A study on students seeking a career in curating, on the basis of research on and interviews with 22 curators

The author has interviewed museum curators in order to understand how their careers have unfolded from the time they started working the the present. As a result of this research, two major points were discovered. These are, firstly, that most of the people interviewed had a specific field of interest, such as history, biology, geology, or astronomy. Moreover, many of them were inspired by teachers in junior high school and/ or high school. Many remember how they were deeply touched by a specific lesson or story told to them verbally, i.e., independent of any school books. Later they decided to go on to university, and major in the subject they had become passionate about. Second, their skills and personalities were refined by their having patience, being inquisitive and using their energetic passion, in addition to letting their curiosity and sensitivity help them evolve. It is concluded that this kind of “passionate, studying employee” is better suited to be a curator than those who simply wish to become an entrepreneur, acquire power and control, or harbor ambitious desires for monetary profit