Junior curator

Pay in the destination countries

Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.

What does the day look like?

A junior curator’s day is mostly split between a computer, storage rooms, galleries, and email. Around 20% is the glamorous-sounding part: scholarly research and writing 50 to 90 words object labels, checking provenance, drafting wall text, checking catalogue raisonné references, and translating scholarly citations. Around 35% is collections data work in Collections Management Systems such as The Museum System (TMS), EMu (Axiell), Vernon CMS, or Adlib: entering metadata, photographing incoming lots, checking accession numbers, and filing rights clearances.

Another 30% is exhibition logistics: writing to living artists or lending institutions, drafting loan request letters, coordinating loan agreements, tracking condition reports with registrars, updating floor plan schematics in Vectorworks, SketchUp, or AutoCAD, and supervising art handlers during installation and de-installation. The remaining 15% is public and scholarly email, budgets, purchase orders, and occasional donor or patron tours. Normal hours are 37 to 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, 09:00 to 17:00. During the 2 to 3 weeks of exhibition hang and opening nights, work can run to 21:00 or 22:00, including weekend installations.

Where does this lead?