Call for 24 Assistant Curator Positions
Job Description
Job Title: Assistant Curator, Curatorial Training Programme (24 positions available annually)
Department: Curatorial
Duration: 12 Months
Reporting to: Convenor, Curatorial Training Programme, and Director, Curatorial Training Programme
Start Date: Immediate
Total Scholarship Offered: R 272,422 per Assistant Curator
Programme Scholarship: R 179,722 (Covering programme fee, International Counsellors fees, transportation to lectures, studio visits, and exhibitions, graduate exhibition costs, office, technology and connectivity costs, publications and films, and other costs)
Assistant Curator’s Stipend: R 92,700 per annum (Covering accommodation, local transportation, food, communication, and a clothing allowance but with all deductions, including Pay as You Earn, Unemployment Insurance Fund Contributions, and any other government mandated deductions, withheld from this amount)
Background
The Curatorial Training Programme, offered through the Centre for Curatorial Excellence at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), provides practicing professionals or recent graduates the benefit of gaining practical curatorial experience and skills by participating in all components of a functioning contemporary art museum. The programme provides an intensive period of intellectual stimulation through individual research and dialogue with colleagues, artists, collectors and art professionals. Over 50 International Counsellors along with Zeitz MOCAA staff teach the Curatorial Training Programme and visits to artists’ studios, commercial galleries, conferences, and lectures are central to the programme. Upon graduating, the Assistant Curators are prepared for a career working as a curator, collections manager, conservator, development officer, or museum educator in a museum, commercial art gallery, publication, foundation, or corporate collection. In keeping with Zeitz MOCAA’s commitment of Access for All, each and every successful candidate is provided with a scholarship. The Assistant Curators are financially supported by ten local and international Foundations and individuals.
Purpose of the Job
The Assistant Curators in the Curatorial Training Programme will work with the curatorial team to realise the exhibition programme in the lead up to the opening of Zeitz MOCAA in September 2017 and beyond. Through this process they will be exposed to all components of museum practice, engaging with the curatorial department, institutional advancement and external affairs, collections management, art education, conservation, marketing, PR, and operations.
The museum director leads workshops and seminars on a variety of topics concerning museum practice. Topics discussed are: artists represented in the museum collection, recent thematic debates in contemporary art, philosophical and aesthetic considerations for exhibitions within a museum or gallery environment, methodology for guided tours, climate control and lux levels, conservation and archiving, drawing up condition reports and loan request forms, auction house procedures, production and dissemination of publicity materials, cataloguing, photographic documentation of artwork for catalogues and museum and insurance records, researching provenance of artworks, as well as copyright procedure for the reproduction of artworks.
The museum’s registrar also works with the Assistant Curators to familiarize them with the procedures of keeping active inventories, storing artwork, filing of works on paper, archiving of visual documentation and digital files, art handling, packing and shipping, and customs formalities.
Additionally, the Assistant Curators work alongside the museum’s preparators, gaining practical experience in the preparation of exhibition spaces, hanging of artworks, setting of lighting, and labelling of artworks.
The Assistant Curators are involved in all aspects of the museum, from organizing and producing Zeitz MOCAA’s public programming, including lectures, museum tours and seminars, to hosting visiting museum and special interest groups, and generating educational projects for the local community. After becoming acquainted with the museum they conduct guided tours independently. Participants benefit from interaction with the public through front-desk duty.
Major collectors visit the museum on a regular basis and interact with the participants individually and as a group, providing insights into collecting and discussing recent developments in contemporary art.
Participants also work alongside the Zeitz MOCAA Bookstore manager learning how to operate museum retail.
Fundraising now forms an integral part of any curator’s duties. Candidates participate in all components of the developmental programmes of the museum alongside the Director of Institutional Advancement and External Affairs.
The selected Assistant Curators will have a passion for innovative contemporary art practices and discourses; knowledge of the themes defining the discipline locally and globally; an interest in the history of contemporary art and its interpretation, production, and care; a desire to critically engage with the discipline; and knowledge of the major developments in museology.
Applicants will be selected by a panel of leaders in contemporary art, including Tandazani Dhlakama, Curator of Education, National Gallery of Zimbabwe; Jacob Lebeko, Assistant Curator, UNISA Space Art Gallery; Gerald Machona, Artist; Gcotyelwa Mashiqa, AKO Foundation Assistant Curator, Zeitz MOCAA; Ingrid Masondo, Curator of New Media and Photography, Iziko South African National Gallery; and Cheryl-Ann Michael, Lecturer, University of the Western Cape.
The selected participants will be awarded a twelve month scholarship that covers all course fees and living expenses.
As a cutting edge equal opportunity institution, Zeitz MOCAA celebrates diversity in all its forms including gender, race, creed, and orientation. To apply, please email a letter of motivation, CV, two references, scan of South African ID or passport, and two writing examples focusing on visual art or design to ctp@zeitzmocaa.museum by Sunday, 2 April 2017.
About Zeitz MOCAA
Opening on 22 September 2017, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa’s (Zeitz MOCAA) mission is to collect, preserve, research, and exhibit cutting edge contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora; to host international exhibitions; to develop supporting educational and enrichment programmes; to encourage intercultural understanding; and to guarantee access for all. Eighty galleries are dedicated to a permanent collection; temporary exhibitions; and Centres for Art Education, Photography, Costume, Curatorial Excellence, the Moving Image, and Performative Practice.
Zeitz MOCAA partners with various local and international institutions, manages a Curatorial Training Programme, and loans artworks to museums globally.
As a not-for-profit public cultural institution, donations to Zeitz MOCAA and philanthropic support from individuals, corporations and foundations are an integral part of helping the museum fulfil its mission.
Physical address:
Silo District, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa, 8002
Contact details:
Telephone: + 27 (0)21 418 7855
Email: ctp@zeitzmocaa.museum
Website: www.zeitzmocaa.museum
Facebook: ZeitzMOCAA
Instagram: @zeitzmocaa
Twitter: @zeitzmocaa
