Art World Job: Museum Curator

This career is the museum curator.

The Curator's job is to make sure that the artworks are properly preserved, documented, and ready to be put on display. They also sometimes oversee the designing of exhibits. They can also help plan the resources and budget side of the museum work and buy from artists for the museum. Curators basically lead the building of exhibits.

To become a curator, you need a lot of schooling. Many employers require those applying to have a PhD in art history, history, anthropology, or related fields. Doing some work with Museum Studies or Library Science can also be helpful as a curator.

On a daily basis, the Curator may do work to plan exhibits, do research on certain pieces, and collect artwork for the museum.

For the art world in particular, art history is one of the best majors to do to become a museum curator. They can also major in anthropology, history, or museum studies if their college offers that as a major. It is also important to get a masters and PhD in these fields as well.

The ivy league schools do all have very good art history programs, but New York University, Columbia, and Bryn Mawr College also have good programs.

Andrew Bolton is the curator for the Anna Wintour Costume Center