Summer Collections and Curatorial Assistant

Summer Collections and Curatorial Assistant

Status: Full-time Summer Student Employment (35 hours per week)

Supervisors: Collections Manager and Curator

Pay: $17.50/hr

Start Date: June 2, 2025

End Date: August 22, 2025

Application Deadline: April 25, 2025

The Opportunity

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is looking for an organized and attentive candidate who is passionate about art. Working in the Gallery’s world-renowned permanent collection of over 1,600 Indigenous Canadian and regional artworks, the Collections Assistant will support an inventory of artworks and processing of new acquisitions to the collection.

This position will provide the successful candidate with experience in key areas of collections management expertise including condition reporting, determining packing requirements, processing new acquisitions with photo documentation, collection of tombstone data, research, hard copy and electronic data entry and management, and application of accession numbers. In addition, the Intern will gain experience in key areas of exhibition curation, including research, writing, and editing text. This position requires the ability to perform to professional standards while meeting deadlines and goals.

Primary Areas of Responsibility

1. Handle artworks safely and appropriately while using and enhancing any previous collections preservation knowledge.
2. Document artwork, including digital photography, condition reporting, fact-checking, inputting, and updating information in electronic and hard copy files.
3. Perform inventory, assess, and re-house artworks in collections storage.
4. Proofread and correct database records for any typographic errors and data entry inconsistencies.
5. Organize and maintain paper-based object and artist files.
6. Assist with installing and dismantling exhibitions.
7. Correspond with artists and artist estates on copyright clearance requests.
8. Conduct traditional and online research of artists held in the Permanent Collection as well as those represented in upcoming exhibitions.
9. Provide administrative support as required.
10. Further responsibilities as assigned.

Essential Skills

• Good working knowledge of visual arts with regards to history, contemporary arts practices, and art making techniques, including an interest in contemporary Indigenous art and material culture.
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational, and time management skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Comfort with Microsoft Office Suite, Google Docs, and Google Drive.
• Experience with digital photography.
• Ability to work collaboratively as well as independently on a range of different ongoing projects.
• Preference will be given to those candidates with an Art History, Visual Arts or Arts related, Indigenous Learning, or Museum Studies degree.

Candidate Eligibility

To be eligible for this position, which is funded in part by the Young Canada Works program, candidates must:

1. be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, or have refugee status in Canada;
2. Note: Non-Canadian students or graduates holding temporary work visas or awaiting permanent resident status are not eligible.
3. be legally entitled to work in Canada (have a valid social insurance number);
4. be between 16 and 30 years of age inclusively at the start of employment;
5. have registered as a high school, college, CEGEP or university student;
6. meet the specific eligibility criteria of the program to which you apply; and
7. be registered in the YCW online candidate inventory.

About Thunder Bay Art Gallery:

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges that we are located on the territory of the Anishinaabe peoples of Northwestern Ontario. We work and live on the lands of the Fort William First Nation who are signatory to the Robinson-Superior Treaty of 1850.

As the public art gallery for Thunder Bay and Northern Ontario, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery exhibits, collects, and interprets art with a focus on the work of contemporary Indigenous and Northern Ontario artists. The Gallery nurtures a life-long appreciation of the visual arts by:

• presenting exhibitions of artistic and educational value to cultivate a depth of visual arts experience for the public in Thunder Bay and the broader region of Northern Ontario;
• supporting and enhancing the development of contemporary Canadian artists with an emphasis on (but not limited to) contemporary Indigenous artists and artists from Northwestern Ontario;
• stewarding, conserving, and animating a permanent collection of art focused on the work of contemporary Indigenous artists and innovative cultural and artistic practice of Northwestern Ontario artists;
• and, presenting public programming and outreach activities in order to build audience, increase reception, and expand understanding of the visual arts.

For nearly 50 years the Thunder Bay Art Gallery has steadily grown and is now the largest art museum in Northern Ontario. Today, we have more than 1600 works of art in our world-renowned permanent collection and welcome more than 30,000 people through our doors each year. Every day, the Gallery provides school tours, hosts free public programs, and shares our space with community groups. We are a bustling cultural hub committed to contemporary Indigenous, local, and regional art.

Finally, we are in the process of preparing for the transition to a new purpose-designed facility on Thunder Bay’s waterfront in early 2027. This new gallery will more than triple our exhibition and operating spaces. This significant addition to Ontario’s cultural infrastructure will provide $33 million in direct economic impact during construction. Once open, the Gallery’s operations will generate $2.2 million annually in direct and indirect impacts to the local and regional economy, as well as an estimated $7 million in annual visitor spending.

How to Apply

Applicants who are Deaf, have an exceptionality or disability, or who need support expressing interest or applying for this opportunity are encouraged to contact Valin Sacchetti, Administrative Coordinator at administration@theag.ca or call 807-577-6427 to allow for appropriate accommodation of your needs and to discuss alternate formats for submitting your application.

To apply for this position, please send via email to administration@theag.ca, a letter of intent, a current resume and the names of two references, under the subject line “Collections Assistant” addressed to:

Meaghan Eley, Collections Manager

Thunder Bay Art Gallery
PO Box 10193
Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 6T7

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is committed to employment equity and diversity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including women, people of any sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; Indigenous peoples; visible minorities and racialized people; and people with disabilities. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.