Curatorial Fellow in Art of the Ancient Americas
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announces a search for one candidate for a two and half year Curatorial Fellowship in the museum’s Ancient Americas department, which will provide curatorial training and support scholarly research in connection with the permanent collection and related projects at LACMA. The Fellowship supports the highest level of professional development, with opportunities to be fully integrated into all aspects of curatorial work, gain experience in research, critical thinking, cataloguing, exhibition organization, community engagement, education and publications, conservation, public speaking, and provenance research. The goal of this Fellowship is to provide opportunities for talented emerging scholars to learn how to translate their knowledge of Indigenous American cultures within the context of a museum and its public-facing outlets (collections, galleries, public programs, publications, websites) and by participating in the department’s ongoing projects.
The Ancient Americas department has over the last eight years developed and implemented a more ethical, contemporary approach to holding, storing, and working with pre-Columbian collections. We seek a Fellow whose experience will complement and further our goals for facilitating respectful and creative relationships between people, places, histories, and objects. Our program aims to connect the objects in our collection with the peoples and descendant communities who created and are connected to them.
Responsibilities
- Contributing to developing permanent collection installations, rotations, and didactic material for the Geffen Galleries, entailing collaborative work with multiple departments across the museum.
- Researching Ancient Americas collection and actively reviewing and updating object records in LACMA’s database and Collection’s Online.
- Participating in other ongoing departmental activities, including discussion of loans, acquisitions, conservation, development, and online content.
- Assisting with the planning and drafting of interpretive materials for exhibitions during the fellowship period.
- Participating in LACMA’s Curatorial Forum, Junior Curatorial Forum (which hosts reading groups and colloquia), and other division-wide discussions.
Qualifications
- Experience in the arts of the Indigenous Americas, such as a postgraduate degree in Indigenous studies, anthropology, art history or a related discipline, or commensurate experience.
- Proficiency in Spanish or an Indigenous language is preferred.
- Excellent writing, organizational, and communication skills are essential.
- A strong interest in the critical interpretation, care, and display of works of art for a general public audience, and collaboration with Indigenous groups.