Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Reporting to the Deputy Director for Curatorial Engagement, the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art is an integral part of an ambitious and deeply collaborative combined curatorial engagement department within a remarkable museum and college environment. As we partner on the design of the new building and make preparations for the inaugural installations, the curatorial engagement team’s efforts will be largely focused over the coming four years on preparing, researching, augmenting, and re-interpreting the museum’s growing collection of over 15,000 works of art from 3500 BC to the present across geography and with strengths in the art of the United States through the 21st century, works on paper for existing and new publics.
- Responsibilities- Collaborate in planning for the future new museum building
- Plan future collection installations, exhibitions, and interpretation for the new museum; research and write associated publications.
- Actively participate in the assessment/research, and refinement, and strategic growth of collections through acquisition proposals and gifts, and plan for strategic deaccessions.
- Contribute to new collection publication for new museum opening.
- Supervise and mentor curatorial interns and fellows as needed
- Participate in museum and campus-wide initiatives and working groups
- Teach graduate and/or undergraduate courses as needed and as museum schedule allows
- Qualifications- Master’s degree required (PhD preferred) in art history, material culture, cultural/global studies, visual anthropology or related field.
- Minimum 7 years experience working in museums with collections, working with artists, and developing exhibitions
- Deep knowledge of global modern and contemporary art history and some familiarity with current methodologies in museum interpretation required. An additional area of specialization and/or ability to work across/curiosity about a broad range of art historical periods, geographies and media preferred.
- Demonstrated experience with and commitment to working in a community that is broadly diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion
- Familiarity with collection databases such as TMS and project management software such as Airtable a plus
- A commitment to teaching and learning and to forming partnerships within the particular environment of a small liberal arts college
- Conditions of EmploymentEmployment at Williams is contingent on the verification of background information submitted by the applicant, including the completion of a criminal record check, and education when applicable.
- Equal Employment Opportunity