A curator is most often an arts professional with a background in the visual arts, either attached to a gallery or operating on a freelance basis working with different private, public or independent spaces.

For the purposes of this article I will be referring mainly to freelance curators who work in the contemporary visual arts, as opposed to in museums or with historical collections.

Curators can undergo training through specific courses for example at the Royal College of Art or Goldsmiths in London, or will have been artists turned curators or who have learned the process through working for different organisations or for themselves.

So what does a curator actually do? It is worth having a look at the prospectuses for the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths courses to get another view but the following is a brief guide through an organic, creative process:

• Curator builds up a dossier of ideas, artworks and names over a developing period sourced from: 
• Ongoing relationships with artists that they have met or worked with in the past; 
• Visiting exhibitions;  
• Meeting people at exhibitions /events/dinners/symposiums/fairs etc – this is both part of one’s social and work life; 
• Referrals from other curators, artists, gallerists, critics, friends, clients; 
• Artists  and gallery networks and websites e.g. Axis, Pilot, Saatchi Online, a-n, AIR (although these are used mainly to support earlier research rather than as a first port of call).

The artist meanwhile is thinking, creating, and networking - making themselves and their practice visible.

The two converge at some point and ideally the direction of an artists’ practice coincides with the curator’s ideas. Often I have found that a visit to a studio, or a meeting with an artist can generate ideas for future shows, if not immediately then in the future. Informed discussions around art and practice are a significant part of establishing a relationship with an artist or a curator. It helps if an artist can be articulate about their practice so that the curator can have a good understanding of its direction and context.
© Lucy Day

• networking
• meeting curators
• networks
• getting an exhibition