Profession museum director

Museum directors oversee the management of the art collections, artefacts, and exposition facilities. They secure and sell works of art on the one hand, and strive to preserve and maintain the art collection of a museum on the other hand. Moreover, they also manage finances, employees, and marketing efforts of the museum.

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Personality Type

• Enterprising / Investigative

Knowledge

• Art-historical values

  The historical and artistic values implied in examples of one's branch of art.

• Art history

  The history of art and artists, the artistic trends throughout centuries and their contemporary evolutions.

• Art collections

  The variety of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and other works that form collections in a museum and prospective new collections which are of interest for a museum or art gallery.

• Museum databases

  The tools and processes involved in working with museum databases.

Skills

• Manage budgets

  Plan, monitor and report on the budget.

• Sell art

  Secure and sell pieces of art in different markets. Negotiate prices, liaise with art dealers, and prevent from acquiring counterfeit art pieces.

• Liaise with shareholders

  Communicate and serve as communication point with shareholders in order to provide an overview on their investments, returns, and long-term plans of the company to increase profitability.

• Supervise art gallery staff

  Supervise the activities and performance of art gallery employees

• Advise on loans of art work for exhibitions

  Working together with curators and museum collection managers, a registrar evaluates the condition of art objects for exhibition or loan purposes. The registrar also decides whether or not an artwork is able to withstand the stresses of travel or exposition.

• Document museum collection

  Registrars are concerned with documentation and record keeping of museum collections. Documentation includes information about an object's condition, provenance, materials, and all of its movements within the museum or out on loan.

• Maintain museum records

  Keep museum records current and in conformity with museum standards.

• Handle art

  Work directly with objects in museums and art galleries, in coordination with other museum professionals, to ensure that artworks are safely handled, packed, stored and cared for.

• Monitor museum environment

  Monitor and document environmental conditions in a museum, in storage as well as exhibition facilities. Make sure an adapted and stable climate is guaranteed.

• Advise on art handling

  Advise and instruct other museum professionals and technicians on how to manipulate, move, store and present artifacts, according to their physical characteristics.

• Plan art educational activities

  Plan and implement artistic facilities, performance, venues and museum-related educational activities and events.

• Manage staff

  Manage employees and subordinates, working in a team or individually, to maximise their performance and contribution. Schedule their work and activities, give instructions, motivate and direct the workers to meet the company objectives. Monitor and measure how an employee undertakes their responsibilities and how well these activities are executed. Identify areas for improvement and make suggestions to achieve this. Lead a group of people to help them achieve goals and maintain an effective working relationship among staff.

• Liaise with managers

  Liaise with managers of other departments ensuring effective service and communication, i.e. sales, planning, purchasing, trading, distribution and technical.

• Maintain catalogue collection

  Describe, inventorise and catalogue items in the collection.

• Liaise with colleagues

  Liaise with fellow colleagues to ensure common understanding on work related affairs and agree on the necessary compromises the parties might need to face. Negotiate compromises between parties as to ensure that work in general run efficiently towards the achievement of the objectives.

• Liaise with educational institutions

  Communication and cooperation for the supply of study materials (e.g. books) to educational institutions.

• Implement risk management for works of art

  A registrar determines risk factors to an art collection and mitigates them. Risk factors for artworks include vandalism, theft, pests, emergencies, and natural disasters. It is the responsibility of a registrar to develop and implement strategies to minimise these risks.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB