The Oroya and Melvin Day Fellowship in New Zealand Art History

This fellowship, established in 2023 on the centenary of Melvin Day’s birth, enables an early career scholar to research and teach New Zealand art history.

Our purpose

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s Art History programme was established in 1995 and since then has built a reputation for the depth of its engagement with art and culture, and its critical approaches to art history in Aotearoa New Zealand and the world beyond. We have a deep commitment to New Zealand’s art histories.

The Oroya and Melvin Day Fellowship in New Zealand Art History is a significant award that will enable an art history graduate to further their career whilst also teaching New Zealand art history to undergraduate students, further promoting and bringing new life to New Zealand art history. The Fellow will extend our research and scholarship in special and unique ways, enabling a new generation of students to be immersed in the close study of topics in New Zealand art history.

Requirements

The Fellowship is open to early-career researchers, possessing at least a Master’s degree in any area of study relating to New Zealand art history. Applicants are invited from emerging or early-career scholars of high potential, who have a particular research area in New Zealand art history they wish to explore. They must be able to devote themselves to full-time research and teaching on their chosen topic for the tenure of the Fellowship.

The Oroya and Melvin Day Trust

Melvin Day was a well-known New Zealand artist and art historian. Over the course of seven and a half decades, he produced a distinctive and historically significant body of work.

Oroya Day was a lecturer in Art History at the University. She was also the founding president of the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace society and the driving force behind the restoration and preservation of Mansfield's house.

In recent years, the Oroya and Melvin Day Trust has become a regular benefactor of the New Zealand heritage sector.

In 2023, the Day Trust agreed to expand their support of student scholarships to provide philanthropic funding for the establishment of the Oroya and Melvin Day Fellowship. The Oroya and Melvin Day Fellowship in New Zealand Art History is a significant and generous contribution to the future of art history at the University.