Johns Hopkins University is hiring for Africana Archives Curatorial Fellow

Description:

• We are seeking an Africana Archives Curatorial Fellow who will report to the Associate Director of the Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts, and work closely with the Center for Africana Studies and the Sheridan Libraries. This role will create exhibitions and develop educational programming related to Black Baltimore in collaboration with local institutions and community partners. The fellow will be conversant in African American and/or African cultural practices to work with artifacts sited across the region.
• This Fellowship begins July 1, 2022 and ends June 30, 2025.
• During this three-year appointment, the fellow will serve as a vital member of the team implementing a new Mellon Foundation-funded project, Inheritance Baltimore: Humanities and Arts Education for Black Liberation.
• Specifically, the fellow will contribute to the “Baltimore Africana Archives” initiative within Inheritance Baltimore, dedicated to historical recovery and the belief that the arts and humanities have a central role to play in the continued revitalization of Baltimore. We are committed to expanding the ethical dimensions of the relationship between the university and the city, neighborhoods and communities, with special interest in the way that history and the musical, performing, visual, and literary arts help to define and convey our goals of civil rights, the remediation of bigotry, and reparations for historic injustice.
• “Baltimore Africana Archives” also aims to train a local cadre of archivists and curators to bolster African American presence in the field. Working with students and community partners, this group will preserve and assemble local materials that provide a more complete account of Black Baltimore’s pas

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute innovative exhibitions at JHU, in community spaces, and online, with local collections and partners.
• Create and implement public educational programs that explore the history and cultural experience of Black Baltimore and accommodate diverse learning needs, especially in alignment with exhibitions.
• Work with faculty who are teaching with local Africana/African American collections to develop lessons, course-based public humanities programs, and virtual experiences.
• Follow museum best practices for evaluating exhibitions and public programs.
• Collaborate with colleagues situated in different arenas of the university, and with community partners.
• Manage multiple public projects with creativity and fiscal responsibility.
• Applicants might be early career museum and library professionals with curatorial experience, or others with creative and knowledgeable approaches to community-engaged public programs that elevate Black art, culture, and history.

Minimum Qualifications (Mandatory):

• Bachelors’ Degree required
• Minimum of two years’ work experience in an academic environment or other related experience required.
• Related experience may include experience in university, museum and or cultural center environments.
• Additional education (advanced degree) may substitute for required experience, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.*
• JHU Equivalency Formula: 18 graduate degree credits may substitute for one year of experience. For jobs where equivalency is permitted, up to two years of non-related college course work may be applied towards the total minimum education/experience required for the respective job.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s or PhD Degree in U.S. History, American Studies, Africana Studies, Public History, Museum Studies, curatorial practice, African American art history, or a related field.
• 4 years of experience working in a museum, library, gallery, or related setting, with expertise in exhibit and educational program development and execution.
• Experience with African diaspora / African American community engagement.
• Experience undertaking self-directed research.
• Experience with project management.

Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Knowledge of African diaspora / African American history, literature, sociology, and/or cultural heritage stewardship.
• Experience writing exhibition text and planning exhibition-related activities.
• Experience creating content that reflects and engages culturally diverse audiences.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively, including ability tointeract professionally with key internal and external stakeholders as needed.
• Excellent writing and line-editing skills.
• Attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong organizational skills, with ability to prioritize, multi-task efficiently, and meet deadlines in a timely fashion.
• Enthusiasm for embracing the empathy, courage, self-reflection and respect that are essential in a multicultural, diverse and inclusive workplace, and ability to embrace those values in public service work.

Interested candidates, please apply.