Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts

Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields: Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts

Application deadline: 20 July 2026
Organization: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, On-site role
Level: Full-Time, Exempt
Reports to: Belinda Tate, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

Founded in 1883 as the Art Association of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) has long held an important place in the cultural life of the city and the broader museum sector. Today, the Museum is part of Newfields, a 152-acre cultural campus that brings together the IMA Galleries, The Gardens, historic properties, landscape, performance, and public programming. This setting gives the institution a distinctive presence in Indianapolis, connecting art, nature, scholarship, and community for residents and visitors.

Since its founding more than 140 years ago, the Indianapolis Museum of Art has become one of the country’s major encyclopedic art museums, with collections of national and international significance. Its holdings span cultures, geographies, media, and centuries, informing exhibitions, research, education, and international scholarly exchange. Together with its staff, Board members, donors, volunteers, and community partners, Newfields is advancing priorities rooted in institutional excellence, inclusive engagement, and deeper connection to the communities it serves.

Newfields seeks a Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts to advance the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s commitment to textiles, fashion, fiber, dress, and related material culture. The position will guide the study, care, growth, interpretation, and presentation of more than 7,000 works in the fashion and textile arts collection across cultures, materials, techniques, and time periods. Highlights include the archives of Stephen Sprouse; contemporary Japanese, historic American, and European fashion; and African textiles.

Newfields is led by Le Monte G. Booker, Sr., President and Chief Executive Officer. Belinda Tate serves as The Melvin & Bren Simon Director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields and provides leadership for the Museum’s curatorial, collections, exhibitions, and learning functions. The Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts reports to the Director of the IMA.

Judith Pineiro Consulting has been retained to lead the search for the Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts. Application instructions appear at the conclusion of this position description.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts will shape a rigorous and engaging program rooted in collection stewardship, scholarship, exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, digital interpretation, and public access. The role calls for a curator who can connect object-based research to meaningful interpretation and advance the study, presentation, and understanding of fashion and textile arts within the Museum and beyond.
This is an opportunity to strengthen the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s presence in fashion and textile arts while connecting the collection to Indianapolis as a civic and cultural resource. The Museum’s energized team is actively shaping its future with a collaborative, focused, and flexible spirit, grounded in a deep commitment to its mission and community.

Working within a major encyclopedic institution, the curator will connect art, design, craft, identity, labor, technology, and global exchange through fashion and textile arts, bringing intellectual rigor, inclusive interpretation, practical museum experience, and the ability to build relationships throughout the Museum, the Newfields campus, and the international museum sector.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Strong candidates will bring broad knowledge of fashion and textile histories, including Western and non-Western traditions encompassing varied historical periods, along with a substantial understanding of fashion aesthetics, production, and modern and contemporary designers.

While no single candidate will possess all the qualifications listed below, ideal candidates will demonstrate many of the following attributes.

Curatorial Leadership & Collection Stewardship

• Oversight of the fashion and textile arts includes care and conservation planning; research; documentation, including coordination of photography and data cleanup; day-to-day maintenance; and assessment of quality, strengths, and future direction. Substantial hands-on experience with objects is fundamental, requiring close looking, intellectual curiosity, and a disciplined approach to collection management and discovery.
• Ethical and informed collections stewardship requires the curator to understand and recognize aspects of condition and signs of ongoing deterioration in various forms of fashion and textile materials. They will recommend acquisitions, gifts, bequests, and deaccessions, and respond to inquiries, supported by clear reports on collecting priorities.
• Close collaboration with a dedicated full-time conservator and colleagues in registration, collections management, installation, design, and interconnected areas will ensure responsible stewardship.

Exhibitions, Research & Scholarship

• By proposing and developing exhibitions and installations, the curator will expand Newfields’ profile in the fashion and textile arts. With a dedicated 4,000-square-foot gallery, with approximately three rotations per year, primarily drawn from the permanent collection, and objects on display in other collecting areas, this role will participate in all phases of exhibition development. Special exhibitions, permanent collection installations, and associated projects should illuminate fashion, dress, textiles, and fiber art across a range of cultures and contexts, situating these works with historical and contemporary narratives in the collection. Through exhibitions and collection stewardship, the curator will draw on their experience and judgment to make histories, makers, materials, and cultural contexts more visible to diverse audiences.
• Research and publication are central to the role and may include exhibition catalogs, scholarly essays, articles, didactic materials, labels, lectures, and public talks for general and specialized audiences. Ongoing study of the collection, acquisitions, loans, potential gifts, and broader questions in the field will be expected.
• Maintaining contact with scholars, visiting public and private collections, attending conferences, and representing Newfields professionally are also important.

