Curator

A curator (from Latin: cura meaning "care") is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or archive) is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material. The object of a traditional curator's concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be inter alia artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections. More recently, new kinds of curators are emerging: curators of digital data objects, and biocurators.

Curator responsibilities

In smaller organizations, a curator may have sole responsibility for the acquisition and care of objects. The curator will make decisions regarding what objects to collect, oversee their care and documentation, conduct research based on the collection, provide proper packaging of art for transport, and share that research with the public and scholarly community through exhibitions and publications. In very small volunteer-based museums, such as local historical societies, a curator may be the only paid staff member.

In larger institutions, the curator's primary function is as a subject specialist, with the expectation that he or she will conduct original research on objects and guide the organization in its collecting. Such institutions can have multiple curators, each assigned to a specific collecting area (e.g. Curator of Ancient Art, Curator of Prints and Drawings, etc.) and often operating under the direction of a head curator. In such organizations, the physical care of the collection may be overseen by museum collections managers or museum conservators, and documentation and administrative matters (such as insurance and loans) are handled by a museum registrar.

Other definitions

In the United Kingdom, the term curator is also applied to government employees who monitor the quality of contract archaeological work under Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPG 16) and are considered to manage the cultural resource of a region. In the museum setting, a curator in the United Kingdom may also be called a "keeper".

In Scotland, the term "curator" is used to mean the guardian of a child.

In the United States, the term is uniquely used to refer to the Board of Curators, the governing body of the University of Missouri System. The Board consists of nine members appointed by the state governor.

More recently, advances in new technologies have led to a further widening of the role of curator. This has been focused in major art institutions internationally and has become an object of academic study and research.

In contemporary art, the title curator is given to a person who selects and often interprets works of art. In addition to selecting works, the curator often is responsible for writing labels, catalog essays, and other supporting content for the exhibition. Such curators may be permanent staff members, be "guest curators" from an affiliated organization or university, or be "freelance curators" working on a consultant basis. The late twentieth century saw an explosion of artists organizing exhibitions. The artist-curator has a long tradition of influence. Notable among these was Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the Royal Academy, London.

In some American organizations, the term curator is also used to designate the head of any given division of a cultural organization. This has led to the proliferation of titles such as "Curator of Education" and "Curator of Exhibitions". The term "literary curator" has been used to describe persons who work in the field of poetry, such as former 92nd Street Y poetry director Karl Kirchwey.^[1] This trend has increasingly been mirrored in the United Kingdom in such institutions as Ikon, Birmingham, UK and Baltic, Gateshead, UK.

In Australia and New Zealand, the term is also applied to a person who prepares a sports ground for use (especially a cricket ground)^[2] This job is equivalent to that of groundsman in some other cricketing nations.

In France, the term curator is translated as conservateur. There are two kind of curators, Heritage curators (conservateurs du patrimoine) with five specialities (archeology, archives, museums, historical monuments, natural science museums), and Librarian curators (conservateurs des bibliothèques). These curators are in public service, selected by competitive exam, the use of the title curator by private workers remains unofficial.

Education and training

Curators generally hold a higher academic degree in their subject, typically a Doctor of Philosophy or a master's degree in subjects such as history, history of art, archaeology, anthropology, or classics.^[3][4][5] Curators are also expected to have contributed to their academic field, for example, by delivering public talks, publishing articles or presenting at specialist academic conferences.^[3] It is important that curators have knowledge of the current collecting market for their area of expertise, and are aware of current ethical practices and laws that may impact their organisation's collecting.^[6][7]

Recently, the increased complexity of many museums and cultural organisations has prompted the emergence of professional programmes in field such as public history, museum studies, arts management, and curating/curatorial practice.^[8] In 1992, the Royal College of Art established an MA course co-funded by the Royal College of Art and the Arts Council of Great Britain, the first in Britain to specialise in curating with a particular focus on contemporary art. The course is now funded by Arts Council England, and in 2001 the course title was amended to Curating Contemporary Art to more accurately reflect the content and primary focus of the programme.^[9] Other institutions that run programs in curating include Kingston University; Goldsmiths College, University of London; Birkbeck, University of London; Chelsea College of Art and Design; California College of the Arts; Bard College; University of Rennes 2—Upper Brittany; Ontario College of Art and Design and The University of Melbourne. (See →External links for further information on courses.)

