Full Job Description: Senior Curator
Status: Full time, non-exempt, includes some evenings and weekends
Supervises: Executive Office (Executive Director/Deputy Director)
All staff in the Curatorial Department, including such positons as Exhibitions & Collections Manager, contract workers such as Preparators and Art Handlers, and Interns and Fellows to provide meaningful opportunities for training and support of new careers in the museum field.
Mission of The Bronx Museum of the Arts
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a contemporary art museum that connects diverse audiences of the Bronx to the urban experience through its Permanent Collection, Exhibitions, and Education programs. Reflecting the borough’s dynamic communities, the Museum is the crossroad where artists, local residents, national and international visitors meet.
Since its inception in 1971, the Bronx Museum has prioritized serving the culturally diverse communities in which it was founded. Always free and open to the public—so there are no barriers to access—the Museum’s contemporary art programming expresses the borough’s tremendous cultural and community wealth, striving to be an open, inclusive, and equitable place where all feel welcome.
The Bronx Museum is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values. As an institution, we:
• Appreciate and leverage our broad and distinct differences, and involve and reflect the communities we serve;
• Align our policies, practices, and resources that eliminate barriers so that people of all races, cultures, socioeconomic status, and perspectives have genuine opportunities to contribute and thrive; and
• Create an environment in which everyone feels valued and respected.
Position Description
The Bronx Museum seeks a full-time Senior Curator to join a team working to reaffirm the Museum’s commitment as a liberated space where arts and culture are in service to its diverse communities. In-depth knowledge of contemporary art is preferred.
The Senior Curator provides oversight of all curatorial activities, including organizing exhibitions (onsite and offsite) and curatorial-related programs; managing a Permanent Collection of over 2,000 contemporary artworks in all media, focused on works by artists of African, Asian, and Latin American ancestry reflecting the borough’s dynamic communities, and works by artists for whom the Bronx has been critical to their artistic practice and development; expanding and deepening Museum holdings through research, documentation, and acquisitions; authoring scholarly exhibition catalogues and other publications; supervising and mentoring junior staff; and serving as the Bronx Museum’s curatorial expert and curatorial spokesperson, with an appetite for interfacing with a broad and interested public, including a range of artists, community members, students, colleagues, funders, and Board Members.
Exhibition Responsibilities:
• Plans for all exhibitions, curated in-house or by Guest Curators, including but not limited to: studio visits, correspondence, contracts/agreements, budgets and estimates, checklists, narratives, presentations, and other materials.
• Produces and oversees the Museum’s exhibition calendar, and seeks out desirable proposals and collaborations for the Executive Director’s review.
• Supervises all aspects of Temporary Loans and movement of objects into and out of the Museum.
• Produces relevant texts for exhibition catalogues, announcements, signage, brochures, and other public materials and publications. Coordinates with necessary and approved editors, contributors, translators, graphic designers, and other providers in the production of said materials.
• Monitors and tracks all Curatorial related expenditures keeping within approved budgets, and working productively with Finance to provide end-of-year financial information and relevant documentation.
Permanent Collection:
• Works in tandem with the Exhibitions & Collections Manager or Registrar to oversee ongoing research, proper maintenance and handling of the Permanent Collection and undertakings related to loans, exhibitions, digitization, or other projects; ensures maintenance of the Permanent Collection database and files; and provides images, captions, and any required permissions for press, researchers, colleagues, and others.
• Considers, researches, recommends, and manages potential donations and acquisitions to expand and deepen the Permanent Collection, and develops activities in order to enhance the Collection.
• Serves as the primary liaison to the Exhibition and Permanent Collection Committees, attends and prepares all materials required for these Committees and Board of Trustee meetings.
External Affairs, Fundraising, Education and Public Programs:
• Oversees the conceptualization and implementation of Curatorial public programming, and collaborates with the Education Department in the development of their interpretive programs for multi-generational audiences.
• Works in collaboration with the Development Department and Public Relations in providing necessary materials for grant proposals, grant reports, marketing, and promotion of Curatorial projects and activities.
• Works in tandem with the Executive Director and Development Department to support the cultivation of relevant donors and stakeholders, including the Museum’s Gala benefit/s, as well as other smaller events throughout the year.
• Attends institutional and Board Meetings as requested, and other scheduled meetings with funders, artists, curators, or professional colleagues as requested.
• Serves on Bronx Museum panels and juries as needed.
Desired Qualifications and Experience
• Art History background, with B.A. degree (required), M.A. or Ph.D. (preferred) in the field or comparable experience.
• Minimum 3 to 5 years of curatorial or museum experience, overseeing staff and working with a Permanent Collection preferred.
• Track record of planning, programming and producing exhibitions that are accessible to a wide, diverse public, and stakeholders.
• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills
• Fluency in various computer and digital imaging systems (TMS a plus)
• Ability to manage simultaneous priorities and meet deadlines
• Ability to maintain a flexible work schedule
• Ability and appetite to work well and/or supervise various constituencies
• Spanish/English bilingual skills a plus
Compensation
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.
Application Instructions
No later than Wednesday, June 9, 2021:
Email a resume, cover letter and two writing samples to humanresources@bronxmuseum.org and include “Senior Curator” in the subject line.
Selected applications will be contacted. Due to the high volume of submissions we receive, we will not respond to phone calls or emails regarding the status of applications.
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is an equal opportunity employer.
