help how do i museum

So you’ve decided that you’d like to be a museum curator. Please accept my condolences at this difficult time.

This overview is designed to help you if you truly have no idea where to start. It’s based on my own experience and so it doesn’t offer a universal perspective, but it should cover a lot of basic questions. Views my own, no guarantees of a job, etc.

Working in a museum sounds so cool! I definitely want to be a curator.

First of all, you need to figure out whether you want to be a curator, or whether you’re in love with the idea without actually knowing what the job entails. No shade intended - but the public aspects of curatorial work aren’t the whole picture, and museums aren’t always great at providing a full and transparent picture of their internal workings. There are a lot of spreadsheets.

Curatorial work within a museum environment is (a) pretty different to independent/commercial curatorial work, and (b) extremely variable by institution. It doesn’t always entail working with *Art*, for one thing. Nor does it always focus on exhibitions. As basic as it sounds, it really is vital that you approach curatorial job ads with a critical eye, paying attention to what that specific job entails, and finding out as much as you can about the institution or organisation as well. Put a pin in that, because I’ll come back to job applications later.

There are some very general things which most curatorial jobs have in common. There will be some combination of collections management, object research, project management and outreach responsibilities, with the emphasis on one or another varying by institution and level of seniority. Some jobs will require you to demonstrate an area of subject specialism; others will prefer a good general understanding of practical tasks. Many will ask for both [insert upside-down smiling emoji x100]. I really recommend that you read this report compiled by the Art Fund, on the role of the curator and how it’s changed over time.

What won’t always be made clear in job adverts are the ‘soft skills’ and traits that will be of use in curatorial work. Of course, it helps to be curious, creative, reasonably well-organised, and willing/able to communicate your work to a diverse audience. (An ability to cry quietly under your desk is also helpful). Realistically, I have found that a thick skin is essential, and I speak as someone who does not have one of those. Museums are filled with big egos and loud voices, and the nature of institutional hierarchies and priorities means that often your ego is the one being crushed, at least at first. With the benefit of hindsight, I think you have to be willing to regard a museum career as a long game to be played - there is rarely a swift jump up the ladder, and it’s perfectly possible for a talented person to end up stuck in a role that they outgrew a long time ago.

Yep, ok, noted. I definitely want to do this - what qualifications do I need?

I’m going to work on the assumption that you are doing, or have done, an undergraduate degree of some sort. Some museums are waking up to the fact that a degree is not an essential prerequisite, and that there are other, equally valid, ways of getting relevant experience, e.g. through activism, community outreach, or as a practising artist/designer. But it is still the case that most curatorial jobs will require at least a BA degree, and often a postgraduate qualification as well.

Some of the academic routes into curating are fairly traditional/obvious, e.g. History, History of Art. At Masters level, there is a split in opinion between those who consider an MA in Museum Studies to be the best route, and those who prefer an MA in something more visual/material culture oriented. The Museum Studies path will arguably give you a better overview of practical skills (like cataloguing and collections management), but an MA in something visual/humanities focused will give you more in the way of research skills, and the beginnings of a subject specialism. As you’re likely to need both skill sets in the fullness of time, I can’t say that one is better than the other. Also, I know that MA Curating courses exist, e.g. at the Courtauld and Goldsmiths, but I really don’t know much about them, other than that they appear to be very focused on Art-with-a-capital-A.

As a very crude rule of thumb, Museum Studies people tend to be found in institutions dedicated to social/working/scientific history, and/or in smaller museums where they can hold a large range of responsibilities from a fairly early stage. Larger institutions, and/or those with more of a visual arts focus, seem to be staffed by people who have followed the humanities path. Also, Museum Studies is not only a discipline for would-be curators, but is also a useful route if you are considering a different kind of museum job, such as collections management or interpretation.

Maybe you already have an MA or equivalent in hand. You might now be asking yourself, to PhD or not to PhD? Again, there’s no single right answer here. (Soz). You’ll need to think very carefully about the kind of job you want (look at adverts and job descriptions for similar roles) and whether a PhD actually facilitates your path to that. But I promise you, that a PhD is very far from being a magic key that suddenly unlocks all kinds of jobs for you; nor will it automatically make you a better curator than someone without one. I’m not going to get into whether unfunded PhDs are ‘worth it’ - there are lots of supremely talented, hard-working people who are doing theirs without financial support. But you know your own circumstances best, and whether you can find a way to make it work in the event that you don’t secure funding from the AHRC or a similar body. One route, taken by a lot of people in museums, is to complete the PhD part-time while working full (or nearly-full) time. This isn’t an ‘easy option’, but it can be a way to make it work, and many institutions can be flexible on things like study leave. The whole point of a PhD, if you do one, is to demonstrate your capacity for scholarly research. The actual topic of your PhD is unlikely to end up shaping your later career in an irrevocable way. If you have opportunities to demonstrate your research and writing skills in other ways, take those and make the most out of them.

I have every qualification under the sun, including grade 8 flute. What now?

Ah yes, the ‘all the jobs require experience but I can’t get experience without a job’ problem. One of the truly shitty things about the museum world, even now, is that there is a huge over-reliance on unpaid volunteering. Things are starting to change, and there are some paid internships out there. Most institutions are realising that they can’t just give internships to their chief trustee’s granddaughter or whatever, and so these opportunities should be formally advertised online like any job - check the individual museum’s Vacancies/Jobs page.

