What does a curator do?
A curator is primarily in charge of spearheading and overseeing exhibits and collections in art museums and similar establishments. Their responsibilities include handling acquisition procedures, conceptualizing plans, designing exhibits and presentations, liaising with internal and external parties, setting goals and timelines, managing the budgets and fundraisers, and developing strategies to market the museum's events. Furthermore, as a curator, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to reach goals, all while implementing the organization's policies and regulations.
Curator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real curator resumes:
- Manage visual resource center, including acquisition, cataloging, budget management and other relevant issues.
- Aid instructors in sorting through student works to curate gallery.
- Produce written materials including wall labels and artists' biographies.
- Participate in SEO research and compile a summary for the rest of the team.
- Create and upload content daily, using a web-base administration tool, and HTML.
- Assist with inquiries regarding scanning Photoshop, PowerPoint and other vr-relate software and equipment.
- Maintain the series' social media presence on Facebook and send out the monthly press release.
- Create, update, and maintain initial site pages for BrownTurtlePress.com, using CSS and HTML.
- Contribute to a division of Facebook focuse on improving the network's presence as a news source.
- Direct the efforts of a group of student workers to handle administration, cataloging and digitizing of valuablevisual resources.
- Collect and analyze geospatial data, work with LiDAR maps, and data from channel surveys to create ArcGIS maps.
- Develop a series of presentations and training manuals aim at educating garden staff on the use of GIS hardware and software
- Scrutinize each artifact, recording its detail physical description.
- Assist in photographing and digitizing entire collection of Paine collection.
- Show case international artists in photography, painting, installation and cinematography.
Curator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Curators are proficient in Facebook, Historical Research, and Exhibit Design. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Curators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Facebook, 10%
Established and managed the Red River Moms Facebook page, engaging followers with upcoming events and contests.
- Historical Research, 8%
Developed and monitored budget, conducted historical research, developed educational programs for adults and children and coordinated vendors and volunteers.
- Exhibit Design, 8%
Hire and supervise exhibit designers and fabricators.
- Photography, 7%
Reviewed and edited listing photography and sourced photographers in various markets to capture unique accommodations and cover special assignments worldwide.
- Collections Management, 5%
Initiated new procedures for collections management and record keeping according to professional museum standards.
- Art History, 5%
Studied the art history of contemporary Japanese printmaking.
Common skills that a curator uses to do their job include "facebook," "historical research," and "exhibit design." You can find details on the most important curator responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a curator to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators must explore minutiae to determine the origin, history, and importance of the objects they work with." Additionally, a curator resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "inventoried artifacts from the permanent collection and updated the database. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of curators is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday curator duties, as "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators work regularly with the general public." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided customer service responsible for permanent and seasonal exhibitions museum tours, brochures, press releases, and accession and vaults"
Organizational skills. curator responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators store and easily retrieve records and documents." This resume example shows what curators do with organizational skills on a typical day: "develop educational content for organizational website and social media. "
The three companies that hire the most curators are:
- Regions Bank60 curators jobs
- Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.c. Or Aza5 curators jobs
- Audubon Nature Institute4 curators jobs
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Compare different curators
Curator vs. Historic sites supervisor
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, curator responsibilities require skills like "facebook," "historical research," "exhibit design," and "photography." Meanwhile a typical historic sites supervisor has skills in areas such as "gift shop sales," "cultural resources," "historic properties," and "gps." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Historic sites supervisors tend to reach lower levels of education than curators. In fact, historic sites supervisors are 7.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Curator vs. Collections and archives director
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that curator responsibilities requires skills like "facebook," "historical research," "exhibit design," and "photography." But a collections and archives director might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "rare books," "research materials," "database management," and "organizational structure."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Collections and archives directors tend to reach similar levels of education than curators. In fact, they're 2.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Curator vs. Director of exhibits
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, curators are more likely to have skills like "facebook," "historical research," "photography," and "google+." But a director of exhibits is more likely to have skills like "event management," "photoshop," "trade shows," and "contract negotiations."
When it comes to education, directors of exhibits tend to earn lower degree levels compared to curators. In fact, they're 5.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Curator vs. Curator of photography and prints
Even though a few skill sets overlap between curators and curators of photography and prints, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a curator might have more use for skills like "facebook," "exhibit design," "photography," and "google+." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of curators of photography and prints require skills like "curate," "lightroom," "design logos," and "sales floor. "
In general, curators of photography and prints hold lower degree levels compared to curators. Curators of photography and prints are 17.1% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of curator
Updated January 8, 2025
