What are the responsibilities and job description for the Curatorial Research Associate position at The Huntington?
About Us
At The Huntington, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to support and promote the appreciation of the humanities, the arts, and botanical science. The Huntington is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal law.
The Huntington
Founded in 1919, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution open to the public, housing world-class library, art, and botanical collections. Its mission is to support research and promote education in the arts, humanities, and botanical science and to display and interpret its extraordinary resources for diverse audiences.
The Culture
Here we are committed to the highest of standards in all that we do – from preserving and protecting the collections, to exhibitions, educational and scholarly programming, visitor and reader services, and beyond. Achieving excellence across these pursuits requires a diversity of perspectives, expertise, experience, and methodologies. We are better together. We believe an explicit commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion directly impacts and improves staff and audience engagement and experience.
Job Description
About the Role
Reporting to the Chief Curator of American Art, the Curatorial Research Associate will provide research and administrative support for the development of the upcoming exhibition Chinatown Moderns and work cross-divisionally with the Curator of Pacific Rim Collections in the Library. This exhibition will incorporate a wide range of historical material, including paintings, objects, photography, and extensive archival materials. The position will have regular contact with staff at all levels, as well as contact with external stakeholders and the public. As a full-time member of the American Art department within the Art Museum, the position will also be engaged with general activities of an active curatorial department.
This is a limited-term position, budgeted for one year.
Essential Duties
- Provides administrative support for curators in monitoring and tracking day-to-day implementation schedule in collaboration with exhibition coordinator to ensure deliverables are met.
- Participates in content research and storyline development for the exhibition.
- Assists curators in initial checklist development, maintenance, and correspondence and shares updates pertaining to objects with Registrars, Exhibition Coordinator, Designers and other key stakeholders.
- Requests and helps to track special collection and museum material in support of exhibition and catalogue development; works closely with the Museum and Library Registrars and other staff as applicable.
- Conducts lender research and communication for potential items to be borrowed from other institutions and individuals for use in the exhibition.
- Assists in the development of exhibition texts, including potentially grant funding applications, label copy and initial exhibition designs, exhibition catalogue organization, and education and public programming.
- Serves as a project liaison for the exhibition with the Library and other divisions and departments to ensure communication between exhibition planning team and broader Huntington is successful.
- Consults and reviews materials related to exhibition evaluation, website and digital initiatives, and press and marketing materials.
- Communicates with a wide range of stakeholders and participants by phone, email, and Zoom/Teams.
- As needed, performs general clerical duties related to exhibition preparation and the American Art department, such as filing, copying, calendaring meetings, creating meeting minutes and other duties as assigned.
- Other duties as assigned.
Candidate Qualifications
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Broad knowledge of exhibitions, including current implementation and interpretation practices.
- Proficient computer knowledge working with administrative applications and systems for image and database management. Ability to learn the basic operations of the Art Museum’s TMS (The Museum System) and Library’s Aeon collections management software.
- Understanding of scholarly research and bibliographic tools.
- Highly organized and able to work to deadlines.
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
Experience:
- BA, BS or MA required. Advanced Humanities degree in relevant field highly preferred.
- A minimum of 2 years of experience in curatorial/academic positions, or equivalent experience dealing with historical objects.
- Prior exhibition and research assistant experience highly preferred.
- Experience working successfully in collaborative project teams.
Working Conditions
- Normal office environment; high amount of work at desk on computer. Shared office space.
Compensation & Benefits
We provide competitive compensation, generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees including:
- Pay Rate/ Range: $30.00-32.00/hr. Commensurate on experience.
- Medical, Dental, Vision
- 403(b) retirement plan and matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
- Hybrid remote work schedule available for applicable positions
- Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and holidays
- Discounts for staff in The Huntington Store and restaurants
- Free admission to various museums and cultural institutions
- Free passes each month to welcome family and friends to visit the grounds
Salary : $30 - $32
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