My best advice, if you can only find unpaid volunteering roles, is to try and integrate those with your ongoing studies. Many MA programmes have a standing arrangement with a local or university museum to curate a small student exhibition each year, and others (like the MA History of Design run by the V&A and RCA) have an existing pipeline into part-time volunteer opportunities. Some PhD programmes come under the umbrella of consortiums like LAHP or TECHNE, which will fund work placements within museums. You might be able to do one day a week of volunteering while doing an MA or writing up a PhD, and it’s worth contacting smaller museums and local archives who are often more reliant on volunteer labour for budgetary reasons. In short - try to make this deeply flawed and unfair situation work for you; don’t go out of pocket to work for free.

There are other forms of (paid) experience which you shouldn’t discount either. One, which a lot of people tend to overlook, is working for a commercial art gallery, antique dealer or auction house. Not that these jobs are ten-a-penny either, but an entry level gallery assistant job tends not to require postgraduate qualifications - they’re looking for personable, presentable people who can talk to their clients. These types of jobs will give you basic object-handling experience, probably some simple cataloguing and inventory skills, and the opportunity to pick up specialist knowledge from what’s going on around you. Look at some of the specialist art recruitment agencies to get started.

I’ve heard conflicting things about the usefulness of a front-of-house job (like gallery assistant or museum visitor desk) for getting experience that counts towards a curatorial role. Again it seems to depend on the museum in question, and it seems to be more viable in smaller institutions where - again - individual members of staff often cover a wider range of responsibilities. Some museums offer secondment opportunities to their FOH staff, and those whose FOH staff have duties that go beyond gallery invigilation (e.g. writing talks and tours) seem to be more open to people making the move from front- to back-of-house.

I’ve seen a job advertised, and it’s perfect for me!

I’m going to say two seemingly contradictory things here: you should definitely apply for it, and you probably won’t get it. Hear me out!

You should apply to any role for which you meet at least some of the criteria listed in the job description. The museum world is overpopulated with privileged charlatans who got their job through confidence and saying the right things at the right time. (There are also lots of privileged people who aren’t charlatans at all, but park that for now). If you are from a working class background, if you’re a person of colour, if you are someone who doesn’t see yourself well-represented in museums as they are, it is extra-important that you put yourself forward for things. I don’t say this lightly, because I realise that that’s a form of burden in itself - you are not obliged to represent a community or to put yourself through a gruelling process for the sake of making a point. But please, do not undersell or underestimate yourself through a misguided lack of confidence.

That said, the state of the museum world is such that there are far more qualified people looking for jobs, than there are jobs to fill. Some entry-level roles (e.g. assistant curator) literally receive hundreds of applicants, and the more general/less specialised the job description, the more people will apply. This isn’t meant to put you off, but to offer some perspective. There will be a lot of rejections, some without even being shortlisted for an interview. Nine times out of ten, it is not an indictment of your skills and experience - there are just so many people applying. For a bit of context, I am now on my third museum job since 2009, so that’s three successful applications/interviews - but over the last decade, I’ve had something like 15 unsuccessful interviews and I’ve genuinely lost track of the number of applications that never even ended up in an interview.

The one piece of concrete advice I can give you, is to thoroughly read the job description for a role, and stick to it like glue when you write your application. Hug that job description, Cling to it like a barnacle on a rock. Most vacancies go through an initial longlisting process by someone in HR, where they will eliminate anyone who doesn’t meet the basic criteria. Further shortlisting is generally done on a points basis, where applications are measured directly against the ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ criteria, and allocated points depending on how well they meet them. So if the job description asks for evidence of experience in X Y and Z, make it completely clear that you’ve worked on X Y and Z - now is not the time for your loveliest prose. Break it down into bullet points if you absolutely must.

I’m not going to cover interviews in depth here, purely because there are so many variables, but there are some questions which come up frequently, and which it’s worth prepping for:

  • Object handling test, where you’re given a collection object and need to show (a) that you can handle it safely and correctly; and (b) that you can do a close examination and deduce what it is from this.

  • ‘What was the last/best/worst exhibition you saw, and what did you think of it?’

  • ‘Tell us about your experience with [something outlined on the job description]’

  • ‘What would you do in the case of [some kind of nightmare scenario involving something like a broken display case and a crying child]?’

  • [For specialised roles] summarise the state of your field, current/recent research that you’re familiar with, basically a verbal lit review.

I need to lie down in a darkened room. Any last thoughts?

Yes. In some respects, the museum world is a bit of a shitshow. To be completely frank, my own experience has been that museums have their own problems with internal classism, racism and sexism. Some institutions are better than others, but the fact is that many of the ‘desirable’ soft skills and other attributes are heavily coded and dependent upon privilege. You can learn to assimilate, to a degree, and just being really feckin’ excellent at your job will go a long way towards squashing any sceptics - but you shouldn’t have to change yourself, or excel just to reach a level playing field with others. Combined with the low pay and the general expectation that you’ll be able to afford a postgraduate course and a period of volunteering, museums are still dominated by people from privileged backgrounds. It sucks, I hate it, and I promise you that there are lots of people out there who are trying to improve things from the inside.

If you, yourself, are coming from a place of privilege, that doesn’t invalidate your work and your abilities, but just be aware that not everyone has a path as smooth as yours, and do what you can to lift up others, as well as yourself. Please read up (if you haven’t already) on the work being done by groups such as Museum Detox and Museum as Muck, and the #MuseumsAreNotNeutral movement.

Despite being a shitshow, there are also some wonderful things about this job, and those of us who do have a foothold on the ladder are very lucky in some respects. Working with museum collections is a privilege, as is having a platform to reach a massive audience via exhibitions, talks and so on. If this is something you really, truly want to do, please give it a go, and persevere as long as you feel able to. I can’t guarantee that it will all work out, but I wish you well.

Danielle Thom