What Is a Curator?
In today’s world, there are these buildings labeled museums, and they hold a spread of irreplaceable and historic items. The person that is in charge of bringing in, organizing, and managing all of these grand items is called a curator. Curators typically work with an extensive variety of historic pieces, such as paintings, structures, textiles, and artifacts. They try to bring in new pieces to museums, and then create specific exhibits that are based around these new items.
Curators have to take on a large load of work as they are looked to for enticing new exhibits, and creating these require quite a bit of research. Curators do not just pick out these items, they are responsible for making sure that these new historical objects are handled properly. When it comes to dealing with items that you can see in a museum, “handle with care” does not come close to how careful curators must be when handling the pieces of a new exhibit.
How to Become a Curator
To pursue a career as a curator, a person needs to work toward a master’s degree in art history, or museum studies. However, there are some other fields of study that are relevant and can lead to employment as there are curators who work in science or natural history museums, and these individuals possess a doctorate degree. Another option is to work toward two separate master’s degrees in museum studies, along with a specialty area.
Nonetheless, all aspiring curators should enroll in courses centered on art, history, science, business, PR, and museum studies and practices. A great path to go down for any curator is to take on internships and sign up for volunteer work while you are continuing to work towards your education. It can be a heavy task, but putting your newly obtained knowledge on display immediately can give you some of the most useful experience in this field. Most curators do not stop trying to further their education even when they have obtained a job, as they are always hungry to gain more experience and skills.
Curator Career Outlook & Salary
Currently, the employment of curators is projected to grow at a considerably faster rate than the average for all other professions – increasing 23% from 2008 to 2018 – this according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even with strong competition, job prospects are anticipated to be solid. The curators who have specialized training and advanced skills to go along with a strong work experience are going to have the best job opportunities. Future job openings will come as a result of current curators stepping down, transferring, or choosing to leave for their own personal reasons.
Becoming a curator is a great career choice for those that have a great interest in managing a wide variety of historic museum collections. Every curator needs to own a strong understanding of museum studies and should respect the importance of the necessary care that needs to be shown to all of the historical items within the museum, as they are extremely valuable.
