I like Byron Johnson's description of the no-curator process, but it sounds
a little formalized to be likened to Lockheed's "Skunkworks."

We have a Program Team that meets every other week to examine new program
opportunities:  it includes the department heads of education, exhibitions,
and outreach plus someone each from finance, marketing, and development.
Once a program is determined, a team made of varying representatives from
each department will make it happen but in general whoever originated the
idea is in overall charge of it.

Since we have no collection, we have no "curators" (I used to be called
Exhibitions Curator) as such.  My position is responsible for the overall
quality of the exhibitions, and in practice I "curate" (i.e. determine the
theme and/or choose individual pieces) about 70% of the shows.   The rest
are rentals or competitions.  I present my season to Program Team as soon as
it is determined  (about 18mo.-2yrs. prior to starting:  in Feb. '97 I will
present the '98-'99 year, although I am already working on shows for
'99-'00) and we start figuring out where to go from there.

This system has been in place formally for about 1-2 years, informally about
3 years.  Still working out the bugs but so far so good.


Julia Moore
Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services
Indianapolis Art Center