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Charting a New Course

Curators in museums of all sizes are practicing their craft within a paradigm that in many ways seems at odds with the direction the museum field is headed. The future of the curatorial profession requires curators to shed stereotypes and loosen their grips on scholarly authority. This does not imply that curators should relinquish the roles of collecting, researching, and writing to someone who is not a subject matter expert—it simply means that a collaborative approach should be taken when developing collections and exhibitions. Front-end research, focus groups, social media, and interactives are great ways to gather ideas from visitors and can help explain what visitors know, what interests them, and what is relevant. Curators must redefine their function as subject matter experts and how they work on exhibit development teams. Lastly, in order to ensure the future of the profession, training, standards and best practices must change with the evolving nature of the craft.