Head Curator

Department:Museum of ArtPay Rate Type:SalaryEmployee Type:Job Summary:

Please upload a cover letter and resume to your application. Priority will be given to candidates that apply by June 20, 2025.

The Colby College Museum of Art seeks an experienced, imaginative, strategic, and collaborative leader to serve as head curator. Reporting to the Colby Museum's director, the head curator is part of the museum's senior leadership team, advancing the overarching mission and goals of the museum and the College.

They lead the curatorial staff, directing the curatorial contribution to the Colby Museum's artistic, research, and interpretive vision. The head curator supervises and mentors five full-time staff as well as student interns, ensuring teamwork, effective management, and innovative work that is also pragmatic in its approach. They lead the development of a multi-year exhibition schedule, including Colby-organized projects that travel to other venues, in partnership with the museum's director and the director of exhibitions and publications. They shape and enact the collections development strategy, and oversee acquisitions and deaccessions with guidance from the Collections and Impact Committee of the museum board of governors. They direct the ongoing research and presentation of its renowned collection, and partner with collections and operations staff to ensure the comprehensive stewardship of the museum's holdings. They collaboratively develop accessible interpretation strategies with the engagement team and other constituencies. The head curator partners with the Lunder Institute for American Art to help identify mission-aligned opportunities related to fellowships, programming, and areas of inquiry that can benefit from research, field-wide dialogue, and documentation. Beyond these responsibilities, The head curator curates a selection of projects within the multi-year cycle of exhibitions and museum publications, and contributes new scholarship.

Day to day, the head curator balances creativity and ambition with pragmatism as they manage staff, projects, budgets, timelines, and workloads. They maximize resources and actively contribute to fundraising in partnership with Advancement staff in order to allow the museum to remain a generative and innovative institution. They maintain active relationships with supporters and partners, and represent the museum in a variety of contexts in Maine and beyond.

As part of the museum's senior team, the head curator provides ongoing institutional-level advice to the museum's director. They foster an equitable and inclusive culture that prioritizes collective accomplishment and values a diversity of perspectives and expertise in project development. They seek to increase access to the museum for Colby students, faculty, families, and alumni; artists, peers, and scholars; and local and regional communities, strengthening the Colby Museum's reputation as one of the nation's leading academic museums and as a destination for American art. With the museum's director, other senior leaders, and the museum's board, the head curator plays an essential role envisioning, planning, and leading institutional initiatives that significantly advance the museum's mission and goals.

The museum's trajectory of evolution and increased visibility is entering a new phase. In the coming years the Colby Museum aspires to strategically adapt and expand its facilities to support an innovative model for the care of and access to its collection, with the possibility of an art conservation program that would be uniquely designed for Colby's liberal arts context. These ambitions seek to promote and encourage interdisciplinary research, learning, and pathways at the undergraduate level while increasing the museum's capacity to manage its collection and engage wider audiences with art, including launching a new art-on-campus program. The head curator will be an essential partner and leader in researching and advancing these initiatives.

About the Colby College Museum of Art

Founded in 1959, the Colby Museum is a leading academic art museum, with strengths in American art and contemporary art, at one of the nation's preeminent liberal arts colleges. In keeping with Colby's liberal arts mission, the museum advances a mission of access and acts as a forum for research, experimentation, dialogue, and joyful connection. Its programs seek to inspire and generate possibilities, so that everyone can become more curious, nimble, and able to contribute to a changing world. The museum incubates art scholarship and practice in ways that explore and expand how the idea of America is understood and how art is made, interpreted, and shared. It does so by supporting new research, organizing and presenting ambitious exhibitions and thoughtful displays of its collection, providing mentorship, and convening a diversity of people and perspectives. The museum grows and uses its collection to activate the power of art to expand the imagination and forge new connections, leading to a more open and compassionate society.

In the past decade, the Colby Museum has grown rapidly and now encompasses nearly 40,000 square feet of exhibition space. The collection has nearly doubled since 2012 to include nearly 11,000 objects. The museum now produces approximately twelve exhibitions a year and two publications. The museum has expanded to include two sites in downtown Waterville: the Greene Block + Studios, where the Lunder Institute for American Art is based, and the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, which includes the museum's Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art. Learning and engagement programs have also increased in reach and impact, drawing over 16,000 people in the past year. This includes collaborations with over 180 courses a year in nearly 30 departments across the College and class visits by 3,000 K-12 students and educators each year.

Essential Functions

To succeed in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess the education/experience and employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as generally listed here. Colby College actively supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and will consider reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position. This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative; other duties may be assigned.

Leadership, Management, and Program Development

Inform and lead on strategic and long-range museum initiatives related to the museum's artistic program. Convey the organization's vision, plans, and annual institutional priorities. Initiate and facilitate external partnerships that advance the museum's mission and curatorial priorities.

Articulate and enact the curatorial vision informed by the museum's context, the field of art, and larger questions in contemporary life. Engage constituencies and communities in this process and anticipate challenges, creating pathways for meaningful engagement.

Supervise and mentor the curatorial staff and interns, fostering teamwork within and across the museum (current direct reports: four curators and one curatorial fellow); establish and manage workflows and delegate projects and tasks. Provide guidance related to project content and approach. Communicate regularly with the curatorial team to align priorities and clarify roles. Ensure the effective completion of projects as well as accountability to the curatorial work and to each other. Anticipate and, as needed, address challenges as these arise.

Inform exhibition and curatorial budgets on an annual and multi-year basis in collaboration with the director of exhibitions and publications, as well as senior team leaders. Ensure effective budget management and inform exhibition and collection contracts.

Foster a supportive and collaborative culture. In keeping with Colby's values, model and encourage self-awareness in matters of equity and access, applying these principles to management practices and the development of the museum's program. Shape staff learning processes and ensure the professional development of curatorial staff.

Develop and nurture relationships with artists, collectors, dealers, and donors. Represent the Colby Museum, serving as a visible and vocal advocate on campus, locally, regionally, nationally and, as appropriate, internationally. Advocate for the arts at Colby and the College's vision for academic and community impact. Travel and interact with a range of peers to ensure the visibility of the museum's contributions. Collection Development and Stewardship

Strategy, policies, and practices: Establish and enact the strategy for long-term collections development and related initiatives. Set practices and policies with the deputy director of planning and operations and manager of collections and registration and with guidance from the Museum Board of Governors. Lead acquisition and deaccessioning processes and decisions in partnership with the collections team members, the museum director, and the museum board of governors. Oversee and advance collection-related processes and practices. Serve as liaison to the Collections and Impact Committee of the Museum Board of Governors.

Acquisitions: Lead and manage the cycle of identifying, vetting, and proposing art acquisitions. Cultivate collectors and artists and pursue gifts of art and artworks for purchase.

Loans: Assess loan requests in partnership with collections and engagement staff. . click apply for full job details

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