Museum Curator Careers Information
Calling all art lovers! If you can spot a piece of abstract expressionism from a mile away, if you can list the progenitors of the Vienna Succession, or categorize all mammals by their size and subspecies, chances are you’ve considered a career as a museum curator.
Though open positions for museum curators are hard to come by, this career provides endless opportunities for art lovers of all kinds, and can be very fulfilling as it allows for creative personalities to work closely with the academic side of the industry.
The daily activities of a curator are usually determined by the size of the museum or of the collection. Generally speaking, a curator’s responsibilities include purchasing, preparing, and storing exhibitions, negotiating with donors, and other fundraising efforts. In a smaller museum or institution, curators may be responsible for administrative tasks in addition to maintaining their collection. In a larger museum, one curator may be in charge of a specific collection, whereas a smaller institution may employ one curator for the entire gallery.
Here are some different types of museum curator careers:
- Zoo Curator: Responsible for the acquisition of animals
- Fashion Curator: Responsible for acquiring collections of clothing; from ethnic items to popularized trends
- Museum Curator: Responsible for managing all collections of a museum (the Museum curator is also usually the museum manager.)
- Art Curator: Responsible for managing and acquiring works of art which reflect a specific period or movement
Curators may have a heavy workload, but their responsibilities make up one part of the bigger picture. Curators work very closely with a team of museum technicians, archivists, and conservators who together complete the collection process.
Museum Curator Careers Path
Before you get started, it’s important to know which particular area of the field you want to be in. If you’re not at the master’s degree stage, concentrate on getting your bachelor’s degree in art history or a related field. Since a master’s degree in art history is generally required, there’s no need to get hung up if the school you attend doesn’t offer this particular degree.
If you’re interests are Pre-Raphaelite art, you’ll likely need a master’s degree in art history or museum studies, whereas, if your passion is primateology, and you want to work at the natural history museum, you’ll most-likely need a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in archeology. Depending on the size of the museum, some positions may be open to applicants with a bachelor’s degree and extracurricular experience.
In order to stand out in a competitive field, the more experience you have catered to your specific interests, the better. One suggestion would be to get two master’s degrees in addition to related fieldwork; one in museum studies, and one in your specialized subject.
Never neglect the everyday opportunities that provide applicable experience. Whether you’ve worked as a manager, you have a knack for fundraising, or you’re majoring in public relations, these qualities are befitting to the field, and can help you stand out in a crowd.
Museum Curator Careers Compatible Traits
Observant, analytical, thorough, attention to detail, highly organized, passion for a particular field
Museum Curator Interview
For the story of Graham Boettcher, museum curator extraordinaire in Alabama, Read More from a Museum Curator…
Museum Curator Careers Salary Expectations
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wages of curators in May 2008 were $47,220, with the middle 50 percent earning between $34,910 and $63,940, and the lowest 10 percent earning less than $26,850.
Museum Curator Careers Job Outlook
Luckily, the employment opportunities for are expected to increase 23 percent over the 2008-2018 decade. If you’re a computer whiz, you’re really in luck, as the demand for specialists in electronic record management will inevitably grow rapidly as more institutions look to convert documentation from older forms of media.
Slightly off the Footpath
- Museum Technician
- Archivist
- Librarian
- Social Scientist (anthropologists, archeologists, historians)
- Gallery Attendant
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Psychologists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos065.htm (visited November 3, 2011).
