Career Profiles Curators
You may have walked around your national museum, zoo or art gallery, seen a plaque bearing a name and the word “curator” and wondered what exactly a curator does. A curator is the keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection. The collection could be animals, museum exhibits, paintings, fashion, books or something else. A curator’s job carries a heavy workload, but can be a varied, rewarding and interesting career.
What Curators Do
What a curator does will depend very much on the workplace. Generally, speaking the curator oversees collections and takes responsibility for acquiring, storing (or housing), and exhibiting, the collection. He or she decides themes and designs for special exhibitions, develops exhibit materials, design, organizes tours workshops and educational resources for the public, and promotes the institution. In larger institutions, the curator may direct and supervise a large staff, including assistant curators, technical staff, students and plan and conduct special research projects. In a small local museum, the curator may have a small or non-existent staff.
In a zoo or botanical garden, the curator’s work is slightly different because the collection is alive. However, the curator’s duties are still to maintain the collection, acquire new exhibits, and promote the establishment to the public. The zoo or garden curator will also be responsible for breeding programmes and research programmes and overseeing scientific research programmes.
Educational Qualifications
The Educationalqualifications necessary to become a curator will depend upon the individual institution and the collection and will be different depending upon the type of collection. Larger institutions will ask for both a bachelor’s degree and either a master’s degree or a diploma in a relevant subject and work experience in relevant areas. For example, a museum curator would usually require postgraduate studies in museum or heritage studies, but this will very much depend upon the country in which a curator works and the institution. Smaller museums, libraries or art galleries may accept candidates with just a bachelor’s degree. Those looking for information on qualifications and entry requirements should consult their country’s national organization for the type of institution in which they wish to work. For example, people wishing to work in museums, in the United Kingdom, should consultThe Museums Associationand in the United States,The American Alliance of Museums, or toindividual institutions.
In very large National museums,art galleries,botanical andzoological collections, there may beseveral curators, each responsible for a particular category of exhibits within the collection. Curators will undertake further professionaltraining, once employed. Most entry-level candidates will work in a junior capacity, within the same or a relevant institution, before becoming a curator.
A curator’s job may require many skills, aptitudes, abilities, and talents. The job, whether in a museum, art gallery, botanical garden, or zoo, is an interesting, varied career requiring diverse skills, abilities, and capabilities. Curators must have practical abilities, specialist knowledge, and excellent personal and communication skills. Curators often carry a heavy workload, for which the monetary reward may not adequately compensate but they also receive many intangible rewards. Curators are very special people doing a very special job.
