What Does a Curator of Sustainability Do? Q&A with Chris Hobbs

This article was first published on the AAM blog.

In recent years, sustainability has gone from a buzzword for museums to an action step, as our organizations increasingly confront and prepare for the adverse effects of climate change on their sites and, more importantly, their communities. Today, we can find plenty of examples of museums that have developed and utilized climate adaptation and sustainability plans, and we can expect the rest of the field to follow in the coming years.

In addition to these formal internal plans, museums are also responding to climate change by creating new content-based positions, such as the Curator for Climate Change at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Curator of Sustainability at the Bishop Museum. These positions mark a new, deliberate direction by these museums to think beyond infrastructure toward a mission-based approach. They could very well become the model for a new type of educator, engagement, or curator position in the field to address a variety of important social issues, such as loneliness, gun violence, and so on.

To find out how a position like this works, and how sustainability is advancing across the museum landscape, AAM caught up with the Curator of Sustainability at the Bishop Museum, Dr. Chris Hobbs.

@UK_ICOM