Senior Curator: Collections and Exhibitions - Cheltenham, United Kingdom - The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum part of Cheltenham Trust

Description

The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum is a welcoming social and cultural space where everyone can discover, learn and enjoy as visitors, co-producers, artists and makers.

It forms part of The Cheltenham Trust, a dynamic charitable organisation that manages 5 culture and leisure venues with the support of Cheltenham Borough Council.

This role offers a unique opportunity to be involved in helping to shape our future direction as a Trust and cultural life in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire.

We are looking for creative dynamic individual committed to using art and cultural heritage to make people's lives better


The Senior Curator:

Exhibitions and Collections will be joining a small team with a big ambition to develop the Wilson into one of the South West's most pioneering and ambitious art gallery and museums.

The Wilson's Collections are richly diverse from Old Masters to world cultures to a social history collection which tells the story of Cheltenham and the surrounding Cotswolds area from the Bronze Age.

A dedicated gallery houses the Arts and Crafts Movement Collection, a Designated Collection of national importance. The Art Collection includes painting and sculpture spanning four centuries, costume and têxtiles, decorative and applied art.

Our galleries house permanent and temporary display programmes and include one dedicated co-curated space led by a Creative Communities panel to present and develop projects with our local communities in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire.

In addition, the Wilson is home to a major catalyst programme for early career artists including 9 studios and a facilitated fellowship programme, innovative learning and events activities based in our Foyle Learning Studio, an Open Archive and Study space and a café which features our art collections, and which is led by our sustainability values, with furniture, materials, makers and craftspeople being drawn from our local area.

The Senior Curator is a critical role within the organisation and will lead our mission of caring for our Collection and making it accessible to diverse audiences through creative and participative programming.

The post-holder will drive our temporary exhibition programme working as part of a small strategic team developing an internationally important exhibition programme which priorities contemporary art practice in dialogue with historic art collections.

They will work closely with the Head of Culture and Public Programmes Manager to research, plan and manage a programme of new and existing work and exhibitions in the visual arts, applied arts and social history; ensuring effective communication, financial and resource management is in place.

The Wilson is committed to building an organisation of mutual respect and dignity, promoting a welcoming, diverse and inclusive working and learning environment.

We recognise that everyone is different in a variety of visible and non-visible ways, and that those differences are to be recognised, respected, and valued.

We aim to provide a place where everyone can thrive, supporting all staff to achieve their full potential. We aspire to remove economic, social and cultural barriers that may otherwise prevent people from succeeding.

Key Responsibilities

Programme Development

Work with the Exhibitions and Public Programmes Manager and Director of Arts & Heritage to develop creative and innovative visitor-focussed exhibitions, commissions and residencies, and with the Curatorial Team, research and develop content liaising with artists, curators, partners and community stakeholders.

Lead on the redisplay of new collections galleries and work closely with the Director of Arts and Heritage to secure further funding for a community engaged project to develop content and interpretation.

Plan and guide the curatorial teams' delivery of research, content, object lists and interpretation to deliver exhibitions, working together with the Public Engagement team to maximise participation and audience impact.

Develop exhibition texts for gallery interpretation and marketing/press materials, and oversee the editing and production of gallery interpretation.

Coordinate the Wilson's Arts Advisory Panel and Exhibition Programming Group and to review exhibition proposals both externally and internally.

Ensure that interpretation, research and curatorial work embeds equality, diversity and inclusion into practice.

Work across the Wilson Team to develop ideas for talks, symposiums and special events orientated around current debates in contemporary visual cultures, and collaborate with the Public Programmes manager on participatory arts, socially engaged projects and artists' residencies and commissions.

Participate as a facilitator/speaker or similar in the public programme, and lead gallery tours or facilitate group sessions.

Work with the Communications Team in developing new innovative ways to interpret the collections and deepen the experience and engagement of d