Curator of American Art at The Peabody Essex Museum

Job Title: Curator of American Art

Job Status: Full-time

Location: Salem, MA

Salary: $90,000 – $120,000

Description:

The Peabody Essex Museum is pleased to announce the search for the George Putnam Curator of American Art. The successful candidate will be a dynamically engaged American Art specialist who is focused on exhibitions and programming and is excited by the opportunity to create new ways of interpreting the complexities and presenting the nuances of American art and culture. Collaborating closely with the PEM curatorial team and broadly across the Museum, they will create innovative experiences that promote audience engagement, as well as scholarship, publications and acquisitions that support the Museum’s mission. 

PEM’s American Art collection has expansive holdings of sculpture and paintings as well as fashion, textiles and design that span four centuries of creative expression in the United States. Supported by historic works that celebrate the rich and diverse artistic and cultural heritage of Essex County, Massachusetts, the collection has continued to grow to embrace a broader representation of the art and creative expression of this country. Together, these objects tell compelling stories of American life and the ongoing cultural exchanges between the people of the region, the country, and the wider world. 

The Curator of American Art will bring bold, imaginative thinking to PEM’s cross-departmental programs and exhibitions that are drawn from or related to collections. Some recent examples include: In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting, co-organized with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 2021; Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle Series, 2020, Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image & Style, 2018 the first exhibition to explore the art, image and personal style of one of America’s most iconic artists, and American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood, 2015. They will be encouraged to partner within the American art network, encompassing a variety of perspectives and diverse narratives. The George Putnam Curator of American Art needs to be an experienced, energetic, and creative storyteller with an ambition to redefine the field, be open to a new way of working across media and time and have a genuine desire for authentic community engagement. They will enjoy cultivation of donors and bring with them a large professional network which can help reinvigorate PEM’s American Art Visiting Committee.  

The Curator will have the opportunity to build the collection through a combination of the Museum’s acquisition funds, support from the American Art Visiting Committee, and fundraising. The successful candidate will partner with the Development staff in stewarding the Visiting Committee, donors, collectors and supporters of acquisitions, and will be eager to help raise funds for exhibitions, special projects, publications, and broader Museum initiatives. The Museum provides travel funds to support research and networking, as well as funds for professional memberships and development.  

PEM’s culture is collaborative, and curators regularly work across collections and departments, celebrating intersections, discovery, and immersive, out-of-the-box visitor experiences. The Curator will work closely with the entire PEM curatorial team, particularly the Curators of American Decorative Art, Native American Art and the Curator of the Present Tense, as well as across all museum departments, but specifically with Exhibition Planning and Design, Learning and Civic Engagement, Collection Services, and Marketing and Communications, to ensure that the program achieves the highest professional standards of creativity, innovation, quality, relevance, and visitor engagement.  

This position reports to the Director of Curatorial Affairs. 

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES 

EXHIBITIONS: 

  • Organize exhibitions and collection installations and oversee non-PEM traveling exhibitions that consistently:  

  • Reflect and advance trends in the field 

  • Deliver original, dynamic, and interdisciplinary concepts 

  • Create broadly appealing experiences 

  • Explore connections between the historical and the contemporary 

  • Enhance PEM’s reputation, patronage, and relationships with other museums and cultural and community partners 

  • Attract positive critical attention 

  • Build and sustain partnerships with peers and other museums to: 

  • Secure or co-organize traveling exhibitions that match the above profile 

  • Ensure that PEM has the range and quality of choice to create a balanced, highly appealing and impactful as well as cost-effective exhibition program 

  • Place PEM exhibitions in strategic venues 

  • Collaborate with relevant departments to develop public and patron programs that appeal broadly to audiences regionally, nationally, internationally as well as online. 

CULTIVATION: 

  • Cultivate and secure direct support for museum-wide initiatives and specific projects on an annual basis from individuals, patron groups such as visiting committees, foundations, corporations, and government agencies. 

  • Collaborate with other curators, executive leadership, development staff, and trustees to accomplish this goal. 

THE COLLECTION & ACQUISITIONS: 

PEM holds as one of its core values the commitment to stewarding its collection for present and future generations of people in Massachusetts, the United States, and the world. PEM is also committed to the ideals of diversity, equity, inclusion and access. The Museum seeks to: 

  •  Ensure the ability of the collection to support PEM strategic goals far into the future. 

  •  Promote the collection as an intellectual, learning, and research resource for the benefit of the public. 

  • Welcome audiences of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, religious affiliations, sexual orientation and gender identifications to the museum. 

  • Ensure appropriate access to the collection and related information for PEM staff, the museum community, scholars, collectors, and the public, including the differently abled and those with sensory sensitivities. 

  • Provide adequate and expanding documentation of the collection. 

  • Strategically add works to the collection to expand its scope and build on existing strengths; and 

  • Periodically assess collecting priorities.  

Specifically, the Curator will: 

  • Develop collecting goals and an action plan that address a five-year horizon; identify and justify specific key areas and examples; estimate overall value or costs associated with goals; identify ways to secure new sources of support for acquisitions, and enhance a Visiting Committee’s membership, activities, support, and understanding of the museum’s acquisition goals. 

  • Secure works of superlative quality, based on approved collecting goals and action plan, to strengthen the museum’s ability to display and interpret the collection, attract visitors and patrons, and make strategic loans to other museums’ exhibitions. 

LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION: 

  • Create new approaches and build awareness and support for this specific area of expertise. 

  • Identify and implement strategies for interdisciplinary and intra-collection experiences and connections between the historical and contemporary. 

  • Write and lecture for PEM and for strategic high-profile and peer-review outlets in ways that recognize both the museum and the curator as leaders.  

  • Lead or serve on teams and task forces to plan and implement specific projects and museum-wide initiatives that align with PEM’s strategic planning. 

  • Collaborate with the Curatorial Team and across the museum, especially with Exhibition Planning and Design, Learning and Civic Engagement, Collection Services, Development, and Marketing and Communications, on a variety of projects.  

  • Develop and administer realistic budgets, work plans, and schedules, and practice accountability. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

  • 7-10 years or more of curatorial practice or comparable experience, preferably in a museum or other cultural institution. 

  • M.A., Ph.D. degree in Art History or the Humanities preferred. 

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE AND ABILITIES 

  • Recognized expertise and passion for American art and a robust professional network. 

  • Enthusiasm for new forms of engagement in curatorial practice and multidisciplinary thinking. 

  • Resourcefulness and nimbleness; an ability to work independently, and be self-directed 

  • Can adjust easily to changing priorities and complex situations. 

  • Passion for collaboration and team-oriented work style; can build team spirit and is a good listener; can recognize and reward the contribution of others; and can communicate openly, decisively and proactively. 

  • Enthusiasm to fully engage the community-at-large.  

  • Excellent writing, research, speaking, and interpersonal communication skills. 

  • Time management and multitasking skills. 

  • Takes initiative in identifying and fulfilling needs and implementing new administrative systems. 

  • Highly organized and detail oriented.  

  • Positive, can-do attitude and sense of humor. 

COMPENSATION 

  • The hiring salary for the position is $90,000-$120,000, based on experience.  

  • Comprehensive benefits package. 

HOW TO APPLY 

Nominations and inquiries welcome. To apply: email cover letter and résumé and names of 3 references with contact information by January 6, 2023, to: Lora Urbanelli, Senior Search Consultant at: searchandref@museum-search.com. References will not be contacted without prior permission of the applicant, and all applications and nominations are kept confidential.

The Peabody Essex Museum is committed to diversity among its employees and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply.