I’ve noticed that there has been some debate on this sub about the curatorial assistant role and whether it is considered an entry/lower level position. I’m curious to hear from more people about how this role is perceived at their museum- particularly within curatorial departments at larger institutions. Please chime in!
^ agree. Entry level within the Curatorial dept but not entry level within the museum. A curatorial admin would be more so entry level within the museum and their trajectory doesn’t automatically move up to curatorial assistant.
From what I’ve seen, the role usually has their MA (or are currently in their last year). It is usually a 2-3 year role then they are off to another job.
A lot of our CAs have been there for a LONG time. Not always a jumping off point to another position.
I think that is how my org used to work but now they cut them off at 2/3 years even if they are doing well. It’s absolutely annoying when the CA in question has so much more potential with our org and their development/trajectory alongside it. I have my theories as to why…but I’ll keep those to myself.
For my museum, a lot of our CAs don’t have any intention to ever be an actual curator. To make that change they need to have a certain amount of exhibitions, research, and published work under their belt and it’s just not a goal for some.
Interesting! Do you think they are taking up space for people who are actively looking to move up within the curatorial field?
This makes sense and I think this is how I personally understood the role as well.
I was a curatorial assistant at a mid sized museum. The role was pretty fulfilling (writing catalogue entries and wall text, light provenance research, had the opportunity to speak at a couple events, database management, exhibition planning, but also admin jobs like budget, doing the curators expenses etc). I had a masters at the time and it was my second job in the field (was previously a research assistant for a special exhibition). The other two curatorial assistants at my museum were ABD PhD candidates.
I have a friend who was a curatorial assistant at a small university museum and her job was purely administrative. This was her first job out of undergrad.
Lesson there is to get a full understanding of the job description rather than go by title.
When I worked at a larger museum, we didn’t have the role at all- we had research assistants who generally had an MA with or without work experience, admin assistants who I think were considered generally entry level across education levels (my museum hired candidates from a nonprofit that helped chronically unemployed people find office jobs, so we had some admins who thrived without a HS degree) , exhibition coordinators who had more work experience, and collections assistants who usually had MA not necessarily work experience
In Europe, curatorial assistant often means that the person is entry level/doing a curatorial apprenticeship of sorts. But you can also be the curatorial assistant of the director and then it’s a mid-career position. Same in small exhibition spaces, the curatorial assistant is the directors right hand and often does programming and has independent responsibilities. Even in bigger museums, if it is seen as an apprenticeship, the curatorial assistant often gets to do their own exhibition with catalogue.
How it is valued depends on the institution but an MA and previous curatorial experience is necessary.
I was a Curatorial Assistant at a Large Natural History Museum in their Anthropology Department. My job was to take care of their Ethnology collections when originally hired. Later I was promoted to Collections Manager and my role expanded to taking care of the Archaeology collections as well. This position (Curatorial Assistant) was considered to be an entry level position to work with collections. Later (after I retired) this was changed to be an Assistant Collections Manager, to be promoted to Collection Manager then to Senior Collection Manager. There was also a Collections Technician position for employees that were hired temporarily on grants to work on exhibits or special collection projects.
I guess it is one of those titles that has no solid definition and every institution uses it differently.
That being said, in my experience (Central Europe), curatorial assistant is by no means an entry level job. You would be expected to have at least BA, but MA would be better, along some experience (2 years maybe) in the field already. As many said here before - it is an entry level position within the Curatorial department, but its definitely not an entry level position within the museum.
But, it might well be an entry level position in a small museum with a handful of curators. But then expect to be doing mainly paperwork, which they cant be bothered with or dont have time to process.
I’ve interviewed for a couple (art museum) curatorial assistant positions and the way they all framed it was that it’s designed for people who have their art history MA and are waiting before going into their PhD. It’s usually only 1-2 years. This has just been my experience but it obviously may vary
The large institution I last worked at did away with the Curatorial Assistant role, replacing them with volunteers working under an assistant curator.
It was considered an entry level post when it existed, nominally only requiring and undergraduate degree but in practice it required a Masters, and a good way of building up experience across the whole department's work.
Certainly where I live Curatorial Assistant and Assistant Curator posts are becoming more rare as a lot of museums just don't have the funding to pay for them. Another example of entry level posts vanishing.
it depends on the institution. One place I worked the CA was second only to the Curator in her role at the museum. She was head of the museum, and the curator was the head of the collection.
on the other hand, my very first paid museum position was 'curatorial assistant' it was grant funded and designed for recent grads.
Thank you to everyone who responded! It seems to vary by institution. It’s really interesting to hear about how a “curatorial assistant” is perceived by different museums. Thanks!
I've worked at a few various institutions and the curatorial assistant roles are always super underpaid for everything they do IMO! A few of the curatorial positions are marked as "limited term" now, and only have the person working for a few years in the role. I think on the one hand it might be "good experience" on a base level, but I think they take advantage of a lot of younger workers trying to find employment in museums.
It’s entry level for that department, but not aligned with entry level across the museum. The standard degree is typically an MA whereas in other entry level roles a BA is normally sufficient.