Project Associate, Curatorial Research

The Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) is Seeking a Project Associate, Curatorial Research

Application deadline: Not specified

The Project Associate, Curatorial Research is the operational and logistical anchor for this major curatorial initiative. Reporting directly to the Head of Curatorial, you will ensure that complex, multi-layered research objectives are translated into actionable, tracked, and meticulously managed project plans.

While deeply embedded within the intellectual and curatorial life of the project, your primary responsibility will be to drive execution: managing timelines, coordinating fieldwork and archival research activities, overseeing project administration, and leading the planning and delivery of workshops, symposia, and community engagement sessions. The ideal candidate is a highly organised individual who thrives at the intersection of research, culture, and project delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Curatorial Collaboration & Intellectual Engagement: While this role demands rigorous project management capabilities, it is fundamentally embedded within the intellectual framework of the museum. The Project Associate will serve as a core contributor to the curatorial process, from early-stage conceptualization through to the exhibition’s realization.
• Strategic Institutional Liaison: Actively participate in high-level curatorial planning sessions, serving as a vital connective link between the internal curatorial department, MOWAA’s international Curatorial Council, and the Technical Advisory Committee.
• Scholarly & Artistic Exchange: Engage in sustained, collaborative dialogue with a distinguished network of global scholars, exhibiting artists, critical historians, and community stakeholders, contributing to the development of the project’s conceptual direction.
• Applied Research & Authorship: Beyond facilitating the fieldwork of others, you will be tasked with conducting targeted archival scoping, synthesizing primary source materials, and authoring original contributions for MOWAA’s internal reports and the public-facing Research Dossier.
• Exhibition & Programmatic Impact: Ensure that the logistical structuring, oral histories, and foundational research generated during this R&D phase directly inform the narrative development, digital architecture, and spatial design of the final international exhibition.
  Detailed Responsibilities

Project Management & Operational Support

• Timeline & Milestone Tracking: Develop, maintain, and enforce comprehensive project schedules. Ensure the curatorial team, research fellows, and external partners meet critical R&D deadlines.
• Budget Administration: Assist the Head of Curatorial in drafting, tracking, and reconciling the R&D project budget.
• Cross-Departmental Coordination: Act as the central communication node between the Curatorial department and internal teams (such as Digital Heritage, Conservation, and Communications) to ensure research findings and digital assets are properly integrated and preserved.
• Reporting: Synthesize weekly operational updates and compile comprehensive monthly project reports for internal leadership and grant stakeholders.

Workshop, Symposia & Event Development

• Event Design & Execution: Lead the logistical planning and operational delivery of thematic workshops, international academic symposia, and local community engagement sessions related to the project.
• Speaker & Stakeholder Liaison: Manage all coordination for guest speakers, visiting academics, and community elders, including contracting, travel itineraries, accommodations, and honoraria processing.
• Programming Support: Collaborate with the curatorial team to structure workshop agendas, prepare presentation materials, and ensure all audiovisual and technical requirements are seamlessly executed.
• Documentation: Ensure all workshops and convenings are properly recorded, transcribed, and documented for future integration into the project’s digital platform or publication dossier.

Research Coordination & Fieldwork Logistics

• Travel Management: Design and coordinate complex, multi-leg travel itineraries for the curatorial team and research fellows conducting fieldwork across Nigeria and international archival sites (e.g., Europe, the US, the Caribbean).
• Archival Access Coordination: Manage the administrative processes required to access institutional and private archives globally, including securing permissions, handling rights and reproduction paperwork, and scheduling site visits.
• Data Management: Work alongside the archivist to ensure that all digital files, oral history recordings, and field notes are properly uploaded, categorized, and secured within MOWAA’s internal databases.

Team & Administrative Support

Schedule and facilitate regular project meetings, distributing agendas and tracking actionable next steps.
Draft, review, and organize formal correspondence, institutional partnership agreements, and letters of inquiry to global museums and cultural bodies.

Education & Experience:

• Experience: 3–5 years of professional experience in project management, arts administration, or the production of research-driven programming (such as academic symposia, transnational field research, or large-scale cultural convenings). Experience within a museum, university, research institute, or major cultural organization is highly preferred.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Arts Administration, Museum Studies, Art History, African/Africana Studies, Cultural Studies, or a related humanities field.

Desirable Qualifications

• Formal project management certification (e.g., CAPM, PMP, Agile).
  Previous experience coordinating grant-funded research projects or managing deliverables for international philanthropic foundations.
• A strong, demonstrated interest in African art history, archives, or postcolonial studies.
  Formal training or a strongly demonstrated background in project management methodologies is highly valued
• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:
• Project Management Expertise: Deep proficiency in timeline management, budget administration, and utilizing project management platforms to drive complex, multi-phase research and exhibition deliverables.
• Discursive Programming & Convenings: Demonstrableexperience conceptualizing, organizing, and operationalizing multi-day academic symposia, transnational research workshops, or high-level cultural convenings.
• Operational & Fieldwork Rigour: Exceptional organizational acumen with a proven ability to coordinate complex transnational travel, decentralized team logistics, and international archival access protocols.
• Institutional & Diplomatic Communication: Impeccable written and verbal communication skills, possessing the tact and cultural fluency required to draft formal institutional correspondence and engage seamlessly with global scholars, visionary artists, and grassroots community stakeholders.
• Strategic Agility: Capacity to thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments, adeptly pivoting operational strategies when complex fieldwork or cross-border logistical challenges arise, all while maintaining rigorous attention to detail.

How to Apply

To apply for the role, please send your CV and a short cover letter to careers@wearemowaa.org, using the subject line “Project Associate, Curatorial Research”. Your cover letter should tell us why this role interests you and how your skills and experience align with MOWAA’s mission.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the next stage of the recruitment process.

Image credits: Via Museum of West African Art (MOWAA)