When a group I was involved with hired a curator to do these functions for a
project (duration of her part was 18 months) she charged $5000 plus mileage
and travel expenses.  This was a project also involving statewide driving
and visiting about 25 artists in their studios prior to narrowing it down to
12 artists and then working with those artists.  She also did more in the
way of catalogue production than you are asking--specifying images, checking
quality and working extensively with the catalogue designer in addition to
writing 90% of the catalogue copy.  I got the impression from her that $5000
was actually rather a discounted figure--the actual value would have been
more like $7000.  She was a Ph.D. specializing in contemporary art who also
held a tenured teaching position locally.

Hope this helps!

Julia Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Oliver V Hirsch
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 4:25 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Project Remuneration for Curator


Dear List,

My client is hiring a Curator for a project with a beginning, middle, and
end.  The Curator will be asked to specify items from the collection for
an exhibition, write a script for the show, write copy for signage and
labels, and write an article to be included in the exhibition catalogue.
In other words, the Curator will be responsible for the scholarship for
the exhibition, but none of the logistics or production.

How does one calculate remuneration for such a project?  Is there an
industry standard for Guest Curators?  We can't, at this point, calculate
based on the project budget, becauase this will be a key figure in
determining it.  Any thoughts/guidance, on- or off-list, would be greatly
appreciated.

Oliver Hirsch
Hirsch & Associates Fine Art Services, Inc.
New York

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