Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art - Full Time

Description About Philbrook Museum of Art

Philbrook Museum of Art’s mission is to make a more creative and connected community through art and gardens. Comprised of a world-class art museum, a stunning historic home, and 25 breathtaking acres of gardens, Philbrook is a place for people from across Tulsa and beyond to be together. Here visitors can see art spanning 5,000 years and five continents— from around the world and from our own backyard.

They can join in on tours, hands-on artmaking and nature play, artist talks, special exhibitions, celebrations and social gatherings, films, musical performances, and more. Through this wide range of programs and interpretative activities, Philbrook strives to be welcoming, dynamic, and relevant for visitors every day. The Philbrook Collection features more than 16,000 objects with a focus on modern & contemporary American, Native American, and European art.

Serving over 160,000 visitors annually, Philbrook shines a light on Tulsa’s storied and complex past while building a diverse and creative vision of the city’s future.

Philbrook Museum of Art seeks applicants for a full-time (Open-Rank) Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art. This is a key position supporting the mission of Philbrook: to build a more creative and connected community through art and gardens. This individual will be responsible for the acquisition, preservation, interpretation and exhibition of Philbrook’s growing modern and contemporary art collections, including research and project development.

They will organize original exhibitions and oversee traveling exhibitions, as well as spearhead related programming and supervise curatorial interns and volunteers.

• Develop ambitious special exhibitions as well as seek traveling exhibitions appropriate to the institution’s budget, audience, and expectations of quality.
• Collaboratively plan presentations in collection galleries, including the creation of related interpretive materials.
• Evaluate and recommend acquisitions and deaccessions of modern and contemporary art.
• Contribute to the ongoing creation of the comprehensive catalogue of Philbrook’s collections, including verifying, correcting, and augmenting existing collection records and database, as well as researching and contributing to scholarship related to the collection.
• Advise on the long-term care of the modern/contemporary art collections, including major conservation programs as well as in-house care and maintenance.
• Create innovative programs geared toward both focused and broad general audiences.
• Collaborate across the institution to support efforts in fundraising, learning & audience engagement, collections care, programming, public relations, and communications.
• Develop and administer operating budget and project-specific budgets, as assigned.
• Recruit, select, train, schedule work activities, and supervise interns, volunteers, or fellows working with modern/contemporary art collection.

The ideal candidate is action-oriented, attentive to detail, resourceful, communicative, and brings a focused skill set and professional demeanor to their work each day. Philbrook is a highly creative and collaborative workplace very much driven by our local and regional audience.

• Master’s degree in art history or related field (a bachelor’s degree and equivalent training may be substituted);
  PhD preferred.
• Minimum of two years of curatorial experience for assistant-level position.

• Expertise in modern / contemporary art; experience working with gardens, outdoor / public art, or performance-based practices an advantage.
• Demonstrated skill in exhibition interpretation, development, and design.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate with both academic and public audiences, art collectors, dealers & potential donors, visitors and professional organizations.
• Thorough knowledge of museum practices, including collections documentation, preservation, and interpretation.
• Highly proficient in basic software applications such as Microsoft Office suite, Adobe suite, project…