Job Vacancy: Curator of World Culture, Leeds Museums and Galleries

Salary details: SO2 - £28,485 to £30,153

Ref: 17383    

Application deadline: 31 March 2018 11:30 PM

Leeds Museums and Galleries seek to appoint a curator with a specialism in World Cultures.

Leeds Museums and Galleries has over 12,000 items in its World Cultures collection, making it the largest centre for this collection focus in Yorkshire. The collection is wide-ranging with Asia best represented (particularly China and India), then Africa, followed by the Americas, Oceania and lastly Europe outside the UK. It is our aim to represent global world cultures of the present day through our collections, to recognise the importance and significance of the diaspora and migrant communities in the life of our city and to continue to explore historical anthropology through material artefacts. 

A key part of the role is working with communities in Leeds in the display and development of the collection, so we’re looking for someone who can bring subject specialist knowledge, but also the ability to build relationships, reaching out across the city to work collaboratively. Based at Leeds Discovery Centre, but working across Leeds Museums and Galleries sites, the postholder will work with colleagues across the service to maximise the impact of our collections and the experience of our audiences. 

Given the wide-ranging nature of this collection, you may have a background in Anthropology, Cultural studies, International studies, World Art or other similar subject areas.

Apply online 

Himalayan Fashion will astound you with its variety and colour! Don’t miss this stunning new exhibition of fashion and textiles in a unique country house setting. Discover sumptuous silk brocades, geometric dhaka cotton weaves, fine Kashmir wool shawls and rainbows of printed prayer flags. 

See the whole range of fashion from costly court outfits and high end designer dresses to everyday wear and clothing worn by everyone from Buddhist monks to Gurkhas.

Leeds has a great range of costume from Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, thanks to the purchases made by former curator, Veronica Johnston, who travelled in the region in the late 1980s and 1990s. Now we have teamed up with National Museums Liverpool, Leeds Nepalese Community and Harewood House to create this unique chance to learn about the role of fashion and textiles in Himalayan cultures. National Museums Liverpool are lending sumptuous official dress from the 1920s and a Bhutan stag mask from before 1914. Leeds Nepalese Community has lent contemporary best dress and David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood, is lending two masks and costume elements from Bhutan, from the inauguration of the Harewood Buddhist stupa in 2005. 

A Himalayan family fun day is being planned for late June and a seminar day for 10 September. 

Free with admission to Lotherton

UNIVERSITY OBJECTS’ JOURNEYS: From the stores to sharing with different user communities

UNIVERSEUM 2018 pre-conference training workshop

University of Glasgow, 11-13 June 2018

Hunterian Collections Study Centre at Kelvin Hall

(The main UNIVERSEUM conference takes place 13-15 June 2018)

Deadline for applications: 10 March 2018

Universeum is pleased to announce its 2^nd Training Workshop in collaboration with The Hunterian, at the University of Glasgow (Scotland). The workshop is aimed at Universeum members, either individual or institutional, and is open to anyone interested in becoming a Universeum member (for details on membership, see the Universeum website) who wish to develop their skills and knowledge in managing, documenting, interpreting, and disseminating university collections. The workshop is linked to Universeum’s annual conference which will take place from 13-15 June at the University of Glasgow.

University collections are diverse and range from scientific instruments to anatomical specimens, from maps to drawings, from manuscripts to plaster casts, to mention only a few. The workshop will make use of The Hunterian’s diverse and rich encyclopaedic collections of over 1.5 million objects, but will also encourage participants to bring to the discussions the issues and ideas that relate to their own collections from their institutions across Europe. The diversity of university collections and the complex associations that they bring, present significant challenges to the professionals and scholars studying, managing, and communicating them to diverse users. 

The workshop sessions will be co-ordinated by cultural heritage professionals and academics from the University of Glasgow and The Hunterian, as well as by the broader Universeum network working on collections management, provenance, accessioning and de-accessioning, conservation, cultural heritage trafficking, interpretation using analogue and digital media, storytelling, and student engagement. Workshop participants will be actively involved in a variety of hands-on, interdisciplinary, group-based, and discussion sessions, rather than passively listening to traditional lecture-style presentations.

The workshop aims at demystifying and deconstructing the various processes that take place once an object enters a university collection. Participants will engage directly with objects and collections at the state-of-the-art recently renovated Hunterian Collection Study Centre at the historic and iconic Kelvin Hall building and engage in a dialogue with curators, museum directors, conservators, collection managers, educators, university lecturers and researchers. The workshop will include a combination of group and individual work.

Participants will be expected to work on a short presentation of the key issues that arose from the workshop (during the third day with access to computers and printing facilities provided at Kelvin Hall) to present at session during the main conference, so will be expected to stay in Glasgow for the whole week (11-15 June 2018) during which the workshop and conference will take place.

Workshop topics covered

Day 1: Building and managing collections: Object-based learning; Accessioning and De-accessioning objects; Objects’ provenance; Trafficking of antiquities and cultural property

Day 2 – Communicating and sharing collections: Working internationally and collaboratively in exhibitions; exhibition planning and curating; student engagement and museum education; digital interpretation

Day 3 am (half day) Preparation for presentation for main conference based on workshop experience and discussions

Who is it for? The workshop is aimed mainly at early career professionals working in university museums, archives, libraries, special collections, PhD students and early career researchers working with/on university collections

Registration fee: There is no fee for attending the workshop

Other costs: Lunch and coffee/tea during the day will be provided by Universeum. Participants, or their organisations, will be expected to cover their own travel and accommodation. Information and suggestions for these are provided on the Universeum2018 website. An optional evening meal will be organised for the first evening, 11 June 2018 to be paid by the participants who sign up for it

Maximum number of participants: To allow for hands-on and behind-the-scenes sessions and work in small groups, the workshop is limited to 16 participants

Grants: The Universeum Board is able to offer 5 travel grants of 500 euros each (250 euros for participants based in the UK) to cover travel within Europe and accommodation

Workshop dates: 11-13 June 2018, 2.5 days (before the main Universeum main conference which will take place 13-15 June. Post-conference study trips to Scottish university collections outside Glasgow will take place 16-17 June (more details about these will be provided at the Universeum2018 website nearer the time). Workshop participants are expected to attend also the main Universeum conference

Venue: Hunterian Collections Study Centre at Kelvin Hall, 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8AW

Eligibility: 

·         Workshop participants should have paid the Universeum annual membership fee, either institutional or individual, for 2018 (so check if your institution is already a member). If you are interested in becoming a member, please check the membership section of the Universeum websites 

·         Participants should be researching or working with a University collection, museum, archive, or library (either as part of their work or PhD or post-doctoral studies/research) at the time the workshop will take place

·         Participants should be fluent in spoken and written English

Overall selection of applicants will take into account gender balance, as well as the diversity of their backgrounds, age, country, and museum/collection(s).

Participants should be prepared to do preparatory work before and during the workshop (e.g. readings and assignments), participate in its evaluation, and prepare a presentation for the main conference.

Application process: Applications should include:

1.      Completed application form (download from)

2.      A letter of motivation from the applicant explaining why they wish to participate and what they expect to gain from the workshop (1 A4 page)

3.      A short CV (up to 1 A4 page) indicating studies, training, work experience, publications, and current work responsibilities

Applications should be sent by email to Universeum2018@glasgow.ac.uk with the title: “application for Universeum pre-conference workshop 2018” before 10^th March 2018.

Contact: If you have any questions about the workshop, please send an email to Universeum2018@glasgow.ac.uk

BBC Civilisations Festival 'Museums and the materialisation of refusal'

Wayne Modest, Tropenmuseum, Museum Volkenkunde and Africa Museum, Netherlands, responds to issues related to exhibiting experiences of empires, with reference to what he refers to as the 'materialisation of refusal'.

Friday 9 March 2018,
18.30–19.30 BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum


To book a ticket visit the website

Representing Africa in British Museums

Friday 8 June 2018, 10.15am to 5pm  Ticketed but free

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter

Objects from the African continent were initially acquired by traders, political officers, explorers, scholars, and missionaries. How well does this material represent Africa? 

This question will be explored in a series of multi-disciplinary talks, presented by internationally-renowned curators and academics of African collections in Britain.

Planned presentations:
Exploring donors, uncovering collections, and transforming displays: the Africa collection at RAMM
Mr Tony Eccles (Curator of Ethnography, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter)
Representing (South) Africa in the British Museum: the art of many nations
Dr John Giblin (Head of Africa Section, Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, British Museum)
Representing African Islam in British Museums
Professor Timothy Insoll (Al-Qasimi Chair in African and Islamic Archaeology, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter)
Rearrangements and Reevaluations of the African Collection at Liverpool’s World Museum, 1895 to 2018
Dr Zachary Kingdon (Curator, Africa Collections, World Museum, Liverpool)
Kente Trade: African Choices and British Museums
Dr Malika Kraamer (Independent Curator and Researcher)
The Rehabilitation of the Fetish
Professor John Mack (The Sainsbury Research Unit, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, University of East Anglia)
Manchester Museum’s Cross Disciplinary Approach to Representing Africa
Mr Stephen Welsh and Dr Campbell Price (Curators of Living Cultures and Egypt and Sudan, The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester)
African Collections in the National Museum of Scotland
Dr Sarah Worden (Senior Curator, African collections, Department of World cultures, National Museums Scotland)
Putting the ethnography back into ethnography galleries: Redisplaying African collections in the new World gallery at the Horniman
Dr Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp (Curator of Anthropology, Horniman Museum, London)

