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Job Description
Description
Are you a detail-oriented arts professional with experience working in a gallery or museum setting?
The Palo Alto Art Center is looking for an Exhibitions Registrar to work closely with the Director, Lead Preparator, guest curators and Installation Crew to present approximately four to five group exhibitions annually. In this role, you’ll be actively collaborating with other team members and community members, while also balancing independent work.
At the Palo Alto Art Center, creativity, community, and connection come together. It's your place to see and make art, activate your creativity, and expand your community. To learn more about who we are and what we do click here: Palo Alto Art Center.
Ideal Candidate Profile:- A detailed-oriented professional with a knowledge of best practices for museum registration and installation.
- A flexible, adaptive mindset that can adjust to changing priorities and demands.
- Someone who can work successfully with a diverse range of colleagues and collaborators, with different communication and work styles.
- A cultural worker with an interest in contemporary art who enjoys working with artists and creative professionals.
- Part-time, approximately 10-20 hours per week depending on exhibition schedule.
- Additional hours required during installation and deinstallation periods.
- Position is hybrid, with some work offsite and a minimum of a shift per week in the office.
- Medical Stipend $3.64 per hour
- Sick Leave Earn .03 hour of sick leave for each hour worked.
- PARS Retirement Plan
- To learn more about SEIU-Hourly benefits click here
Essential Duties
Planning- Actively participates in exhibition planning meetings with guest curators and staff.
- Maintains exhibitions calendar.
- Works with Lead Preparator to schedule ensure efficient and timely installation and deinstallation periods with Installation Crew.
- Creates and facilitates loan agreements for exhibition objects.
- Creates and maintains condition records for exhibition objects.
- Oversees handling, packing, movement, and inspection of all exhibition objects.
- Works with Lead Preparator to coordinate shipments for exhibition objects-schedules fine art shipping and local transport with our City van.
- Works with Lead Preparator and Installation crew to ensure the safe display of all exhibition objects, coordinates the production and installation of mounts and barriers as needed.
- Trains installation crew on professional art handling techniques as needed.
- Trains customer service staff and volunteers to identify changes to object conditions and coordinates response.
- Coordinates insurance details for exhibition objects.
- Supports installation process as needed.
- Maintains the Art Center’s exhibition emergency response protocol.
- Manages artist payments and contracts.
- Purchases supplies for the exhibition team as needed.
- Maintains exhibition archive files for exhibitions.
- Works with Director and Guest Curator, formats labels, produces and installs labels and text panels in conjunction with installation team.
- Designs, produces, and installs vinyl signage (with in-house vinyl cutter) and interpretive signage (with outside printer), and labels (in-house production), with help of Installation Crew.
- Supports slide-room process for juried exhibitions (typically one exhibition per year), setting up electronic calls for artists, alerting artists, and managing drop-offs and pick-ups.
- Works as the Art Center lead for annual Peninsula Photo Competition exhibition, coordinating the printing of winning digital submissions and coordinating framing in-house.
Minimum Qualifications
Five years of experience working with objects in a professional museum or gallery setting.
Supplemental Information
Physical Requirements:
This position requires a limited amount of physical activity in addition to desk work: crouching, lifting.
This is an SEIU Hourly ( limited-benefits ) position that is budgeted to not exceed 1,000 hours per fiscal year. The number of hours per week and schedule will be determined based on assignment.
The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.
City of Palo Alto offers the following benefits to those in a SEIU Hourly position:
Medical Stipend
$3.80 effective the pay period including July 1, 2024.
Sick Leave
Earn .03 hour of sick leave for each hour worked.
Retirement
City of Palo Alto PST (Part-time, Seasonal & Temporary Employees) Retirement Plan
Please note: The City does not participate in CA State Disability Insurance (SDI) or Social Security.
