Equal Justice Initiative is seeking an art curator for a 12-24 month residency to work with us at our new art gallery located in the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Job Description
EJI is searching for an Art Curator in Residence to manage the curation and conservation of
multiple art spaces. This is a 12-24 months residence.
The Art Scholar will be responsible for managing EJI’s permanent art collection and developing
new art spaces and exhibits. This role will serve as a valuable contributor to the new art gallery
located in the Legacy Museum
Responsibilities include:
• Assist museum staff with managing the permanent collection, including acquisition,
documentation, care, maintenance, handling and access.
• Plan and produce the installation of new exhibits.
• Supervise and assist with the rotation and relocation of art.
• Develop and implement policies for acquisition, conservation, loan, and storage.
• Develop new art spaces, at all stages, including: site selection, development,
commissioning, and installation.
• Research and draft gallery materials.
• Research and document the collection and potential loans and acquisitions.
• Build relationships and partner with artists, other museums, and galleries.
• Plan and manage receptions and other events for exhibits.
• Provide tours, serve as a host, and field questions about the collection.
• Collaborate with museum and memorial colleagues to implement EJI’s goals.
• General conservation and preservation activities throughout the museum and various
local exhibits, including assessing condition issues and environmental controls;
maintaining exhibit and gallery spaces; and updating conservation records.
• Other duties, as needed.
Desired qualifications:
• Master’s Degree required in Art, Art Administration, Art History, Fine Art, Museum
Studies, or related field.
• Knowledge of Black and African Diaspora art.
• Knowledge of conservation and preservation techniques, including environmental
controls and pest management for museum collections.
• Training in fine art handling.
• Creative while working within the museum’s aesthetic.
• Ability to work as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Commitment to EJI’s mission to end mass incarceration and excessive punishment in
the United States, challenge racial and economic injustice, and protect basic human
rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
Location
The role will be based in Montgomery, Alabama.
How to Apply
Please email a cover letter and resume to lroberts@eji.org. No phone calls please. EJI
especially encourages people historically underrepresented to apply
About the Organization
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive
punishment in the United States, challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting the
basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and bestselling
author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides legal
representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in
state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we
provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.
EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by
unequal treatment. We are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI
produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning calendar, and films that explore our
nation’s history of racial injustice. We also launched an ambitious national effort to create new
spaces, markers, and memorials that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial
segregation, which shapes many issues today.
In 2018, EJI opened two cultural institutions, the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to
Mass Incarceration and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, both located in
Montgomery, Alabama. EJI expanded the Legacy Museum to four times the size of the original
museum in October 2021. Situated on a site where enslaved Black people were forced to labor
in bondage, the museum provides a comprehensive history of the United States with a focus on
the legacy of slavery. From the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on the North and
coastal communities across America through the Domestic Slave Trade and Reconstruction, the
museum provides detailed interactive content and compelling narratives. Lynching, codified
racial segregation, and the emergence of over-incarceration in the 20th century are examined in
depth and brought to life through film, images, and first-person narratives. The expanded
museum now includes an art gallery, with major works from some of the most celebrated Black
artists in the world, including Glenn Ligon, Elizabeth Catlett, Simone Leigh, Gordon Parks,
Jacob Lawrence, Faith Ringgold, and Winfred Rembert among others. The gallery’s collection is
curated in dialogue with the museum’s historical narrative.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial
dedicated to thousands of African American victims of racial terror lynchings between 1877-
- The memorial honors lynching victims by displaying their names, if known, and the
circumstances surrounding their killings on corten steel monuments. The memorial includes
several outdoor sculpture installations, including a new exhibit featuring dozens of historical
markers that have been erected at lynching sites across the country. The museum and
memorial sites attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year who want to explore the
legacy of slavery in America and the continuing challenges created by racial injustice.