Consulting Guest Curator

The Adirondack Experience (ADKX) seeks a Guest Curator to oversee the creation of a new permanent, interactive exhibition about the lives of African Americans, past and present, in the Adirondack region of northern New York. The exhibition will be 2,100 square feet in size and will open in 2027. The selected candidate will collaborate with a team of scholars, community representatives, and ADKX staff, as well as an exhibition designer and a media designer. The scholarly advisory committee includes: Amy Godine; Dr. Alice Green, Dr. Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr., Dr. Melissane Schrems; Dr. Gretchen Sorin; and Dr. Connor Williams. The Guest Curator will also collaborate on a public collecting initiative to identify documents, photographs, and artifacts in private hands that can help tell the story of the Adirondacks’ Black community. The exhibition will build on, and complement, recent work of historians and community activists in the region. The Guest Curator should have a graduate degree in a relevant field of study. Experience working with museums on public history projects is preferred as is experience working collaboratively with African American community members. The Guest Curator may work remotely while also being available for select onsite meetings at the Adirondack Experience and in the region as needed. Half of the $1.75M project budget will be allocated to exhibition development and half to gallery renovation.

A competitive fee commensurate with the selected candidate’s experience will be negotiated.

DUTIES. This will be a two-year assignment. During that time, the Guest Curator will:

A. Survey current scholarship and museum practice to provide context.

1. Review the literature on the subject of African Americans in the Adirondacks and comparable areas.

2. Review recent developments in the presentation of African American history in relevant exhibitions.

3. Share findings with ADKX staff, scholarly consultants, community members, and others to obtain their input and help define the scope and content of the exhibition.

B. Develop the exhibition content in collaboration with project team.

1. Identify exhibition themes, strategies for presenting them using artifacts and media, and participate in the exhibition design process.

2. Draft scripts for the exhibition text and media elements in collaboration with ADKX staff.

C. Coordinate public collecting campaign to obtain historical materials complementing those in the ADKX collection.

1. Create a wish list of materials for use in the exhibition.

2. Work with community partners, particularly North Country Public Radio, to publicize the public collecting initiative.

D. Help generate public interest in the project.

1. Provide in-person and Zoom public presentations about the project, progress being made, and significant discoveries/developments.