How To Become An Assistant Curator: What It Is and Career Path

What is an assistant curator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

An assistant curator assists curators in the museum with their various tasks. Your job may include helping to plan new exhibits, researching and collecting new exhibits. Other duties are cataloging and maintaining an electronic database. You may be required to act as a guide in the museum or create a tour guide. You will also be responsible for supervising other museum employees, making sure the museum is well organized, and contributing to the marketing team in the museum. Of course, you will be expected to manage logistics especially when there are work events in the museum.

Great customer service skills, organizational skills, and analytical skills are vital to the job. Knowledge of art history, photography skills, and handling of art exhibitions are the most-wanted traits by assistant curators. A high school diploma will suffice for the assistant curator role. Experience in related fields is also important for employment. An assistant curator earns anywhere from $28,000 a year to $84,000.

ScoreAssistant CuratorUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,498

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.34%

Asian 5.11%

Black or African American 5.26%

Hispanic or Latino 7.31%

Unknown 4.48%

White 76.51%

Gender

female 59.87%

male 40.13%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an assistant curator

Explore assistant curator education requirements

Most common assistant curator degrees

Bachelor's

72.2 %

Master's

15.4 %

Associate

7.5 %

Start to develop specific assistant curator skills

Skills	Percentages
Art History	13.01%
Museum Exhibits	13.00%
Collections Management	11.47%
Educational Programs	11.31%
Photography	8.12%

Complete relevant assistant curator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New assistant curators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an assistant curator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real assistant curator resumes.

Research assistant curator duties and responsibilities

Review and edit listing photography and source photographers in various markets to capture unique accommodations and cover special assignments worldwide.
Fashion and coordinate historical costumes for first person interpretation

Prepare your assistant curator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your assistant curator resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable assistant curator resume templates

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