Top 12 Assistant Curator Skills to Put on Your Resume
A sharp, human, memorable resume matters for an assistant curator. Hiring teams want to see a nimble blend of scholarship, organization, and exhibition savvy—skills that translate into stronger collections, clearer records, and exhibitions that sing. Put the right mix on the page, and you stop blending in.
Assistant Curator Skills
- Cataloging
- Archival
- Research
- Photoshop
- InDesign
- Collection Management
- Exhibition Planning
- Art Handling
- Conservation Techniques
- TMS (The Museum System)
- Grant Writing
- Educational Programming
1. Cataloging
Cataloging means documenting and organizing collection items so they’re findable, intelligible, and consistent across systems. Think precise descriptions, controlled vocabularies, provenance, rights, and relationships—structured data that actually works.
Why It's Important
It anchors collection care and scholarship. Clean, complete records power research, loans, insurance, exhibitions, and public access. Without reliable metadata, everything slows or breaks.
How to Improve Cataloging Skills
Sharpening cataloging hinges on standards, clarity, and discipline:
Use current standards: Favor RDA, DACS, CCO, and consistent vocabularies (e.g., AAT, ULAN). Retire outdated rules where possible.
Normalize data: Establish field rules for titles, dates, materials, dimensions, and credit lines. Write them down. Stick to them.
Authority control: Maintain artist and maker authorities with verified biographical details and unique identifiers.
Media and rights: Attach high-quality images, rights statements, and usage notes to each record.
Audit rhythm: Schedule regular peer reviews to catch inconsistencies and gaps. Small, steady cleanups beat heroic overhauls.
Accessibility: Write alt text and plain-language descriptions for public-facing entries.
Do this well and your database becomes a living asset, not a dusty attic.
How to Display Cataloging Skills on Your Resume
2. Archival
Archival work covers the long-haul preservation and arrangement of records, photographs, and born-digital materials so they remain usable—intellectually and physically—for decades.
Why It's Important
It protects cultural memory. Good archival practice ensures researchers, curators, and the public can trace context, verify authenticity, and build new knowledge from solid foundations.
How to Improve Archival Skills
Build rigor into every step:
Appraise and arrange: Respect original order when it exists. Describe at the collection, series, and file level with clear scope and content notes.
Metadata that matters: Apply standards like DACS and use consistent subject terms and name authorities.
Preservation basics: Acid-free enclosures, stable environments, light control, and careful handling. Log any interventions.
Digitization plans: Prioritize fragile or high-demand items. Track file formats, checksums, and storage redundancy.
Access and privacy: Write and enforce policies for restricted materials, donor agreements, and rights.
Small improvements compound fast when applied across a series or collection.
How to Display Archival Skills on Your Resume
3. Research
Research in a curatorial context means investigating objects, artists, movements, provenance, and context—connecting dots between primary sources, scholarship, and the works in front of you.
Why It's Important
It underpins accurate labels, ethical acquisitions, and exhibitions that actually teach something. Credible research guards against wishful thinking and misattribution.
How to Improve Research Skills
Widen your sources and sharpen your methods:
Track the literature: Keep current with journals and monographs; use tools like Google Scholar and JSTOR alerts.
Source diversity: Combine archives, oral histories, catalogs raisonnés, conservation reports, and exhibition histories.
Organize your brain: Reference managers (e.g., Zotero) and clear note-taking taxonomies prevent duplication and drift.
Network smartly: Scholars, collectors, living artists, and peer curators often unlock details no database can.
Fieldwork when possible: Site visits, studio interviews, and collection surveys yield context that paper can’t.
Interrogate claims: Verify dates, signatures, and attributions; weigh biases; cross-check everything.
Make skepticism a habit, not a mood.
How to Display Research Skills on Your Resume
4. Photoshop
Photoshop is the workbench for image editing, retouching, color correction, and compositing—useful for publications, didactics, and documenting works.
Why It's Important
Clean, color-accurate images improve catalogs, press materials, and internal records. They also help conservators and lenders see exactly what you see.
How to Improve Photoshop Skills
Build practical fluency:
Core tools first: Layers, masks, adjustment layers, color profiles, and non-destructive workflows.
Repro standards: Learn color management, gray cards, and consistent lighting for faithful documentation.
Automation: Actions and batch processing save hours when prepping large image sets.
Retouch with restraint: Document—not alter—artworks. Keep an edit log when appropriate.
Keep learning: Tutorials and communities (Adobe tutorials, Phlearn, Behance, Photoshop forums) keep skills fresh.
Precision beats flash every time for curatorial needs.
How to Display Photoshop Skills on Your Resume
5. InDesign
InDesign handles page layout for catalogs, brochures, wall labels, gallery guides, and reports—clean typography and consistent grids without wrestling.
Why It's Important
It brings clarity to curatorial storytelling. Better layouts lead to faster approvals, fewer typos, and materials people actually read.
How to Improve InDesign Skills
Aim for tidy, reproducible systems:
Master styles: Paragraph, character, object, and nested styles reduce manual formatting chaos.
Use templates: Build document presets and master pages for recurring series (labels, didactics, press kits).
Type discipline: Baseline grids, hyphenation controls, optical margin alignment, and smart glyph choices.
Assets in order: Link management, packaged files, and version control ward off last-minute fires.
Iterate with feedback: Quick proofs and preflight checks catch issues before print or upload.
Good layout disappears; the content doesn’t.
How to Display InDesign Skills on Your Resume
6. Collection Management
Collection management covers care, documentation, location tracking, loans, access, and policy—so objects are preserved, findable, and responsibly shared.
Why It's Important
It safeguards cultural heritage while enabling use. Solid management supports conservation, scholarship, and public engagement without compromising the objects.
How to Improve Collection Management Skills
Think systems, not one-offs:
Modern CMS: Work confidently in a collections management system (TMS, EMu, CollectionsSpace). Standardize fields, taxonomies, and workflows.
Condition reporting: Consistent templates, photos, and measurable observations. Record before/after transit and exhibition.
Provenance and ethics: Document legal title, export history, and due diligence. Escalate red flags early.
Environmental control: Monitor light, temperature, humidity, and pests. Track data; adjust proactively.
Access pathways: Create clear policies for study rooms, image requests, and digital surrogates.
Cross-team collaboration: Registrars, conservators, educators, and security should share information, not silos.
Process beats heroics when collections grow.
How to Display Collection Management Skills on Your Resume
7. Exhibition Planning
Exhibition planning orchestrates theme, checklist, loans, layout, interpretation, budgets, schedules, and the visitor journey—wrangling many moving parts into one coherent experience.
Why It's Important
It’s where ideas meet audiences. Careful planning protects objects, clarifies narrative, and turns a good concept into a memorable show.
How to Improve Exhibition Planning Skills
Make the invisible scaffolding strong:
Concept to criteria: Define scope, audience, learning goals, and success metrics before picking objects.
Project management: Use timelines, Gantt charts, and task owners (Trello, Asana, or similar) so nothing slips.
Spatial thinking: Mock up plans with scaled drawings or 3D tools (SketchUp). Test sightlines, flows, and ADA access.
Interpretation: Draft labels with readability, voice, and equity in mind. Pilot-test with real visitors.
Engagement: Layer multimedia, interactives, or community voices when meaningful, not just flashy.
Budget sanity: Track estimates and actuals. Lock long-lead costs early; build contingency.
After-action reviews: Collect staff and visitor feedback (surveys, debriefs) and document lessons learned.
The best plans welcome change without wobbling.
How to Display Exhibition Planning Skills on Your Resume
8. Art Handling
Art handling covers safe movement, packing, installation, and storage—everything that reduces risk while works are in human hands.
Why It's Important
One careless moment can mean irreversible loss. Skilled handling preserves condition and value, and it keeps people safe too.
How to Improve Art Handling Skills
Precision and preparation win:
Know the object: Materials, joins, vulnerabilities, and center of gravity inform every move.
Right tools: Gloves when appropriate, carts, slings, glass suckers, drill guides, and hardware rated for the load.
Team choreography: Walkthroughs, clear commands, and assigned roles before the lift.
Condition checks: Document before, during, and after transit or install. Photograph issues immediately.
Preventive conservation: Control microclimates, vibration, and light exposure; quarantine for pests.
Emergency readiness: Plans for leaks, fire, power loss, and evacuation—drills included.
Learn from standards: Look to AAM, ICOM, AIC, and CCI guidance for ethical and technical benchmarks.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
How to Display Art Handling Skills on Your Resume
9. Conservation Techniques
Conservation techniques include preventive measures, analysis, and treatments that stabilize and extend the life of artworks and artifacts.
Why It's Important
Objects last longer, look better, and teach more when their condition is understood and managed. Good conservation supports responsible display and loan decisions.
How to Improve Conservation Techniques Skills
Blend science with stewardship:
Stay current: Read conservation journals, case studies, and lab reports; follow peer forums and conferences.
Diagnostics first: Use microscopy, raking light, UV/IR imaging, or 3D documentation before any treatment.
Minimal intervention: Favor reversible methods and thorough documentation—rationale, materials, and outcomes.
Sustainable choices: Select low-impact materials and energy-conscious environmental strategies.
Interdisciplinary teamwork: Conservators, curators, mount-makers, and registrars should co-author decisions.
Public transparency: Share treatment stories when appropriate; it builds trust and support.
When in doubt, observe longer. Act later.
How to Display Conservation Techniques Skills on Your Resume
10. TMS (The Museum System)
TMS is a robust collections management platform for cataloging, imaging, exhibitions, loans, and more—widely used across museums.
Why It's Important
It centralizes truth. With strong data and workflows, teams move faster, make fewer mistakes, and collaborate without stepping on each other.
How to Improve TMS (The Museum System) Skills
Make the system work for you, not the other way around:
Data hygiene: Clean duplicates, enforce required fields, and standardize authorities. Schedule periodic audits.
Workflow design: Configure object, exhibition, and loan modules to mirror real processes.
Training loops: Host refreshers, create quick-reference guides, and onboard newcomers with sandbox practice.
Integrations: Connect TMS to DAM, public portals, label systems, or finance tools where appropriate.
Permissions: Calibrate roles for data integrity and security. Least access necessary wins.
User community: Share tips and challenges with peer institutions and user groups; borrow what works.
Great TMS setups reflect thoughtful policy, not ad hoc habits.
How to Display TMS (The Museum System) Skills on Your Resume
11. Grant Writing
Grant writing involves identifying opportunities, building a persuasive case, crafting budgets, and reporting outcomes—funding that keeps programs, acquisitions, and conservation moving.
Why It's Important
Many curatorial projects don’t happen without it. Strong proposals unlock new scholarship, exhibitions, and community work.
How to Improve Grant Writing Skills
Clarity and alignment carry the day:
Match the mission: Study the funder’s goals and past awards; tailor your narrative accordingly.
Tell a focused story: Define the need, approach, timeline, and intended impact. Keep jargon on a short leash.
Budgets that speak: Tie every line to outcomes. Include realistic indirects and contingency when allowed.
Evidence matters: Cite prior successes, audience data, and evaluation plans.
Peer review: Build in time for feedback and revisions. Fresh eyes save proposals.
Keep a library: Maintain reusable language for bios, institution overviews, and standard attachments.
Learn continuously: Workshops, funder webinars, and professional associations sharpen the craft.
Submit early. Breathe easier.
How to Display Grant Writing Skills on Your Resume
12. Educational Programming
Educational programming translates collections and exhibitions into learning experiences—tours, workshops, talks, digital content—designed for diverse audiences.
Why It's Important
It deepens relevance. Education connects objects to lived experience, cultivating curiosity and community trust.
How to Improve Educational Programming Skills
Design for people first:
Know your audience: Use surveys, classroom partnerships, and front-of-house feedback to shape programs.
Layer access: Offer multiple entry points—multilingual materials, sensory-friendly hours, and varied learning modes.
Blend formats: Mix live programs, self-guided resources, virtual tours, and teacher toolkits.
Community voices: Co-create with local artists, educators, and cultural groups for resonance and reach.
Measure impact: Track attendance, engagement, and learning outcomes; iterate based on what you learn.
Train facilitators: Invest in docents and educators—clear objectives, inclusive practices, and content refreshers.
Good programs meet audiences where they are, then invite them further.
How to Display Educational Programming Skills on Your Resume
