William King Museum of Art
Position Title: Curator of Southwest Virginia & Northeast Tennessee
Decorative Arts and Material Culture
Position Description: This position will manage all aspects of the museum’s Betsy K. White Cultural
Heritage Project, including development of exhibitions, both temporary and those of the permanent collection,
ongoing care and management of the CHP and O. Winston Link permanent collections, registration for the
permanent collections as well as loaned objects, and the Cultural Heritage Archive. All aspects of this position’s
work will be carried out according to the highest museum industry standards that are reflected in the museum’s
accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums. For loaned art, these standards will be applied within the
scope of wall-to-wall responsibility that mandates care during transit, in museum storage areas, and in our
galleries. Exhibitions will essentially be educational in purpose and content and will be developed with
connoisseurship as a primary value in the selection of material for display. This position’s responsibility will
include the management and maintenance of the Cultural Heritage Archive, both the hardcopy physical archive and
its online version, and will continue efforts to increase the number of field documentations and resulting archival
records. This position will be the lead contact for all lenders to temporary CHP exhibitions and donors to the CHP
collection, which currently includes approximately 400 objects. This position works closely with the two other
curators, the Curator of Fine Art and the Curator of Contemporary Art & Craft, as well as the Installations Manager.
This position will develop the exhibition design for exhibitions related to this position, working closely with the
Installations Manager to ensure an effective presentation and during actual installation to ensure safe art handling
priorities. All curators are expected to take part in installations, providing hands-on participation as needed. This
position will take responsibility for all written materials surrounding the CHP exhibitions and collections, working
with the Director of Marketing for their production, and will be prepared to speak to audiences as appropriate.
This position works with the education staff to develop related programming, with the security staff to ensure a
safe environment for the storage and display of art, and with the Business Manager for insurance coverage of all
artwork in this position’s management. This position reports to the Department Head for Exhibitions and
Collections.
Essential requirements for this position include an undergraduate or graduate degree in a relevant field, with
curatorial experience a plus. This position requires a self-starter with a natural inclination for planning, accuracy,
and the ability to work independently within the framework of an interlocking organizational work environment
and structure. Personal work habits should be strong in detail management, research and writing skills, and an
ongoing capacity to meet deadlines.
Specific function of this position include:
*creating 2-3 temporary exhibitions annually for display in the Glenn C. Price Gallery and Strongwell Gallery for
approval by the department head and the museum’s director that showcase the cultural heritage of this region,
utilizing research contained in the Cultural Heritage Archive and elsewhere and comprised primarily of loaned
objects supplemented as appropriate with objects from the CHP Collection;
*caring for the CHP Collection and OWL Collection, as well as all related records, in an ongoing and consistent
manner, arranging for and participating in regular reviews of the Collections and recommending conservation
when appropriate;
*creating an ongoing exhibit of the CHP Collection displayed in the Betsy K. White Permanent Collection Gallery
and to be regularly rotated approximately every six months;
*keeping a current list of insurance values for each temporary exhibition, providing this list to the Business
Manager prior to each exhibition installation for filing with the museum’s insurance provider;
*ensuring all temporary exhibitions are scheduled at least two years forward;
*determining, for exhibition design purposes, the relationship of objects within exhibitions checklists and working
closely with the Installations Manager to design an exhibit that is esthetically engaging while respecting object
relationships;
*writing all exhibition interpretive text, such as text panels, object identification labels, and other materials such as
general audience gallery guides or catalogs, and working effectively and in a timely manner with the museum’s
publications staff;
*participating in all exhibition installations, working under the lead of the Installations Manager;
*developing and managing, in conjunction with the curatorial department head, an annual budget for exhibitions
and collections under this position’s management;
*other duties as assigned by the department head.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $30,000.00 - $35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
Schedule:
- Day shift
- Monday to Friday
- Weekends as needed
Ability to Commute:
- Abingdon, VA 24210 (Required)
Ability to Relocate:
- Abingdon, VA 24210: Relocate before starting work (Required)
Work Location: In person