Museum Specialist (Art)
What you'd do
The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in Curatorial Office, Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), Undersecretary for Museums and Culture. SAAM shares the stories of our nation through American art and craft to inspire reflection, spark dialogue, and build connections.
Major duties
The Museum Specialist (Art) will administer the museum's acquisitions program and contribute to the stewardship, interpretation, display, and curatorial development of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's permanent collection. In this position, you will: Manage and execute arrangements for proposed acquisition including liaising with curators, donors, vendors, and colleagues across SAAM. Perform a wide variety of collections related functions that include serving as the primary curatorial representative for permanent collection installations, gallery rotations, and special projects. Develop and maintain checklists for special projects and temporary exhibitions. Coordinate across departments about installation requirements, exhibition design, interpretive elements, and related programmatic elements. Collaborate with lead curator on research needs and opportunities for contribution. Conduct in-depth research that contributes to the exhibition or installation and any accompanying publication.
What you need to qualify
Basic Qualifications: Experience related to the operation or management of a museum or similar collection of valuable objects. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include collections management, registration, cataloging, research, preservation, restoration, or conservation of collections of museum material, or other experience related to the position to be filled. Most positions require a particular subject-matter specialization, e.g., aeronautics, anthropology, art, geology, history, natural science, technology, biology, or zoology. In addition to the basic qualification requirement above: Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as managing and executing arrangements for proposed acquisitions; applying collection management processes; and coordinating and developing exhibits. Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement, as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead, provide detailed, descriptive information about your actual experience. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week. Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
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