What does an exhibits curator do?
Exhibits curator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real exhibits curator resumes:
- Manage visual resource center, including acquisition, cataloging, budget management and other relevant issues.
- Compile a catalogue of artist biographies for guests to reference.
- Assist in preparing zoo for AZA re-accreditation: create and clean exhibits as well as grounds keeping and diet preparation.
- Design and implement comprehensive training programs focusing on artifact preservation and cleaning base on complete training course taken at Smithsonian.
- Fashion and coordinate historical costumes for first person interpretation
Exhibits curator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Exhibits Curators are proficient in Curate, Press Releases, 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 Exhibits Curators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Curate, 26%
Manage and curate the art for the Blue Dahlia Bistro.
- Press Releases, 15%
Provided media relations: preparation of press releases, reviews of outside generated materials, and interviews with media professionals/journalists.
- Exhibit Design, 14%
Hire and supervise exhibit designers and fabricators.
- Condition Reports, 10%
Prepared Condition Reports and photographed works of art for insurance purposes and for museum records.
- Adobe Photoshop, 9%
Digitized images using Adobe Photoshop for use by faculty and students.
- Graphic Design, 8%
Worked together with curators, graphic designers, and editors to create marketing materials.
Most exhibits curators use their skills in "curate," "press releases," and "exhibit design" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential exhibits curator responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for an exhibits 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, an exhibits curator resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "collected and analyzed geospatial data, worked with lidar maps, and data from channel surveys to create arcgis maps. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of exhibits curators is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday exhibits 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: "compiled a catalogue of artist biographies for guests to reference. "
Organizational skills. For certain exhibits curator responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of an exhibits curator rely on this skill, as "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators store and easily retrieve records and documents." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what exhibits curators do: "develop educational content for organizational website and social media. "
The three companies that hire the most exhibits curators are:
- Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.c. Or Aza1 exhibits curators jobs
- State Of South Dakota1 exhibits curators jobs
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Compare different exhibits curators
Exhibits curator vs. Historic sites supervisor
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, exhibits curator responsibilities require skills like "curate," "press releases," "oral histories," and "exhibit design." Meanwhile a typical historic sites supervisor has skills in areas such as "gift shop sales," "cultural resources," "blog posts," and "historic properties." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that historic sites supervisors earn slightly differ from exhibits curators. In particular, historic sites supervisors are 10.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an exhibits curator. Additionally, they're 2.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Exhibits curator vs. Curator of photography and prints
Each career also uses different skills, according to real exhibits curator resumes. While exhibits curator responsibilities can utilize skills like "press releases," "oral histories," "exhibit design," and "adobe photoshop," curators of photography and prints use skills like "historical research," "lightroom," "design logos," and "sales floor."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Curators of photography and prints tend to reach lower levels of education than exhibits curators. In fact, they're 20.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Exhibits curator vs. Museum director
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from exhibits curator resumes include skills like "curate," "press releases," "oral histories," and "exhibit design," whereas a museum director is more likely to list skills in "museum operations," "museum exhibits," "community outreach," and "local community. "
When it comes to education, museum directors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to exhibits curators. In fact, they're 3.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Exhibits curator vs. Collections and archives director
Types of exhibits curator
Updated January 8, 2025
