Description:
The Curator will be a dynamic museum professional with curation, collections engagement, access policies, and community-centered consultations. The Curator will work collaboratively with the interpretive planning team, the leadership team, descendant communities, and IU faculty to build collections access policies/procedures, research pathways, and active consultation procedures for the diverse collections (archaeology/ethnography).
Department Specific Responsibilities
- Collaborates with community partners on community-led and community-directed projects through community advisory groups, tribal consultations, community engagement, collecting initiatives, exhibitions, online platforms, and public programs.
- Works to ensure collections are interpreted inclusively with multiple voices, focused on community authorship and perspectives, and prioritizing Indigenous communities.
- Collaborates and builds relationships with faculty, departments, and organizations on the IU campus and beyond, to support collections engagement and connection, shared-stewardship models, research initiatives, and curricula development.
- Works closely with the IU NAGPRA team to support collections repatriation, provenance/provenience transparency, community consultations, and the integration of Indigenous stewardship models
- Conducts original interdisciplinary research and collaborative documentation projects on ethnographic and archaeology collections ¿ making the results available to the public through ethical access and outreach initiatives, exhibitions, public programs, and publications.
- Participates in the exhibit development process by serving as an exhibit developer and/or on exhibit teams (helping develop content, drafting labels, writing articles, consulting on design decisions, developing and participating in programs)
- Works closely with the Director of Curatorial Affairs and the Executive Director to develop an innovative and bold vision and strategy for developing ambitious research, exhibition, and publication programs.
- Collaborates with the interpretive planning and curatorial teams to develop significant exhibitions plan to prepare for the Museum opening and beyond.
- Acts as an ambassador to academic departments and the broader IU and Bloomington communities.
- Cultivates support for exhibitions, galleries, programs, symposia, acquisitions, research grants, and fellowships through association with professional organizations, foundations, collectors, and donors.
General Responsibilities
- Preserves and manages museum artifacts, documents, and/or collections, ensuring adherence to relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
- Coordinates the moving of works to and from buildings. Plans what artifacts will be displayed and works with departments to make selections based on the environment in the area.
- Uses conservation and maintenance techniques to preserve artifacts, documents, and collections.
- Researches and writes labels for all displayed works. Prints and installs labels.
- Researches and prepares courses, tours, and presentations related to the museum.
- Strategizes for continued goal setting and activities to reach goals and assists with the associated budget construction to carry out long-term plans.
- Assists other museum services staff with incoming artifacts and database management.
- Inventories artifacts in museums and maintains condition reports.
- May provide guidance and delegate administrative tasks to other museum services staff.
- May make process recommendations for improved operational efficiency.