Description

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) seeks an experienced independent contractor with demonstrated scholarly expertise in Modern and Contemporary Art as well as proven experience in institutional deaccessioning and collection stewardship best practices, to support the Museum’s collection deaccessioning review and refinement initiative. The selected contractor will work closely with HMSG’s Head Curator to advance HMSG’s collection refinement in accordance with HMSG Collection Management Policy and Smithsonian Directive regarding Collections Management. The Contractor shall provide provisional, technical, non-personal Curatorial consultative services that include:

• Conducting research using both archival and secondary resources in order to provide critical background information on the artworks under review, including provenance, condition, historical and aesthetic significance within both the artist’s practice and the broader art historical context, and artworks in other local institutions.
• Conducting in-person examination of the artworks at the Museum and its off-site storage facilities, which will be facilitated by the Collections Management team. 
• Organizing regular collection refinement reviews, under the guidance of the Head Curator and in the presence of the artworks under consideration, during which the Contractor will describe a rationale for decision-making about potential deaccessions and make recommendations for the Hirshhorn to consider.
• Providing written summary of the recommendations and assisting in presentation of these recommendations to the Director and the Board of Trustees.

Work will begin on or about May 1, 2026, and be completed by October 31, 2026, with the option to extend this contract to engage the Contractor in providing similar services for up to three (3) six-month periods.

Requirements

At least seven (7) years of demonstrated experience in 1) Assessing collection holdings and developing a strategic approach to future acquisitions; 2) Collection stewardship best practices ; 3) Collections research including but not limited to establishing provenance, condition, historical and aesthetic significance within both the artist’s practice and the broader art historical context, and artworks in other local institutions . Completion of graduate work (Ph.D. preferred) in Art History, with expertise in Modern and Contemporary Art.

Contractors must be registered in the U.S. Government SAM (System for Award Management) System before starting contract. Please allow time for SAM application processing if you are new to government contracting.

Interested applicants should send an email ASAP to HMSGCuratorial@si.edu in order to receive the full Statement of Work (SOW) and detailed Request for Quote (RFQ) package documents and further details. Full quote packages must be received no later than 4:00 PM EDT on Friday, February 28, 2026.