Book tickets here 

Book Review: The Conservation of featherwork by Ellen Pearlstein

Figure:  Huichol hat, Fowler Museum at UCLA, X66.2858, 34 cm x 18 cm

Featherwork from Central and South America rank among the most beautiful objects with meaning and symbolic value, used and worn as signs of rank and respect. Collection history, consultations and anthropological studies contribute greatly to our understanding of such featherwork collections in museums. However, museum or online databases often provide insufficient information for researchers e.g. on feather identification, feather type, attachment and modification methods and whether those objects show traces of use or change in cultural practice. Recording featherwork in a concise manner will not only provide information for interpretation but also for representation of the object on display. It will advise on conservation treatment and will assist on collection decisions designed to further preventive care.

'The Conservation of Featherwork' is designed to guide museum specialists like conservators, curators and researchers through implementation of such recordings. It is a valuable resource for teaching conservation students and those interested in material culture. The content of the book reflects on the interdisciplinary research approach by the author, bringing together knowledge of ornithologists, tribal featherworkers, curators, conservators and conservation scientists.

The introduction of the book by Judith Levinson (Director of Conservation, Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History) highlights the advantages of documenting featherwork as proposed in this publication and in particular its potential to link technical, material based and intangible qualities.

Ellen Pearlstein (Professor for Information Studies and in the Conservation of Ethnographic and Archaeological Materials atUCLA) offers concise and condensed information on feather recordings, preventive care, conservation treatment methods and legal aspects related to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). For further studies, the main literature on the subject is listed for the interested reader. The author developed a protocol for examining featherwork, a feather identification and condition template, which can be copied from the book and utilized as part of a survey.

Six case studies that follow the template, provide a comprehensive technical study, feather analysis, and examples of a conservation treatment and housing. The case studies carried out by conservation students, focus on headdresses, which entered the collection of the Fowler museum (Los Angeles) as gifts from private collectors:A lori-lori headdress made by the Karajá people from Brazil (Betsy Burr) and a Karajá skirt worn during initiation ceremonies (Heather White), a Huichol basketry hat from Mexico (Tom McClintock), a Shapra headdress attributed to the Shuar people of Peru (Lesley Day), an archeological feather plume (William Shelley) and a headdress made by the Asháninka (Colette Badmagharian), both from Peru.

Each case study, well structured and lavishly illustrated, demonstrates instantaniously the benefit of such recordings. The book can be highly recommended for museum specialists but also for those passionate about featherwork.

Renée Riedler

Mag. phil. Mag. art

Objects Conservator, Preventive Conservation Specialist

Lecturer in Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Queer Legacies: Transforming Practice in Museums and Galleries post-2017.

Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Wednesday 7 March 2018

Topics to be addressed include:

Have LGBTQ collaborations and events in the museum and gallery sector during 2017 created a permanent legacy?  Have they helped to challenge and change the ways in which museums and galleries look at and share their collections, how they operate and how they collaborate with diverse communities?  The conference explores the challenges and successes of projects over the past year, from the point of view of museums, galleries and the communities with which they have collaborated, and the legacy that is transforming the ways in which the sector works.

Speakers include:

Matt Smith (Chair): Artist and curator. In 2015-16 he was Ceramicist in Residence at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Solo exhibitions include Queering the Museum at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (2010-11) and Other Stories at the University of Leeds (2012). He holds a PhD in Queer Craft from the University of Brighton and is Professor of Crafts at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, and Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies.

Mirjam Sneeurloper and Maik Mirkovic on Transmission (2015-16) at Amsterdam Museum;

Beth Asbury, Clara Barker and Jozie Kettle on Out in Oxford (GLAM Oxford); 

Charlotte Keenan on Pride & Prejudice: Bringing Stories Out of the Closet at Liverpool Museums; 

Rachael Lennon on Prejudice & Pride (National Trust UK);

Martin Pel, Ellie Newland and members of the Project’s Youth Team on Wear it Out: Queer Looks at Brighton Museum;

E-J Scott on the Museum of Transology at Brighton Museum; 

Clare Barlow on Queer British Art, Tate Britain;

Alice Cox on Refracted at Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth;

Mark Wilson and Vivien Walsh on Never Going Underground at the People’s History Museum, Manchester.

Further details can be found and bookings made via the Eventbrite page.

For enquiries, please contact the Booking Office at the Royal Pavilion & Museums, tel 03000 290900