Collaboration & Education

• Partnerships with colleagues throughout the Museum, as well as with students, designers, scholars, and community partners, will be essential to creating meaningful experiences for visitors, members, and broader audiences. In this position, the curator is also expected to help extend their work beyond the Museum’s walls, activating the full scope of the Newfields campus through installations, lectures, gallery talks, tours, docent training, and educational programs.
• Specialized research should be translated into a clear, accessible interpretation for people with different levels of familiarity and lived experience. The curator will also contribute to website content and updates as needed and serve as an advocate for greater awareness and appreciation of fashion and textiles at Newfields, in the city of Indianapolis, and beyond.
• Success will require empathy, diplomacy, adaptability, and the ability to build trust across departments and constituencies. The curator should be able to manage competing demands, communicate with precision, listen carefully, and advance collaborative projects with tact, steadiness, and respect for diverse perspectives.

Advancement

• Donor cultivation, solicitation, discussions about gifts, bequests, and donations, and securing support for exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, educational programs, and additional initiatives will be central to the role and carried out in collaboration with the development department. The curator will need the experience and confidence to build and steward donor relations, articulate curatorial goals and vision persuasively, manage expectations, and represent Newfields with discretion and professionalism.
• A key aspect of this position is serving as Newfields’ lead curatorial liaison to a dedicated group of supporters, docents, and donors with strong interests in fashion and textiles. Working with these groups, the curator will encourage appreciation for fashion and textile arts, build acquisition and programming support, advance fundraising priorities, and help broaden overall engagement.

Department Leadership, Financial Planning & Resources

• Administrative and financial work will include annual budgeting, expense monitoring, projection adjustments, and long-range direction for the fashion and textile arts area, as well as documents related to future planning, grant applications, procedures, policies, and programs.
  Curatorial ambition must be balanced with astute financial management and aligned with the institutional mission and vision. The successful candidate should be able to allocate financial and staff resources for exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, object care, and public-facing work, while accurately communicating budget needs and capacity pressures.
• The individual in this role will provide effective oversight and thoughtful mentorship, encourage high standards, and foster a productive, inclusive, and collaborative work environment. Direct staff supervision includes a shared curatorial assistant, interns, paid scholars, fellows, and project-based contributors, as assigned. A full-time textile conservator, who reports to the head of conservation, will be a vital partner in this work.

Direct Experience

• Candidates should hold a Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts, PhD preferred, in fashion and textile studies, art history, design history, material culture, or a related field. A minimum of five years total museum curatorial experience at the assistant curator, associate curator, or equivalent level is required.
• The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong record of leadership, reflected in experience with collection management, acquisitions, and cross-departmental collaboration. They will bring a sustained scholarly point of view developed through exhibitions, publications, and original research, along with active participation in professional networks and scholarly communities.
• Knowledge of catalog publishing, exhibition, and installation design processes, graphics, databases, office software, conservation issues, art handling, installation techniques, and art market sources is important. Relevant experience working within museum systems and engaging the public is required. Excellent writing and public speaking skills are essential. Reading or speaking ability in relevant foreign languages is desirable.

Institutional Alignment

• The Curator of Fashion and Textile Arts will represent the Museum with professionalism, integrity, discretion, and respect for colleagues, visitors, donors, trustees, artists, scholars, and the public, recognizing it as both a collecting institution and a civic resource for Indianapolis.
• A commitment to scholarship, access, education, preservation, and inclusive interpretation is essential. Fashion and textiles offer powerful ways to explore identity, cultural heritage, community memory, labor, gender, class, migration, and creative expression; these histories are to be approached with care, rigor, and openness.
• All staff follow institutional policies, ethical standards, and professional practices, including maintaining confidentiality and avoiding conflicts of interest. This description outlines the general nature of the role and is not an exhaustive list of responsibilities.

 

POSITION & COMPENSATION DETAILS

This is a full-time, exempt role based in Indianapolis and reporting to Belinda Tate, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director, Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. The anticipated salary range is $105,000–$140,000, commensurate with experience.

Newfields offers a benefits package that may include health, dental, and vision insurance; retirement plan options; paid time off; holidays; professional development support; and museum-related privileges, subject to eligibility and policy.

The position requires work in office, gallery, exhibition, storage, and museum environments, and occasional travel. The employee may be required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to handle objects or tools, reach, climb stairs, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, talk, hear, and occasionally lift or move objects up to 25 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES & NOMINATIONS

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early applications are encouraged. Final deadline to submit materials is July 20, 2026.

Judith Pineiro Consulting has been exclusively retained for this search.
Please send nominations and inquiries to IMANewfields@judithpineiroconsulting.com

To apply, candidates should submit a letter of interest, resume, and answer key questions through this link: https://www.judithpineiroconsulting.com/imanewfields

Newfields may conduct background checks following a conditional offer of employment. Any review of background information will be considered in relation to the responsibilities of the position and applicable legal requirements.

Image credits: Naoki Takizawa (Japanese, b. 1960) and Issey Miyake (Japanese, 1938–2022), skirt suit, fall/winter 2000-2001, nylon and polyester, A) shirt: 23-1/2 x 30 in.; B) skirt: 39-1/2 x 19-1/2 in. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Fashion Arts Society Acquisition Fund, 2013.300A-B. © Issey Miyake, © Naoki Takizawa.