The National Gallery Curatorial Traineeship Programme: Call for Museum Partners

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The National Gallery is looking for regional partners to help train the next generation of curators, with a particular commitment to increasing diversity of the museum workforce.

Since 2013, the National Gallery has offered a training programme for future curators in partnership with regional museums and galleries. Previous Trainees are now well established in the sector, fulfilling roles ranging from Assistant Curator to Assistant Keeper.

With support from Art Fund and the Vivmar Foundation, the National Gallery is able to offer two further fully funded Curatorial Traineeships. These will run for 22 months from February 2022 to December 2023. Supported by the National Gallery, two partner museums will each provide one Curatorial Trainee with the opportunity to work at their site for 16 months. During this time the Trainees will develop a project that sheds new light on the paintings within the partner museum’s collection. For example, one of the current trainees has contributed to Creating a National Collection: The Partnership between Southampton City Art Gallery and the National Gallery.

Objectives

The Curatorial Traineeship Programme aims to develop a range of skills appropriate to curatorial work today. Skills highlighted in Art Fund’s The 21st Century Curator (2017) include subject expertise, collections care and exhibition making, but also the ability to create opportunities for audience collaboration and participation, improved accessibility and the production of new narratives. Underpinned by its Strategic Plan the Curatorial Traineeship Programme forms part of the National Gallery’s commitment to nationwide engagement and the aims of a new National Strategy:

  • We want to be the truly National Gallery

  • Through partnerships with other institutions and helping to develop key skills and capabilities; by creating a new national learning service, and by telling the story of what we do more effectively, we will create a step-change in our relationship with the nation. At the heart of this change will be the way we work with audiences. Working in partnership with children and young people across the UK we will inspire positive change through art and culture.

Programme partners

The National Gallery will employ two Curatorial Trainees on 22-month fixed-term contracts and provide:

  • Initial 6-month training, covering curatorial skills, research methodology, provenance research, language training and involvement in a wide range of relevant Gallery activities;

  • Travel expenses for museum partners joining the interview panel, candidates attending interviews (as required) and appointed trainees (throughout the duration of the contract);

  • Mentoring and support through National Gallery curators and other specialist staff;

  • Co-ordination of all reports to Art Fund.

The Partner museums

Applications are invited from regional museums and galleries situated in the UK.

The Curatorial Traineeship Programme intends to create new pathways into a curatorial career for those currently underrepresented in the museum workforce. We are therefore seeking partners who will actively support our efforts to promote the Programme to the widest possible range of applicants.

Museum applicants will propose a project based around European paintings (before 1900) in their collections. Projects must have one or more clearly defined public outcomes. This may include new interpretation, a (re-)display or exhibition, a publication, digital content, a public programme, a new event, a workshop with a particular community group, or a combination of some or all of these activities. Proposals linking historic and contemporary art are also welcome. The National Gallery is open to working more closely with partners to develop outcomes together, should this be desired.

Selected partners will be expected to:

  • Work closely with Art Fund and the National Gallery to ensure that the two Trainee vacancies are promoted and advertised to as wide and diverse an audience as possible.

  • Be accessible to and supportive of the Curatorial Trainees both during the training phase at the National Gallery and throughout their whole placement at the partner venue

  • Confirm the capacity to host and adequately support the Trainees for 16 months from summer 2022 to December 2023.

  • Enter into a contractual agreement with the National Gallery regarding the delivery of the Programme and its outcomes

Candidate profile

Candidates will be expected to demonstrate a keen interest in the museum sector and ideally in historic European paintings. They will not be expected to already come equipped with subject specialist knowledge or specialist skills. A Master’s degree in a relevant subject will not be a requirement for the role.

The Programme Partners will collaborate closely to agree a joined-up communications strategy and the selection process

How to apply

See further information, including the envisaged delivery time scale

Download The Museum Partner Application Form

Deadline

The Museum Partner Application Form should be submitted by 5pm on Friday 16 July 2021.