See also

• Collection
• Curation
• Curatorial platform
• Docent

References

1. ^ Alix Friedman (June, 13, 2000). "POETRY CENTER DIRECTOR KARL KIRCHWEY LEAVES 92nd STREET Y". 92nd Street Y. http://www.92y.org/content/karl_kirchwey_leaves_poetry_center.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-15. "The 92nd Street Y announces the departure of Karl Kirchwey, longtime director of the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center. Mr. Kirchwey will become Director of Creative Writing and Senior Lecturer in the Arts at Bryn Mawr College starting next fall. The Poetry Center is a program of the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts, the Y's arts presenting division." 
2. ^ http://blogs.espncricinfo.com/thebuzz/archives/2010/12/adelaide_curator_annoys_kp.php
3. ^ ^{a b} Carly Chynoweth, How do I become a museum curator? 22 December 2006, Times Online
4. ^ Valarie Kinkade, Day in the life: curator. American Association of Museums
5. ^ Stephanie A. Harper, How to become a museum curator. 6 July 2009, Edubook
6. ^ A code of ethics for curators. 2009, American Association of Museums Curators Committee
7. ^ Combatting Illicit Trade: Due diligence guidelines for museums, libraries and archives on collecting and borrowing cultural material. October 2005, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
8. ^ Niru Ratnam, Hang it all. 9 March 2003, The Observer
9. ^ Curating contemporary art. Royal College of Art

Further reading

• Burcaw, G. (1997) Introduction to Museum Work, 3rd edition. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press. ISBN 978-0-761-98926-4
• Bury, Stephen (2004) 21st Century Curatorship. In: 21st Century Curatorship, 22 July 2004, New York Public Library, New York, U.S.A.
• Ferguson, B., Greenburg, R. and Nairne, S. (1996) Thinking About Exhibitions ISBN 0415115906.
• Glaser, J. and A. Zenetou. (1996) Museums: A Place to Work. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-12724-0
• Lord, G. and B. Lord. (1997) The Manual of Museum Management. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0249-X
• Marincola, P. (2002) Curating Now: Imaginative Practice/Public Responsibility ISBN 0970834608
• Obrist, H. (2008) A Brief History of Curating ISBN 390582955X.
• Rugg, J. and Segdwick, M (2007) Issues in Curating. Intellect. ISBN 978-1-84150-162-8
• Richter, D. and Drabble, B (2007) Curating Critique. Revolver. ISBN 978-3-865884-51-0
• Spalding, F. (1998) The Tate: A History. Tate Publishing. ISBN 1854372319.
• Sullivan, L. and Childs, S. (2003) Curating Archaological Collections ISBN 0759100241.
• Thea, C. (2009) On Curating: Interviews with Ten International Curators ISBN 1935202006.

External links

• 'Hang it all', article on contemporary curating and the rise of curating degrees, the Observer newspaper, Sunday 9 March 2003.
• 'Career Curating' article on curating contemporary design, the Guardian newspaper, Saturday 14 July 2001.
• California College of the Arts
• Critical Curatorial Cybermedia - Geneva Switzerland
• CRUMB - Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss
• International Curators Program / Antwerp
• The Exhibitionists — geared towards children, an interactive guide to how an exhibition is put together
• Tate staff preparations for the Turner Prize 2008 (blog), Tate, UK.
• UMsystem.edu - University of Missouri Board of Curators
• Interview with Agustín Pérez-Rubio, current director and former chief curator of the MUSAC
• Exhibition Design & Management, Department for Image Science, Danube University Krems
• Master of Art Curatorship, The University of Melbourne