CURATOR, LIST VISUAL ARTS CENTER

Position Summary

As a member of the senior leadership team, responsibilities include the supervision and coordination of all aspects of the curatorial department including exhibitions, acquisitions, commissions, research, publications, conservation, fundraising, education and outreach.

Core Functions

• Assists Director in establishing policy relating to the long-range goals, educational activities, publications, and audience development for the exhibition, collection and residency programs.
• Develops temporary exhibitions and negotiates contracts with artists on behalf of the List.
• Assists in providing financial management for the programs of the List, including the generating of significant funding from outside agencies. Monitor fiscal status of individual projects and adjust operating plans to accommodate existing and probable resources. Work with List’s Assistant Director and MIT central development department.
• Recommends to the Director traveling shows to bring to the List. Negotiates with the lending institution and ensures contract fulfillment.
• Oversees traveling exhibitions created by the List.
• Contributes visual and written content for news releases and funding request. Meets with funders as appropriate.
• Creates interpretive copy for exhibitions: g., brochures, wall texts, catalogs.
• Works with other staff to develop programs and activities that promote exhibitions.
• Communicates with and teaches staff and volunteers about exhibitions and participating artists.
• Acts as spokesperson for the List’s exhibitions and programs, as delegated by the Director, including communication with various groups including lenders and funders.
• Represents the List in the Boston art community and nationally. Write, speak and participate in contemporary art panels and juries locally, nationally and internationally.
• Develops annual budget for the exhibition department. Monitors budget monthly and reports variances to the Director and Assistant Director.
• Advises Acquistion Committee on the acquisition of new works of art offered as gifts to the Permanent Collection; purchases works for Student Loan Art Program.
• Assists with events for undergraduate and graduate students and the List’s Friends Group.
• Evaluates the exhibition program at least annually compared to goals in the strategic plan.

Core Competencies

• Expertise in issues of contemporary visual art, knowledgeable about visual artists and the international, national and regional contemporary art environments.
• Creativity – the ability to recognize significant art themes and emerging artists; to create exhibitions that communicate vividly; to create collateral materials and programs that enhance the audience experience.
• Communication – the ability to solicit work from key artists and their representatives and to interpret artists’ work to multiple audiences of varying backgrounds.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines in pressure situations.
• Possess strong leadership skills including: strategic thinking; financial acumen; organizational effeciveness; and passion for staff development.
• Problem solving.

 Supervision Received

Direction is received from the Director of the MIT List Visual Arts Center.

 Supervision Excercised

Supervise curatorial team and volunteers as needed.

Contacts Required to Perform Duties

Artists, curators, directors, collectors, funders, critics, writers, gallerists – the ever growing contemporary art world.  Will need to learn the MIT community.

 Qualifications

Demonstrated ability to work well with a team and be an inspiring leader.

Highest ethical standards.

A minumum of seven years of museum administration or curatorial techniques and a strong record of curatorial accomplishments.

Extensive knowledge of international contemporary art, art history, and theory.

Known for their collaborative approach, flexibility, collegiality, and enthusiasm for sharing art with a varied constituency.

Strong leadership presence and known for engaging with, and being accessible to, a variety of stakeholders.

Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Art History or other appropriate discipline, preferred.

Demonstrated excellence in writing and editing catalogue essays, texts, brochures and other educational materials.

Demonstrated ability to solicit and obtain funds.

Demonstrated ability to create, manage, and meet budgets.

Demonstrated ability to work with artists in a residency and to assist in the creation of new works.

Demonstrated ability to work comfortably in a research evironment and ability to make connections with faculty, students, and administration.

Superior public speaking skills including running panels and forums.

Measurements

• Increase in audience at exhibitions.
• Increase funding from individuals and art-centered foundations.
• Increase in visibility and coverage for the institution in the contempoary art world and locally.