Curatorial Officer

Posted: 13/12/2024
- Closing Date: 23/12/2024
- Salary: $72,525.00 - $78,001.00
- Job Type: Ongoing / Non-ongoing; Full time
- Location: Canberra
- Job Category: Arts, Culture

**About the National Film and Sound Archive**

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is Australia’s audiovisual archive, telling the national story by collecting, preserving and sharing audiovisual media, the cultural experience platforms of our time. The collection itself dates back to 1935, making it one of the world’s oldest audiovisual collections. It is also one of the country’s most used cultural collections, with around 125 million views of collection content each year. The NFSA is in a period of significant change. Following increased Government investment, the institution is in a process of digital transformation, establishing the NFSA as Australia’s most dynamic and valued cultural organisation. We are rebuilding our curatorial workforce and developing the NFSA’s capacity to digitise our collection at scale - to preserve it for the future, to make sure it can be discovered, and to share it with all Australians.

We continue to work on developing a stable, secure and future-proof workforce across our four physical sites based in Canberra and Mitchell in the ACT as well as in Sydney and Melbourne.

We are also undergoing a program of business improvement for many of our corporate systems to improve efficiency and reduce manual handling.

We are an ambitious organisation, and we aim to be an employer of choice within the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector, providing exciting and challenging work, as well as favourable employment conditions and unique development opportunities for our staff.

**About the Team**

The Collection Research and Development (RaD) team is part of Curatorial and Accessioning. The team is breaking ground in areas of contemporary audiovisual curatorial practice with proactive and targeted collection development, including Oral Histories and Traditions, and Social Video collecting initiatives. Underpinned by research and gap filling acquisition and activity, RaD is working in an exciting space with existing and new audiences and stakeholders, at the precipice of new audiovisual expressions and holistic curatorial methodologies, in accordance with NFSA’s Strategic Direction.

**The Opportunity**

The Curatorial Officer plays a key role in the day-to-day delivery of multiple collecting initiatives and curatorial projects within Collection Research and Development. Due to its location in Canberra, this role is an integral point of contact in the logistics and coordination of RaD projects, and central to assisting with new and ongoing collection-based work. The role also supports the delivery of the NFSA’s Oral Histories and Traditions program. This role reports to the Melbourne-based Curator, Collection Research and Development.

The Curatorial Officer with have curatorial and collection experience and will celebrate the ambitious and rewarding challenges of archiving Australia’s audiovisual history and creative expression, and embrace working within a new curatorial team focused on proactive acquisitions according to our strategic collecting priorities.

**Key Responsibilities/Duties**

Under general direction, this position is responsible for delivering the following functions:

- Provide administrative support for audiovisual contemporary collecting and commissioning programs, including the Oral Histories and Traditions program, that put people and community experiences first.
- Support the development of innovative approaches or frameworks for curatorial practice in an audiovisual collection context.
- On a daily basis, sorting and handling audiovisual collection material (both analogue and digital) underpinned by curatorial principles.
- Contribute towards curatorial projects and acquisition programs in accordance with curatorial policy and practices which includes community outreach and maintaining relationships with stakeholders, negotiating lodgement of material and processing incoming acquisitions.
- Contribute to testing and implementing systems and technologies to support collecting initiatives
- Undertake research and data gathering in the curatorial context of acquiring, processing, interpreting and presenting collection material

**Selection Criteria**
- Knowledge and proficiency with handling, coordinating and undertaking workflows for audiovisual collection material within an archival or museum context.
- Demonstrated experience in the principles of curatorial practice, including; collection research, databases and systems, curatorial selection processes (as relates to collection acquisition), cataloguing and collection handling, and control of collection materials, with particular reference to analogue and born-digital audiovisual materials.
- Ability to undertake tasks with mínimal supervision, manage workflows effectively and contribute to curatorial