Graduate Research Fellowships
New Museum at Hastings
Unseen California, in collaboration with the UC Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History, and Hastings Natural History Reserve, invites UCSC graduate students to apply for a research fellowship supporting the development of the New Museum at Hastings.
The New Museum at Hastings is a collaborative art + science initiative transforming an existing museum building at Hastings Natural History Reserve in Monterey County's Cachagua region into a space for contemporary art, natural history, ecological research, environmental education, and community engagement. Bringing together artists, scientists, students, natural history collections, and local communities, the project explores how different ways of observing, documenting, and interpreting the environment can inform our relationships with place.
Through these fellowships, graduate students will undertake site-responsive research contributing to the museum's exhibitions, interpretive materials, educational programming, and public engagement. Fellows will work across disciplines, connecting creative practice with ecological inquiry, cultural histories, and field-based research.
Fellowship Opportunities
Application Deadline: December 6, 2026, 11:59 PM PST
Fellowship Award: $2,500 per fellowship
Exhibition-Ready Work Due: June 1, 2027
Fellowship funds support research, materials, fabrication, and production of completed work for exhibition at the New Museum at Hastings. All fellows are required to deliver exhibition-ready work by June 1, 2027, in preparation for the museum's opening in June 2027.
Develop participatory art and climate education programming for K–12 students and community groups visiting Hastings Natural History Reserve.
Projects may include workshops, field-based learning activities, creative research methods, and approaches that connect climate, ecology, and environmental observation.
Climate Education UCSC Graduate Fellowship · $2,500
Conduct artist-led research examining climate impacts and ecological change at Hastings Natural History Reserve. Projects may explore environmental histories, changing landscapes, ecological observation, and the relationships between scientific research and creative practice, with outcomes contributing to the New Museum.
Climate Impacts UCSC Graduate Fellowship · $2,500
Undertake cultural, archival, and oral-history research exploring the histories, relationships, and forms of knowledge associated with Hastings Natural History Reserve. Research may examine perspectives and narratives not represented through conventional scientific mapping, contributing new interpretive approaches to the New Museum.
Counter-mapping UCSC Graduate Fellowship · $2,500
Develop an illustrated and/or experimental field guide exploring the biodiversity of Hastings Natural History Reserve. The project may bring together ecological observation, natural history collections, scientific research, and creative approaches to mapping, illustration, and field documentation, with outcomes incorporated into the New Museum.
Mapping Biodiversity UCSC Graduate Fellowship · $2,500
About the New Museum at Hastings
Established in 1937, Hastings Natural History Reserve has a long history of ecological research, field observation, and environmental study. Its museum building, constructed in 1950, originally housed natural history specimens and collections documenting the reserve's biodiversity.
The New Museum at Hastings reimagines this historic space as a site for interdisciplinary inquiry, bringing natural history collections, archival materials, photography, contemporary art, and site-responsive research into dialogue.
Envisioned as both an exhibition and research space and a gateway to Hastings as an outdoor classroom, the museum will connect the collections and histories held inside with the living landscape surrounding it. Through exhibitions, artist residencies, graduate research, educational workshops, and public programming, the project will create opportunities for learning and exchange across art, science, and community knowledge.
Graduate fellows will contribute to this evolving initiative through independent research and creative work developed in collaboration with museum leadership and project partners.
Project Leadership + Partners
The New Museum at Hastings is co-directed and co-curated by Karolina Karlic, Professor of Art at UC Santa Cruz and Founding Director of Unseen California, and Dr. Jen Hunter, Director of Hastings Natural History Reserve at UC Berkeley.
The project is a collaboration among Unseen California, the UC Climate Action Arts Network (UC CAAN), the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz, and the Hastings Natural History Reserve.