Curatorial Assistant Jobs

About the Obama Foundation

At the Obama Foundation, we are guided by a core belief: that ordinary people working together can change history. Our mission is to inspire those people to take action, empower them to change their world for the better, and connect them so they can achieve more together than they can alone.

We were founded by community organizers, so when we seek change, we do it by bringing people together.

That approach begins at home, on the South Side of Chicago, where we are building the Obama Presidential Center. The Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation's first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home.

But that approach extends to all our work, whether it's holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity.

As President Obama has said, "we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together." So join us.

For more information, please visit www.obama.org.

Purpose of the Role

The Curatorial Assistant is a key member of the Obama Presidential Center Museum's growing Curatorial Team. Reporting to the Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, you will support research and administrative needs for the Curatorial Team, focused primarily on the Museum's inaugural core and special exhibits, activations, and related projects. You will perform historical, artifact, and image research to support high-priority curatorial activities, ensuring that members of the Curatorial Team are provided with substantive and reliable research information as required to meet project deadlines and to inform interpretive activities and products. You will be responsible for providing exceptional support to Curatorial projects and collaborations with other teams, ensuring members have access to complete, accurate, and up-to-date information to support their work and meet project objectives, and will serve as the initial point of contact for the Curatorial team.

Core Job Responsibilities

Curatorial Research and Production

• Assist in the development, copyediting, design, and production of exhibition and installation didactic materials, such as wall text, labels, gallery guides, and other content.
• Conduct research related to potential artifact donors, acquisitions, media programs, and archival materials, ensuring Curatorial Team has the information needed to make key curatorial decisions within specified timeframes.
• Assist with the preparation and coordination of acquisitions proposals, presentation materials, and catalog records on an as-needed basis.

Curatorial Database Maintenance

• Working with other Curatorial team members, maintain accurate exhibition object lists.
• Research and edit artifact records in the Museum's database.
• Assist in the categorization, routing, and tracking of offers of donations, purchases, and loans to the collection to ensure all inquiries are placed in the assessment queue for acquisitions consideration.

Administration and Project Coordination

• Manage administrative and project coordination needs for the Curatorial team, including scheduling meetings, taking meeting minutes, preparing reports and presentation materials, managing and organizing Curatorial documents in Google Drive, and supporting other logistical needs.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• Serve as the initial point of contact for the Curatorial Team, managing contacts and handling inquiries (mail, telephone or email) about collections, exhibitions, or donating objects to the Museum.

Key Deliverables / Outcomes

• Artifact and image databases are maintained with reliable, consistent, and up-to-date information conforming to established data entry protocols; data shared and transferred according to established workflows.
• Research assignments are prioritized and completed in a timely manner to ensure Curatorial Team has access to accurate and well-organized historical, provenance, and/or other research information to facilitate their work on exhibitions development, collections development, publications, programs, and outreach initiatives, and other priority activities.
• All presentations and other materials are designed and edited to Foundation standards, have been reviewed and approved by the necessary parties, and are produced and delivered within specified timeframes and with a high attention to detail.
• All assigned projects and tasks are planned and executed within specified timeframes and with high attention to detail.

Required Qualifications

• Ability to juggle thinking broadly and innovatively about the OPC's mission, while also independently managing a wide range of administrative responsibilities
• Demonstrated experience working in a museum or cultural organization
• Excellent research, oral and written communication and interpersonal skills; comfort interfacing with a public audience
• Experience with scheduling and project management; Google Suite and Microsoft Suite experience required; experience with Asana or other project management tools and Adobe Suite helpful but not required
• Highly organized, with a demonstrated ability to self-direct and efficiently multitask

In the interest of employee health and safety during the pendency of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Obama Foundation is requiring that all prospective employees present proof that they are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, or seek a reasonable accommodation for religious or medical reasons, prior to their first day of employment.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Foundation is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at [email protected] if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.