About Our Organization
When you join the City of Guelph, you join a team of 2,000 full and part-time employees who deliver services the community relies on every day. Together, we are bringing to life Guelph’s vision of an inclusive, connected, and prosperous city where we look after each other and our environment.
As a regional top employer, the City of Guelph values its employees and offers competitive salaries, excellent benefit packages, opportunities for professional development, a healthy work-life balance, and many roles with flexible work options. Our corporate values are integrity, service, inclusion, wellness, and learning. Guelph is consistently ranked as one of the best places in Canada to live, work, and play—all good reasons to consider a career in this beautiful city.
Guelph is located on the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabek Peoples, specifically the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We honour the rich Indigenous history of this place and prioritize our relationships with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples who call Guelph home today. Guelph Museums and the City of Guelph are committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and to our collective responsibility for the stewardship of the land on which we live, work, and create.
Guelph Museums is entrusted to represent the full and truthful stories of our community from perspectives as plentiful and diverse as the community itself; and to amplify voices that have traditionally been under-represented.
Job Summary
Resumes are being accepted for the position of Exhibition Assistant at Guelph Museums, within the Culture and Recreation Department of Public Services. Reporting to the Curator, the successful candidate will contribute to the development, installation, and engagement program for a temporary exhibition, which will be on public view at the Guelph Civic Museum from February 2024 to May 2024. The exhibition will consider folkloric practices – traditions, beliefs, customs, and stories, passed through generations, often by word-of-mouth – in the place we now call Guelph. Centred in the period of contact between Indigenous and settler communities at the end of the 18th century, the exhibition will look at the intersections of art and everyday life, creative expression, and communication and conflict across spiritual, geographic, and cultural communities.
Hours and Location of Work
35 hours per week / Guelph Civic Museum, 52 Norfolk Street, Guelph
Duration of Contract
August 14, 2023 to March 29, 2024
Duties
The Exhibition Assistant will support the museum’s curatorial research team by exploring the material artifacts in Guelph Museums’ collection, as well as in other local archives, sites of knowledge, and in dialogue with community-centred scholars and knowledge holders. They will discover stories and belongings that represent folkloric practices of the region in the museums’ 50,000-piece permanent collection (physical and digital archives, photographs, material artifacts, and creative expressions). The curatorial research team will interpret how folkloric beliefs and practices of the past connect to present-day lived experiences.
The Exhibition Assistant will acquire career-building work experience in a specific museum environment and skills that are broadly transferable across Canada’s museum sector, including: exhibition development, design and installation; collection management (artifact handling and interpretation); training and experience with PastPerfect (CMS); multi-tasking and personal time management; and critical thinking, analysis, and research.
Qualifications
The Exhibition Assistant understands and commits to the principles of truth and reconciliation; equity, diversity, and inclusion; and knowledge and experience in creating exhibition displays in a museum setting.
The ideal candidate for this position will also have:
- A post-secondary degree or diploma in Applied Museum Studies, History, Art History, Studio Art, or a related field (preferred); and/or
- Experience (paid or volunteer) working in a gallery, library, archives, or museum setting (considered an asset).
- Excellent communication and organizational skills, research experience, and comfort with technology.
The candidate must meet the eligibility requirements of this grant-funded position:
- are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, or have refugee status in Canada (non-Canadians holding temporary work visas or awaiting permanent status are not eligible)
- are legally entitled to work in Canada
- are between 16 and 30 years of age at the start of employment
- are willing to commit to the full duration of the work assignment
- will not have another full-time job (over 30 hours a week) during the Young Canada Works at Building Careers in Heritage (YCW-BCH) work assignment
- are unemployed or underemployed
- are a college or university graduate
- are not receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits while employed with the program
Notes
Interested candidates must be registered with the Young Canada Works candidate inventory. Applicants are asked to describe in their cover letter how their skills and experience match the duties and qualifications of this position. Candidates are encouraged to describe how they would apply their transferable skills and experience to this position.
Rate
$18.86 per hour
How to apply
Qualified applicants are invited to submit their resume to Young Canada Works in Heritage Organizations by July 9, 2023. For more information, contact: [email protected]
Guelph Museums is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in the workplace. We welcome applications from women, people with disabilities, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. We are happy to accommodate any individual needs in keeping with the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If you require accommodation to participate in the hiring process, please contact us to make your needs known in advance. Personal information collected through the recruitment process will be used solely to determine eligibility for employment.
