The Curator of the Art of California will engage visitors by celebrating, documenting, collecting and interpreting the art of the region’s past, present, and future. Drawing on OMCA’s rich collections, with emphasis on Oakland stories, and with an interest in connecting those stories to national histories and contemporary discussions, the position’s community-centered curatorial work will emphasize undertold stories, inspiration and resilience, collective and individual empowerment, and everyday life.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following reflects OMCA’s definition of essential functions for this position, but does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. OMCA may assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this position at any time due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons.

INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the Museum’s mission, values, vision, and core commitment to the visitor experience, community engagement, and institutional relevancy for the future
• Contribute to and support the OMCA strategic plan, annual priorities, and institutional initiatives such as diversity advancement
• Contribute to a positive organizational culture based on mutual respect, a spirit of collegiality, cooperation, and openness to many perspectives
• Participate in a culture of ongoing learning, collaboration, innovation, creativity, and community engagement
• All positions will have core functional responsibilities, cross functional team activation and learning and development as a core function of each role.

POSITION DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Perform collections-based research and develop ideas for special exhibitions and core gallery installations that meet OMCA’s mission, community engagement and business goals, and leverage our collections and campus in new ways
• Support OMCA’s portfolio of exhibitions projects through creative approaches to using collections to support diverse types of visitor experiences, delivery platforms, interdisciplinary strategies, and topics representative of multiple viewpoints and perspectives
• Research and identify collections objects and stories to support core gallery reinstallation
• Participate in the ongoing review and implementation of OCMA’s collections care and deaccessioning plan
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop and present related programming

EXPERIENCE

• Ability to display and encourage visitor and internal customer service, take and share responsibility and treat others with respect
• 5+ years demonstrated experience originating and developing exhibitions with sound scholarship and broad community relevance and appeal
• Bachelors and Master’s degree in relevant field. Additional expertise in contemporary art; ethnic studies; gender studies; and/or the experiences of Black diasporic, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and/or Indigenous peoples will be especially encouraged
• Broad knowledge of current trends and issues in curatorship, exhibition development and community engagement
• Demonstrated experience with collection development and research
• English language proficiency in both spoken and written form; a second language (particularly Spanish or Mandarin) desirable
• Collegial Team leadership experience
• Superior communication and presentation skills
• Understanding of Museum ethics and standards for collections management and conservation
• Proficiency with Google suite; familiarity with collection databases desired

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The environment may include:

• Museum environment involves both indoor and outdoor working conditions
• Ability to travel between OMCA locations, and other travel as required by position responsibilities
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends

EEO STATEMENT

The Oakland Museum of California is dedicated to diversity, inclusion, accessibility and equity. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ability/disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We highly encourage our diverse community to apply for available employment, internship, fellowship and volunteer positions at the Museum, as we aim to ensure our staff reflects the diversity of our visitors and surrounding community. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, OMCA will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.

COMPENSATION: $89,300 - $89,300 annually