Research & Curatorial Manager

PROJECT-BASED SUMMER POSITION | The Children’s Gallery Chicago

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

The Children’s Gallery Chicago (TCGC) is a youth-centered arts nonprofit creating neighborhood-based creative programming, public art pop-ups, and community-rooted exhibitions across Chicago, especially on the West Side. Through hands-on artmaking, storytelling, and youth leadership, TCGC helps young people build confidence, strengthen their voices, and shape how their communities are seen and celebrated.

This summer, TCGC is launching a multi-neighborhood arts intensive that blends visual art, creative writing, youth leadership, exhibition-making, and arts-based research. We’re looking for someone thoughtful, organized, collaborative, and creatively curious to help us shape how that work is documented, interpreted, and shared.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Research & Curatorial Manager supports the research, interpretation, documentation, and exhibition development processes of TCGC’s summer pilot. This role helps translate youth-created artworks, reflections, and program materials into meaningful public-facing outcomes, including exhibitions, artist statements, interpretive text, and digital archival materials.

Working closely with the Executive Director, teaching artists, youth researchers, and project partners, the Research & Curatorial Manager helps shape how the story of the program is documented, understood, and shared.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO)

RESEARCH + INTERPRETATION

• Support arts-based research processes embedded in the summer program
• Help identify recurring themes, insights, and patterns across youth reflections, artworks, and discussions
• Assist in translating program documentation into coherent interpretive frameworks

DOCUMENTATION + ARCHIVAL COORDINATION

• Help establish systems for organizing and preserving youth-created work, artist statements, photographs, and project materials
• Collaborate with the archivist and program team to ensure materials are gathered and prepared for digital archive use
• Maintain documentation workflows that support both internal learning and public presentation

EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT

• Support exhibition planning, work selection, thematic grouping, and installation preparation
• Help shape labels, artist statements, didactic text, and other interpretive materials
• Contribute to the public-facing presentation of youth work in ways that honor voice, context, and community

PROGRAM COLLABORATION

• Attend key program days, especially during exhibition-preparation phases
• Collaborate with teaching artists, youth fellows, and leadership to ensure research and curatorial work remain connected to the actual lived program experience
• Participate in planning, debrief, and post-program synthesis conversations

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We’re looking for someone who is both imaginative and grounded. The ideal candidate does not need to come from a traditional museum path, but should feel excited by the intersection of art, youth voice, interpretation, and public presentation.

STRONG CANDIDATES MAY BRING EXPERIENCE IN:

• Curation
• Museum education
• Arts administration
• Community-based research
• Archives
• Public humanities
• Socially engaged art
• Exhibition development
• Youth-centered creative programming

WE'RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO IS:

• A strong writer and thoughtful editor
• Highly organized and comfortable building systems from the ground up
• Able to synthesize qualitative material into clear themes and public-facing language
• Collaborative, communicative, and steady
• Comfortable moving between behind-the-scenes organization and public-facing creative work
• Energized by youth-centered, neighborhood-rooted arts practice
• Bilingual in English and Spanish, including the ability to help translate written content for exhibition, interpretation, and community-facing materials

THE POSITION WILL INVOLVE A MIX OF:

• Remote planning, writing, and synthesis work
• In-person program days across TCGC’s summer sites
• In-person exhibition preparation and post-program synthesis sessions
• Pre-program training and planning, active summer program weeks, exhibition preparation, and post-program research and archival synthesis.
• 20-30 hours per week depending on project phase, with lighter planning periods and heavier in-person weeks during exhibition preparation and final research/archival synthesis.

LOCATION

This is a hybrid, part-time project-based role based in Chicago. Summer programming will take place across multiple Chicago neighborhoods,(Humboldt Park, East Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and Austin). Candidates should be comfortable traveling within the city for key in-person days.

COMPENSATION + BENEFITS

• $40/hour
• Timeline: June through August 2026
• A small travel stipend

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HOW TO APPLY

***MANDATORY:*** Please send the following to Executive Director Patty Aikonedo at with the subject line: "Research & Curatorial Manager Application – [LAST NAME, FIRST NAME]"

INCLUDE:

• A short introduction or cover letter
• Your resume/CV
• 1–2 relevant work samples, if available
• Anything else you’d like us to know about how you approach this kind of work

In your note, feel free to tell us why this role speaks to you, especially if your background doesn’t fit neatly into one category. We care just as much about thoughtfulness, alignment, and curiosity as we do about titles.

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The Children’s Gallery Chicago is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a team that reflects the richness, creativity, and diversity of the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, multilingual candidates, people with disabilities, and others whose experiences and perspectives have been historically underrepresented in arts, research, and cultural work.

We also know that many strong candidates, especially women and candidates of color, may hesitate to apply unless they feel they meet every listed qualification. If this role feels meaningful to you, we hope you’ll apply. We value care, curiosity, lived experience, and alignment just as much as conventional credentials.