Art Curator Degrees
Art curator degrees are granted exclusively at the graduate level. Students are usually accepted on a course if they have a related undergraduate degree, such as art history or restoration science. Universities offer courses that focus on curatorial studies, often in a specific area, such as modern art, or offer courses that combine art history and curatorship. Apart from knowledge of art, most universities require students to have good written communication skills and proficiency in a foreign language.
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Curatorial Studies
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Typical course content, whether students study for a degree in a specialist area or take a more general curatorial course includes the following elements: the history of museums and the purpose of exhibitions, collection management, development and display, plus the ethical and cultural issues of collecting art. In addition, students study methods of maintaining collection catalogs, marketing the collection and finding sponsorship.
Single Master's
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A typical art curator master's degree lasts two years. Some universities offer part-time study for students who want to study while working, usually in the art field. Most courses, one example being the Columbia University master's in modern art curatorial studies, specialize in an area of art but encourage students to study other periods of art, such as 19th Century European painting, to maintain their critical knowledge of art. Courses combine theory and practice, students attend lectures and take internships at galleries. Some universities also require students to take departmental foreign language exams to complete the qualification.
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Double Master's
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Career advisers suggest that aspiring curators take a double master's degree to improve their chances of employment. A double degree leads to the student holding a master of arts in art history and another in curatorial studies. The advantage of such a course of study is that it is comprehensive as it covers history, theory and practice. In addition to coursework, students may have to produce a short art history thesis and undertake two museum-based research projects and complete an internship at a gallery or museum.
Doctorate Degrees
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To get to the top of this competitive field, curators ideally need a doctorate in a specialist area, particularly if they want to curate a national collection. Students need a master's to progress to doctorate level and should look for university departments with faculty staff able to supervise a doctoral thesis in the student's chosen area of study. University art history departments usually list the areas of study they are competent to supervise and the titles of some current research projects.
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References
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