Closing Date/Time: 11/20/2025 11:59 PM Pacific -
ABOUT THE COMPANY
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City of Palo Alto
Show moreThe Community
The birthplace of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, is a community of approximately 68,000 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Located on the mid-Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge technology, medicine, and green innovation. The community's treelined streets and historic buildings reflect its California heritage, and, at the same time, many world-class businesses maintain or started offices here, such as Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Amazon, Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, Houzz, Rivian, SAP and SAP Ariba, Tesla, and Varian Medical Systems. Numerous start-ups are also at home in Palo Alto, arguably making it the start-up capital of the world. Stanford University is foundational to the history and prestige of Palo Alto, reflected in the community's dedication to lifelong learning. Stanford's cultural and educational offerings are integral to the vibrancy and charm of Palo Alto, while the City's exceptional K-12 school district ranks among the top public-school systems in the country. With more than 50% of adult residents holding a graduate degree or higher, Palo Alto is frequently listed as one of the most educated cities in the nation. Palo Alto boasts a genuine sense of community and an active citizenry with strong environmental values. Beautiful neighborhoods are complemented by vibrant commercial corridors and a bustling economy featuring premium shopping and dining options. Excellent healthcare facilities, performing arts, and diverse recreational opportunities are some of the community's incredibly desirable and cherished amenities. To learn more, visit https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/City-Manager/Latest-NewsCity Government
Palo Alto is a full-service charter city with a council-manager form of government. The seven-member City Council is elected at large, and the City Council annually selects the Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its members. The Mayor and City Council appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Auditor. The City Manager is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the City. Palo Alto is organized into 15 departments/offices with 1,093.10 authorized positions in FY 2025. There is also a FY 2025 capital budget of $316.2 million. Palo Alto owns and operates its own utilities, including electricity (carbon-neutral), gas, water, wastewater, and an expanding fiber network. This dynamic municipal environment ensures an ever-engaging platform for unique problem-solving and advances new initiatives, including sustainability, broadband, and effective service delivery. Community assets also include five libraries, 36 parks, five community centers, a museum and zoo, youth centers, a general aviation airport, an 18-hole golf course, a regional water treatment plant, and wildland open space preserves at the San Francisco Bay and in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains offering 41 miles of walking/biking trails in addition to its police, fire, and ambulance services. Palo Alto has long been a leader in sustainability, and the City's ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals are part of what sets it apart. Since the City's first Climate Protection Plan was passed in 2007, Palo Alto has set goals that exceed State and Federal targets. Today, the City's goal to reduce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2030 (the "80x30" goal) and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 guides sustainability efforts. An award-winning City, Palo Alto is recognized nationally as innovative and well-managed. City services and performance also receive impressive marks from community members in the Palo Alto Community Survey.
Many of those ratings put City programs and services in the highest percentiles among the hundreds of benchmark cities. Palo Alto makes decisions through comprehensive processes and proactively seeks to involve its extremely informed, educated, and engaged residents. Projects are naturally a cooperative effort among the City Council, Boards, Commissions, Committees, engaged residents, neighborhoods, businesses, property owners, and staff.
Join an Award Winning Team
Palo Alto is an award-winning City recognized nationwide as innovative and well-managed. Palo Alto is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. Recently, Palo Alto became one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by Livability.com. It's the only city to receive the Platinum Beacon Award in sustainability best practices by California’s Institute for Local Government. We offer a variety of career paths that relate to building and improving communities. The City has fourteen departments employing 1,000 full-time staff. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and building inspectors keep us safe. Engineers and public works staff build and re-build the physical infrastructure. City planners help envision and shape future community growth. Recreation, arts and library professionals enhance community life. Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer and other services. Internal services departments help manage, staff, and protect the City.
Want to learn more about our benefits? Learn more by reviewing our "Benefits at a Glance Booklet."
Contact Us
Phone: 650-329-2376
Email: Recruit@paloalto.gov
Location: City Hall, 1st Floor | 250 Hamilton Ave 94301 | View Map
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