Museum/Art Gallery Curator

Also known as:

Art Gallery/Museum Curator
Curator, Museum/Art Gallery
Keeper, Museum/Art Gallery

Introduction

Museum/art gallery curators are in charge of a collection of exhibits in a museum or art gallery. The work includes buying exhibits, organising exhibitions, arranging staffing and dealing with enquiries. Specialist knowledge is usually required.

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Work Activities

Museum/art gallery curators, sometimes known as keepers, are in charge of a collection of exhibits in a museum or art gallery. In large museums, they manage specialist departments. They co-ordinate and supervise the work of a team including junior curators, conservators and attendants. In a small museum, the curator may supervise the whole collection and lead a small team.

Curators have to maintain their existing permanent collection. This involves identifying, registering and cataloguing objects. It also requires them to arrange for conservation and restoration work to be carried out on those objects which require it. Curators look after the budget for their department and buy new exhibits. They also organise staff training.

In many museums and art galleries, especially small ones, curators deal with the public. They liaise with local interest groups, organise lectures, and publicise events.

Curators have an extremely important role in making collections come alive for the public. To arrange their exhibitions, curators choose which objects to display and organise the loan of exhibits from other collections if they need to. They also organise the transportation, insurance and storage of objects. Curators make sure that objects are displayed in a clear and attractive way. They also co-ordinate, and in many cases, write and compile exhibition catalogues and the texts that accompany exhibits.

Large museums or galleries often employ education officers to involve schools or promote tourism. Curators may liaise with them to produce slides, work sheets and demonstrations.

Many curators carry out research. Their research usually depends on their specialist interests and their collection. For example, in an archaeological department, the curator may carry out fieldwork to excavate a site. Or the curator may be office based and research the origins of exhibits. Many curators publish the results of their research.

You may need to travel locally and nationally to supervise collections and exhibitions.

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Personal Qualities and Skills

As a curator you should have a deep and genuine interest in the subjects which you are curating. In addition, you should have specialist knowledge, together with a desire to communicate that knowledge and expand it.

You must also have excellent communication skills, both to explain your wishes to your staff and also to deal with the public, give talks and presentations and publish information.

You must have some practical skills and a good knowledge of conservation and restoration techniques so that you can supervise the work of the specialist staff carrying out this work.

You must have excellent organisational skills, together with creative flair, particularly when organising interesting displays and exhibitions. Allied with this is the ability to pay attention to detail when researching, cataloguing and exhibiting objects. You should also have the ability to lead and motivate staff, combined with team-working skills.

Curators use computers to manage information about collections and exhibitions, so IT skills are important.

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Pay and Opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate.

Curators earn in the range of £15,000 - £17,000 a year, rising to £19,500 - £28,000. Higher earners can make around £34,000 a year.

Curators work a basic 39-hour week, which may include some late finishes and weekend work, especially as deadlines for exhibitions approach.

Employers throughout the UK include national, local authority or independent museums and galleries. Many museums and art galleries are based in tourist centres. Opportunities for jobs in pure research are limited and confined to national institutions.

There is a lot of competition for work in this area.

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Adult Opportunities

It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

As well as relevant qualifications, many entrants have had work experience in, for example, exhibition or event management.

Employers value commercial skills such as marketing and fund-raising. Foreign language skills are important in certain museums. This is a very competitive area of work.

A relevant degree plus postgraduate study in museum studies or a related subject (sometimes up to PhD level in a chosen specialism) is increasingly asked for, depending on the nature of the museum. Employers prefer evidence of voluntary experience, for example, in a museum or related institution.

The University of Leicester offers an MA/postgraduate diploma in Museum Studies by distance learning, if you already have a relevant degree with work experience.

If you don't have the qualifications needed to enter your chosen degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) course, a college or university Access course (eg, Access to Humanities) could be the way in.

These courses are designed for people who haven't followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

They can lead to relevant degree and HND courses such as art history.

The Museums Association offers bursaries to under-represented minorities for postgraduate study.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) also offers awards, through universities, for postgraduate study and research.

33% of museum/art gallery curators have flexible hours. 15% of employees work on a temporary basis.

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