curator of exhibitions and collections

The Art Museum is currently seeking a Curator, Exhibitions and Collections. Reporting to the Executive Director, and working with the team of the Art Museum, their mandate is to research, initiate, develop and implement original, guest-curated and collection-based exhibitions and outreach relevant to the Art Museum’s forward-looking program.

The Curator will produce exhibitions that contribute to the life of the university and the broader public and communities locally, nationally and internationally. Primarily focusing on developing within the context of the Art Museum, the curator will also explore how art might live in or redress public space on campus through exhibitions of works from the collection or new commissions. Throughout their work, the curator will address the existing paradigms of exhibition-making and collecting in our time, innovatively respond to the call for equity and its attendant forms in art. How do artistic works, in the form of images, objects, collaborations, and actions, contribute to a given place, and what are the forms of engagement that art may make possible amongst its publics, within and beyond the University community? Thinking through the nature of exhibition-making and collecting in the context of local histories, the curator will reimagine the relation between art and place, between visual culture and place-making, and the role that artistic and curatorial practice can play in relation to multi-faceted spaces, communities and publics. 

Developing partnerships within and beyond the University in all aspects of their work, the curator will engage and implement best practices and protocols for building the collection through acquisitions and develop projects and exhibitions for presentation and circulation on and beyond the University’s downtown campus.

Additionally, they will oversee and direct the work of programming staff who report to them and whose focus is on developing engaged outreach, initiatives and partnerships that advance strategic objectives of their portfolio, including relevant lectures, exhibition tours, workshops and symposia.

Working with multiple stakeholders, they will build support for artistic projects toward overall programming enhancement, with consideration of the academic mission of the university and the educational and public role of the Art Museum.

They will bring to all their work embodied experience and proactive attention to sustainable exhibition production practices (toward reduction of waste and ecological impact, as well as the re-use and sharing of resources), and, together with the team of the art museum, ensure the implementation of anti-racist, anti-harassment, and non-discriminatory processes that enable and provide a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere throughout their own work and all the museum’s relations.

 Your responsibilities will include:

• Curating exhibitions and gallery installations

• Liaising with creative professionals and vendors to generate and deliver creative concepts

• Implementing plans and process improvements for program and service activities

• Analyzing and making recommendations for programming enhancements

• Creating and/or editing original, published content and materials

• Developing and implementing community engagement strategies and plans

• Coordinating selection and acquisitioning processes

• Directing the activities of a single ongoing staff-appointed employee