Jen--you can never go wrong with a M.A. in Art History and a concentration
in contemporary art, if you wish to work in a commercial or nonprofit
gallery setting and work with or for living artists.  You will learn about
art and artists, and learn how to write about them clearly and coherently.
This skill will as easily transfer into job areas such as development, PR or
arts journalism as it will to curatorial work.  Any opportunities you have
to volunteer or intern where there is a lot going on will be even better for
you to learn from.

The specific program you choose doesn't matter so much (often the degree is
just a credential you have to have to get your foot in the door) as long as
you are in an area with good access to contemporary art and the faculty
encourages you to make use of it, or you go out of your way to do it on your
own.  I went to the Institute of Fine Arts in NYC, not necessarily for the
academic program but because of where it was located.  I learned so much
just from being in the city and spending my out-of-class hours walking in
and out of galleries.  Urban campuses in big cities are great for this.  An
option could be a program in a state university that has a very large
university museum, but you should check to make sure their schedule has
plenty of contemporary art rotating through the museum or that their art
department is very active in bringing contemporary artists to campus (or
whose faculty is chock full of actively producing contemporary artists).  I
worked for a while for a university museum that delighted in small, highly
focused shows that were very good for the academic departments, but not good
for what I was interested in (cutting edge contemporary art).

Hope this has helped.

Julia Muney Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center
820 E. 67th St.
Indianapolis, IN  46220
(317) 255-2464 x233
FAX (317) 254-0486
email <[log in to unmask]>
website <http://www.indplsartcenter.org>

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