{"id":511,"date":"2010-05-04T10:01:29","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T10:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/cesblogs\/?p=511"},"modified":"2017-08-22T20:03:28","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T20:03:28","slug":"career-options-museum-curator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/2010\/05\/04\/career-options-museum-curator\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Option: Museum Curator"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m made of wax, Larry. What are you made of?<\/em>
\n~Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), <\/em>Night at the Museum\"Slater<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Pop culture representations of museums range from romantic (The Thomas Crown Affair) <\/em>to slapstick (Night at the Museum) <\/em>to adventurous (National Treasure)<\/em>. Anyone who\u2019s ever visited the Smithsonian can find something entrancing within its hundreds of exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Museum Curators are responsible for the acquisition and care of museum exhibitions as well as educating the public about their significance. For the students at Puget Sound who are talented writers, artists, and historians, a career as a Museum Curator might be a great fit!<\/p>\n

In the Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Network on Cascade<\/a> is Laura, who graduated from Puget Sound in 2005 and is now the Curatorial Assistant for Jolika Special Projects at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. \u201cI serve as the primary support for the curator of the Jolika collection of New Guinea art and Oceanic art who is responsible for publications, exhibits, and program development related to these collections,\u201d she said. Laura\u2019s major projects include the second publication and gallery rotation of the Jolika Collection focusing on art from the Highlands of New Guinea, and ongoing programming with visiting artists and curators from the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Laura started with an internship at the Seattle Art Museum during her final semester at Puget Sound, followed by a summer internship with the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Discovery Programs. \u201cI eventually [got] promoted to Assistant to the Director for Special Projects, but soon thereafter returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where I was born and raised.\u201d Building on the skills she refined at Puget Sound, Laura said she \u201cpursued a Masters degree to further enhance my ability to think and write critically and to immerse myself in current trends and theoretical debates in contemporary art and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most curatorial positions require an advanced degree, but Puget Sound students can get started in the field through internships and part time jobs. Laura held part-time positions at galleries and an exhibition design studio. She recently published an article in Art Asia Pacific<\/em> magazine and contributes exhibition reviews to artpractical.com<\/a><\/em> on a regular basis. \u201cThough I work at a large-scale museum, I continue to explore alternative modes of art and cultural production. In San Francisco, I have reconnected with another alumna who works in the City’s Department of the Environment and we are in the early stages of developing and fundraising to bridge the art community and climate science community in the Bay Area,\u201d she said. Check out Loggerjobs and NIC Internship Link on Cascade<\/a> to see what options are available to help students get career related experience.<\/p>\n

Get connected with professionals in different fields of interest by accessing the ASK Network<\/a> or making connections on LinkedIn. There are many alumni and experts out there who love sharing their experiences and advice to help students get started. What\u2019s Laura\u2019s advice? \u201cPersevere in developing your career in the arts. It is a challenging though rewarding field with endless potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit Career and Employment Services<\/a> online or in Howarth 101 to check out these and other great resources to get started:<\/p>\n

Career Cruising<\/strong> on Cascade<\/a><\/strong> provides profiles for many different careers related art, history, and museums.<\/p>\n

The Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Network<\/a><\/strong> lists alumni available to contact for more information.<\/p>\n

Books available for checkout in the CES Career Resource Library<\/a> in Howarth 101:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices,<\/em> N. Elizabeth Schlatter<\/p>\n

Opportunities in Museum Careers,<\/em> Blythe Camenson<\/p>\n

A sample of the many web resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smithsonian Internship Opportunities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Association of Art Museum Curators<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Independent Curators International<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m made of wax, Larry. What are you made of? ~Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Night at the Museum Pop culture representations of museums range from romantic (The Thomas Crown Affair) to slapstick (Night at the Museum) to adventurous (National Treasure). Anyone who\u2019s ever visited the Smithsonian can find something entrancing within its hundreds of exhibitions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":2211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-profiles","tag-museums"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4844,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/4844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}