Associate Director Of Curatorial Affairs

Job Description:

The Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs (ADCA) provides dynamic leadership for the Curatorial Unit of the Art Museums at Washington and Lee University. With a collection of more than 15,000 art objects spanning periods, geographies, and media, the ADCA is charged with the functional care and stewardship of the collection, making the objects accessible to the public, and maximizing its potential and reach.

Reporting to the Director of Art Museum and Galleries, the ADCA serves as the senior art curator and oversees the care and interpretation of the permanent collection, along with the creative and administrative responsibilities of the museum's curatorial and collections team, consisting of four full-time professional staff:
Registrar, Collections Manager, curatorial fellow in American Art, and curatorial fellow in Ceramics. The ADCA will play a key role in shaping curatorial policy, including contributing to the development of a comprehensive collecting plan and a three-to-five-year framework for acquisitions. A close collaborator with the Director, the ADCA will offer thoughtful, pragmatic ideas that support the Art Museum’s strategic direction and align with the University’s broader vision.

Washington and Lee University actively promotes a dynamic and inclusive environment that allows students and employees of multiple backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives to learn, work, and thrive together. Successful candidates will contribute to that environment and exhibit potential for excellence in their areas of expertise.

Visit jobs.wlu.edu to learn more about working at W&L, our benefits, community, and living in the area.

About Washington and Lee University:

Washington and Lee University (W&L) is a small liberal arts college nestled in the Virginia mountains, with an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 1,860. W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the U.S., a top-ranked private university located in Lexington (pop. 7,000), a vibrant and picturesque town in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

About the Museums at Washington and Lee:

The Museums at W&L are part of Academic Affairs, reporting to the Provost’s Office, and comprise two branches: the Art Museum and Galleries and the Institutional History Museum and Galleries. Each branch is dedicated to showcasing distinct collections and exhibitions and to fostering a community inspired by art and W&L’s history.

The Art Museum and Galleries team oversees the art collection, including the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, Watson Galleries, and McCarthy Gallery, while the Institutional History Museum team manages the institutional history collection and oversees the University Chapel and Chapel Galleries and Washington Galleries.

About the Art Museum and Galleries:

The Art Museum and Galleries’ mission is to promote learning through direct engagement with its collections and to foster an interdisciplinary appreciation of art, history, and culture. It achieves this through a variety of permanent and rotating exhibitions that support the liberal arts curriculum, align with the university’s academic objectives, and reflect the varied interests of the community, and offers students and faculty opportunities for research, internships, employment, exhibitions, and programmatic offerings.

The Art Museum and Galleries consist of eight galleries across three sites: the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, Watson Galleries, and McCarthy Gallery. Together, they house an extensive collection of approximately 15,000 objects, spanning centuries, geographies, and media within their decorative and fine arts holdings. The collection ranges from early American portraits and European paintings to a nationally recognized collection of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain, as well as significant works on paper, photographs, and sculptures.

The collection traces its origins to a bequest in 1875, when six portraits laid the foundation of the art collection. Over the past 150 years, it has grown to include celebrated works by artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Fernando Botero, Mohammed Omer Khalil, William Christen berry, Sam Gilliam, Sally Mann, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert…