Registrar, Permanent Collection at MIT List Visual Arts Center – Museum Studies

Job Title: Registrar, Permanent Collection

Job Status: Full-time

Location: Cambridge, MA

The MIT List Visual Arts Center, MIT’s contemporary art museum, oversees the
Institute’s permanent collections of contemporary and modern art through three
distinct, world-class art collections. Working within the List Visual Arts Center, the
Permanent Collections Registrar is responsible for overseeing the care and
welfare of all three collections, totaling over 4,000 works, most of which is
publicly sited throughout the Institute.

• Through our Campus Art Loan Program, artwork from our Campus
Lending Collection is made available to Administration, Faculty, and Staff
offices, so that the MIT campus itself serves as our museum.

• The Student Lending Art Program is a unique and popular MIT tradition
that allows MIT students to borrow original works of art from the Student
Lending Collection. The collection includes more than 700 framed original
works of art, which are made available to students each September to take
home and hang in their spaces.

• MIT’s Public Art Collection, composed of over 30 outdoor and over 24
indoor works, reaches across the entire Institute. This collection grows through occasional gifts, and through MIT’s Percent-for-Art Program,
administered by the List Center, which allocates up to $500,000 to
commission permanent public art for each major campus construction project.
This highly independent role entails wide-ranging collections management and
registration duties, including managing inventory and active loans in digital
collection management database, managing storage and logistics, monitoring
conditions and assessing conservation needs, overseeing insurance and
updated valuations as needed, and accessioning new works.
Details of the role’s duties specific to each collection are outlined below:
Campus Art Loan Program

• Work with MIT Faculty and Staff on selecting objects from the Campus
Lending Collection to be installed throughout campus; administer loan
agreements and fees.

• Make or coordinate site visits to campus offices on a rotating basis to
evaluate security, environmental conditions, and see if artwork will be
appropriately sited.

• Oversee installation/deinstallation logistics across campus with preparator and/or contracted art handlers.

• Arrange for (re)framing, when necessary.

• Conduct annual physical inventory of artworks throughout campus to
monitor condition, verify location, and connect with staff borrowers.

• Work with MIT’s Campus Construction to coordinate the deinstallation,
storage, and reinstallation artworks for major building renovation projects.
Student Lending Art Program

• Oversee and manage the lottery for popular program that allows students
500-600 students to each borrow an original artwork.

• Supervise distribution and return periods at the beginning and end of each
academic year: administer loan contracts via collection database.

• As needed, work with IS&T [Information Systems and Technology] on
managing the online lottery interface and website.

• Provide training for Visitor Services staff during distribution and return
periods.

• Liaise with students regarding loans and any needs outside of the main
borrowing and return periods.

• Acquisition 10-20 new works annually [via Accession Worksheet, Deed of
Gift, Incoming Receipts, Condition Reports, Recording Secretary
Memorandums, Gift-in-Kind forms, Artist Questionnaires, and other
documents as needed]; oversee all shipping logistics, framing, photography, database entry.

Public Art Conservation
• Work with Public Art and Collections Manager to identify public art
conservation short-term and long-range priorities, schedule treatments
and annual maintenance care for all works, including monumental pieces
from MIT’s outdoor public art collection.
• Obtain estimates for treatments, track conservation budget and submit
invoices for payment.

General duties
Outgoing Loans (on occasion)
• With Director and Curator, determine lend-ability of works (with additional conditions of loan) requested by other institutions.
• Review facility reports of prospective venues in advance of signed
agreements, and make recommendations to further ensure the safety
of loans.
Insurance
• Submit annual insurance art risk distribution reports for permanent and
public art collections for the Office of Insurance.
• Research collections valuations and update database valuation
records.

Qualifications
• 4 years fine art or related registration and/or collections management experience

• Knowledge of current and emerging trends in relating to art collections
and collection management; best practices for data entry and reporting
statistics
• Ability to work proactively and independently with strong organizational,
administrative skills
• Proven experience with collections management databases (TMS /
Embark; Collector Systems) as well as proficiency in Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat
• BA required; MA in arts administration or art-related field desirable

To apply, visit https://hr.mit.edu/careers and enter job id: 23420

This job was sourced via MuseWeekly newsletter.