and polishing our personas. But true curation goes deeper than that. This masterclass reclaims the original meaning of CURAE: the act of taking care.

Led by world-renowned artist and curator Erik Kessels, this 8-month journey invites you to look inward to move forward. We will explore how "taking care" of your personal identity, your career trajectory, and your deepest obsessions can be distilled into a powerful personal brand and authentic photographic projects.

Through a mix of provocative seminars and hands-on practice, Kessels will challenge you to curate your own path and work on the possibilities and obstructions you will face in your artistic professional career. You will learn to identify what you truly care about and transform it into a cohesive creative presence where your vision will become as intentional as the images you create and present to your audience.
Learn more and apply for free.

FOLIO
Online Masterclass On Photobook Making led by Vasantha Yogananthan feat. Cécile Poimbœuf-Koizumi

Working closely with photographer Vasantha Yogananthan, you will complete a project and have it ready for publishing. A series of seminars led by Cécile Poimbœuf-Koizumi, co-founder and creative director of the independent publishing house Chose Commune, will provide you with tools to navigate the publishing world across design, printing, and circulation.

The integration of theory and practice, concept and technique, will lead you to a fuller understanding of the photobook language, while grounding it in your own practice. You will develop a book dummy whose structure and materiality will thoughtfully emerge from the core concepts and ideas of your work. At the end of the masterclass, you will have gained key skills to present your project in a printed form, whether you are oriented to self-publishing, or eager to engage with the existing publishing industry.

All the dummies produced during the program will be exhibited within the 2027 edition of Photobook Mania, PhMuseum’s fair dedicated to independent visual publishing in Bologna, Italy.
Learn more and apply for free.

IDEA
Online Masterclass On Conceptual Thinking
Led by Charlie Engman

The masterclass with photographer, director, and art director Charlie Engman will help practicing or aspiring photographic artists transform the seed of an idea into its fullest realisation. Drawing on his experience working across photography, moving image, collage, text, and generative AI, Engman will guide participants in developing projects that interrogate images, visual culture, and the emotional and social dynamics of seeing and being seen. Through a range of visual and theoretical strategies, participants will learn how to test, expand, and refine an idea until it becomes a conceptually grounded body of work.

Participants should come to the program with a germ of an idea: a particular area of focus, whether a political or social issue, a personal obsession, a geographic region, or a strange image that won’t leave them alone. Something they feel compelled to investigate and ultimately transform into a project – an exhibition, a book, a film, or another form of visual work.

Throughout the 8-month masterclass, participants will develop a sustained project while reflecting on the broader contexts in which images circulate and operate. The goal is not only to produce work, but to clarify the conceptual framework behind it and ensure the outcome engages, challenges, or pushes the boundaries of the photographic medium.
Learn more and apply for free.

MEDIAE
Online Masterclass on Transmedia Storytelling
led by Salvatore Vitale

How does photography exist within a broader media landscape? Visual practitioners in today's interconnected digital era must navigate various languages that continuously influence and shape content production. This process-oriented masterclass with Salvatore Vitale is designed for practitioners seeking to explore the expressive potential of photography through interaction with diverse media.

Throughout the 8-month masterclass, Salvatore Vitale will guide you in creating a multi-layered narrative project while experimenting with diverse research, production and dissemination strategies. Across theory, references, and a toolkit, you’ll gather the foundations to shape and refine a project, while reflecting on strategies to present it in space. You will be encouraged to delve deeper, and develop a language that retains complexity and plurality.

By the end of the masterclass, you will have concluded a transmedia body of work that incorporates photography in conjunction with other media such as sound, archives, interactive platforms, video, gaming, charts, text, and more – a list that constantly re-formulates and expands.
Learn more and apply for free.

Program Structure

Each Masterclass is structured across seminars, which provide theoretical and practical insights, group sessions, meant to share your progress and exchange ideas with the class, and individual sessions where you will meet the head professor and focus on your work's specific needs. A program of 10 online studio visits, shared across masterclasses, will grant you industry insight and foster cross-disciplinary exchange. You will meet artists, curators, designers, editors and art directors and develop a deeper understanding of their production, methodology, and professional roles.

Previous lecturers included Jörg M. Colberg, Lisa Barnard, Natasha Christia, Niccolò Fano, Vasantha Yogananthan, Hoda Afshar, Magali Avezou, Peggy Sue Amison, Sofia Borges, Taco Hidde Bakker, Chao Tayiana Maina, Jan Hoek, Laia Abril, Mathieu Asselin, Thomas Sauvin, Amak Mahmoodian, Bindi Vora, Julie Bonzon, Monica Allende, Sybren Kuiper, Geert Goiris, Lea Vene, Melissa Catanese, Celeste Baracchi, Flavia Parisi, Giuliana Benassi, Luca Santese, Tristan Lund, Vasco Forconi, Elisa Medde, Federico Clavarino, Jon Uriarte, Lars Willumeit, Sayuri Ichida, Silvia Rosi, Alain Bieber, Anne van der Zwaag, Annegien van Doorn, Barbara Hofmann-Johnson, Claudia Kussel, Ami Beckmann, Fragmentin, Francesco Zanot, Jean-Vincent Simonet, Paolo Cirio, Tanvi Mishra, Jackson Whitefield, Brian Paul Lamotte, Max Houghton, Olivia Gideon-Thomson, Renée Mussai, Simon Gush, and Thomas Struth.

Opportunities

Upon the program's conclusion, one or more participants across all five Masterclasses will be selected for a solo or duo exhibition at PhMuseum Lab in Bologna, Italy, scheduled for November 2027.

A project will be published in the upcoming issue of PhMuseum Annual magazine with an extensive feature. All the participants’ works will be mentioned in an archival section of the same publication.

Furthermore, all the projects will be screened in a dedicated section of Photobook Mania, our annual event dedicated to photography and printed matter happening in Bologna, Italy, in October 2027.

Why Apply

Our programs provide you with the necessary space, time, and support to conclude a body of work. The structure is located in-between an academic program and a more autonomous process: while your personal motivation is key, the program’s resources are designed to help you focus, and weave together the threads of your practice.

Taking part will further allow you to develop a solid methodology: over eight months, your work will undergo various cycles. Presenting to the class throughout them will push you to ask new questions and challenge your ideas. You will learn to navigate phases of uncertainty, structuring a methodology that works for you – something you will carry into future bodies of work, and keep developing as your practice grows.

Another fundamental aspect is community-building: every year, participants forge relationships that last after the masterclass ends. Thanks to the international nature of the program – which has so far welcomed practitioners from all continents – these bonds are also enriched by diverse cultural and aesthetic perspectives. Participants further keep in touch with the PhMuseum team, accessing our professional network and dissemination opportunities. Events such as the International Photography Festival PhMuseum Days and publishing fair Photobook Mania, held annually in Bologna, Italy, are opportunities to meet and consolidate connections in real life.

Last but not least, our programs are built on flexibility, and designed to accommodate a worldwide audience. Sessions are generally held from 3pm to 6:30pm CET (Rome), which makes them accessible across time zones from different continents. With all meetings recorded and a user-friendly booking system for individual slots, the program is suited for those balancing their practice with professional or travel commitments. Upon successful completion, you will receive a certificate attesting your dedication.

Check the detailed info below and read more here. If you have any questions, you can reach us at edu@phmuseum.com.

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Where: Online
When: October 2025 to May 2026
Dedication: 8 Months
Language: English

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How To Apply

Now → 28 May: Apply for free

Log in to PhMuseum to submit your personal data, portfolio, and motivational letter. To be considered for a scholarship, ensure you apply by 30 April, and include a paragraph explaining how you’d benefit from it. This deadline also secures the €1,850 Early Bird rate, while applications submitted through 28 May will be charged the regular €2,200 fee.

29 May → 15 July: Wait for notification

Our education team will review each application and start inviting participants on a rolling basis. Please be patient, and keep the status of your application monitored in the dedicated section of your personal profile.

15 June → 31 July: Secure your spot

If selected, you will be notified regarding the specific deadline to pay your deposit. Completing this payment is required to formally secure your spot in the masterclass. Remember to check your spam folder regularly to ensure you don't miss our update.

September: Get ready

Once your participation is confirmed, all that’s left is to prepare for the program. We will share the detailed schedule and further information with you.

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Scholarships and participation fee

Before 30 April – If you apply by this date, you are eligible for the full scholarship. In your motivational letter, explain why you’d be a strong candidate, and how you would benefit from this support.

Before 30 April – If you apply by this date, you can save €350. All applications will be automatically eligible for the Early Bird Fee of €1,850.

Before 28 May – If you apply by this date, you can join the program by paying the Regular Fee of €2,200. Since applications will be reviewed on a continuous basis, early submissions receive priority for seat allocation.

If you are offered a place, PhMuseum is happy to write you a supporting letter when you try to secure any external funding opportunities. In previous editions of our masterclasses program, the candidates' fees were covered thanks to the generous contribution of the IWMF Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, Mondriaan Fonds, Arts Council Malta, and other programs. Read our guide to 2026 Education Funding for Visual Artists to discover opportunities.