Expert: J Heuman - 9/11/2004

Question
Hello Mr Heuman,
 My name is Jade and I am currently a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill, and I am considering a job in museum work, such as museum administration or the curatorial dept. I am intending to major in Art History as well as Business, at the Kenan Flagler Business School, although I have recently been wondering if a business major is useful or advantageous for this kind of work. I was hoping that you would be able to tell me whether business, communications, or just a focus on museum studies, as well as an Art history major, would be helpful. I am also unsure of the various types of oppurtunities an art history major open ups.  I would greatly appreciate it if you could email some information or other resources and websites that might be helpful. Thank you so much for your time and I really appreciate your help.
Sincerely,
 Jade

Answer
Hello Jade:

I will happily provide my perspective on many of the issues you've raised.  For starters: "Can a business background be helpful in museum work?"

The short answer is: Yes.

The long answer is: It depands.  You have expressed interest in curatorial duties.  Curators often deal with certain financial aspects of museum work.  For example: Budgets for exhibitions.  However, curators mostly deal with the artwork -- decisions about acquisitions, conservation/restoration, interpretation and deaccessions.

Communications is good if you want to go into Marketing & Public Relations.

Museum Studies -- no offeense to folks out there in the real work -- is good for making you a museum clerk.  Without an academic foundation, a Museum Studies degree won't get you far.  An MA in Art History is an absolute minimum to be a curator at a mid-sized (or larger) art museum.

Please, again, feel free to ask more questions if i've missed anything . . .

Best wishes, sincerely,
J Heuman