Museum Curator

Position Overview

The Albuquerque Museum is seeking an Art Curator with strong knowledge of regional art from New Mexico and the Southwest, along with a broad national and international perspective to help bring in and manage major traveling exhibitions. In this role, you will partner closely with the Assistant Curator of Art and lead the museum’s art program across exhibition development, installation, acquisitions, and educational programming.

The position also involves supervising staff and contributing to the planning, development, and delivery of museum program work such as exhibit creation and installation, educational programming, and research and documentation for the museum collection. You will help manage the handling, processing, preservation, and care of the museum’s physical artifact collection.

This job summary is intended to outline the general nature of the role and is not a complete list of every task that may be assigned.

Essential Functions

• Lead, organize, prioritize, assign, review, and take part in the work of staff supporting the museum’s art exhibition program, including exhibit development and/or installation.
• Research objects and document items considered for inclusion in the museum collection.
• Create interpretation strategies for art, history, and collections through exhibitions, publications, events, and audiovisual presentations.
• Coordinate the acquisition of new collection items, including discussions with vendors on purchase costs and use of city procurement and external fundraising processes.
• Set schedules and service methods for assigned museum collection work, determine resource needs, and align resources with management direction.
• Help establish goals, objectives, policies, and procedures, and carry out approved practices.
• Handle more complex and technical assignments in the work unit, including organizing exhibits in the assigned area.
• Where needed, oversee or participate in the handling, processing, maintenance, and preservation of museum collections.
• Coordinate planning, construction, installation, maintenance, preservation, and security for new exhibits, including lighting, audio, and music selections.
• Plan and support public programming such as tours, lectures, symposia, workshops, gallery demonstrations, special events, films, videos, and live performances.
• Help deliver youth and school programming, lead art/history/science workshops, and coordinate youth photography exhibitions.
• Oversee maintenance of the museum’s audiovisual library, including video equipment operations and development of a video reference library.
• Process, number, and catalog incoming and outgoing objects, and assist with artifact identification, condition review, and photography.
• Take part in hiring museum staff, support staff training, address performance issues, and carry out disciplinary procedures when required.

Supplemental Functions

• Assist with preparing and managing the assigned budget, including budget recommendations and expenditure monitoring.
• Attend professional meetings and stay current on trends and innovations relevant to the program area.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in art, art history, history, museum studies, cultural or ethnic studies, anthropology, communications, or humanities is required, along with four years of curatorial experience in art, history, or museum collections. This experience requirement must include two years in a supervisory capacity. Education and directly related experience may substitute for one another on a year-for-year basis.

Additional Requirements

• You must have a valid New Mexico driver’s license, or be able to obtain one within 90 days of hire.
• You must obtain a City Operator’s Permit (COP) within six months of your start date.

Working Conditions

The role is based in a museum setting. The work may involve light to moderate lifting and standing or sitting for extended periods.