Seattle Asian Art Museum, Call for Curators

The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with Seattle Art Museum (SAM), is seeking a multi-disciplinary art curator or curator team to develop, manage, and coordinate temporary arts programming at the Seattle Asian Art Museum and Volunteer Park. The curator/curator team will work with ARTS and SAM to develop a series of free events, performance-based art (featured inside the museum and/or outside in the park), and temporary public art (featured outside in the park only) starting November 2019 and occurring intermittently for 9 months following the reopening of the museum.

The Seattle Asian Art Museum is a 1933 Art Deco building in the Olmstead-designed Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The building closed in 2017 for significant renovation and expansion, including improvements to heating and cooling systems, art storage, a new conservation studio, seismic mitigation, and a new gallery with additional community and education spaces. The museum is expected to reopen in November 2019. The world-renowned permanent collection includes extensive assemblages from Japan, Korea, China, and South Asia.

Volunteer Park is a 48-acre historic Olmstead Park located at 1400 East Prospect Street in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Both the park and museum are Seattle Historic Landmarks. Programming must be free and accessible to the public and can occur in Volunteer Park or designated public spaces within the Seattle Asian Art Museum on free admission days (first opening weekend, First Thursdays 11am–9pm, and the first Saturday of every month 11am–2pm). The curator/curator team will be selected and contracted by May 2019, with programming beginning in November 2019 and continuing intermittently through approximately August 2020.

The selected curator/curator team will develop and implement arts programming that celebrates the newly renovated museum, complements SAM's mission, centers Asian/Pacific Islander experiences and perspectives, and enhances the environment in and around Volunteer Park. Programming may include temporary visual art installations, performance, video/film projection, pop-up events, dance, and music/sound. The curator/curator team will work with SAM, ARTS, and Parks to determine budget, locations, and program schedule; develop marketing and promotion plans; manage onsite coordination; and hire consultants or equipment as needed. The curator/curator team must maintain Commercial General Liability insurance with minimum limits of $1,000,000 each occurrence. Eligibility is open to curators/artists residing in Washington State. Employees of SAM or ARTS are not eligible.