Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the South Dakota Art Museum at South Dakota State University serves the peoples and communities of the state and its visitors as South Dakota’s premier visual arts resource. With a mission to inspire creativity, connect people, and enrich lives through art, the Museum collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets visual art to provide access and education and to foster appreciation of the visual arts. The museum’s extensive permanent collection is comprised of nearly 7,000 items ranging from paintings, works on paper, textiles, sculpture, and ceramics, and includes significant collections of American Indian art.  Seven galleries host about 12 new exhibits every year featuring a wide variety of artworks and themes, some from the permanent collection and others from traveling exhibits and loaned objects.  Many of the exhibitions have ties to South Dakota and others bring national and international perspectives.

South Dakota State University promotes access to and opportunities for all to receive the benefit of and participate in education, research, and service and is especially interested in candidates that can contribute to this land-grant mission of access.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

A member of the Museum’s curatorial team, the Preparator/Registrar is integral to the consistent planning and implementation of the Museum’s robust schedule of special exhibitions, permanent collection rotations, object registration, and collections care.

• Exhibition Preparation: Design, install, and maintain exhibitions, working closely with the curatorial team, artists, and contractors. Responsibilities include developing exhibit plans, selecting materials, fabricating mounts, overseeing installation teams, and maintaining exhibition spaces and lighting.
• Object Registration: Manage the care, documentation, and transport of museum collections and loaned art objects. Duties involve condition assessments, packing/unpacking, coordinating shipments, maintaining collection databases, overseeing storage areas, and participating in inventory and disaster management.

BENEFITS:

South Dakota State University offers a wide range of excellent benefits including medical, dental, and flexible benefits, retirement plans, compensation packages, paid holidays, and vacation leave.  We offer a generous retirement plan that includes 6% matching, 10 hours of annual leave each month, 9.34 hours of sick leave each month, and eleven paid holidays.  Relocation benefits are available per university’s guidelines.  Employees also have access to internal and state-sponsored training as well as reduced tuition for state-supported courses at all State of South Dakota academic institutions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelors degree in Museum Studies, Art History, Arts Administration, Studio Arts, Conservation, History, or a related field;
• Valid drivers license or ability to obtain within 30 days of hire; 
• Must be able to lift over 40 lbs, climb a ladder, operate power tools, and operate a mechanical lift; 
• Minimum two years experience in the following:
• Working with a Museum collections registration system;
• Operating a Museum collections database, preferably Past Perfect;
• Art exhibition installation;
• Museum art-handling experience;
• Implementing professional standards and procedures involved with art loans and exhibitions (incoming and outgoing);
• Professionally framing art; and
• Building exhibition mounts and displays.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Carpentry and/or engineering skills preferred.

Must be authorized to work in the U.S.  Sponsorship is not available for this position. 

To apply, you must visit the South Dakota Board of Regents website:  https://yourfuture.sdbor.edu/postings/41877

For questions on the position, contact search committee chair,  Abigail Gebro, Retail and Visitor Services Coordinator, South Dakota Art Museum, Abigail.gebro@sdstate.edu, (605) 688-5423.