British Art Network Convenor

Location: Remote: Applicants can be based anywhere in the UK or Ireland and may need to travel for events

Fee: £12,600 (paid in instalments), plus travel and delivery budget of £3,000

Contract Type: Freelance

Duration: 10 months, October 2026 – July 2027, equivalent to ca. thirty-six days’ work

Closing Date: 10am BST 24 August 2026

Interview Date: w/c 7 September 2026

Start Date: 1 October 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter

About the Role

The British Art Network (BAN) is seeking two Convenors with the curatorial experience, insight and imagination to help lead its research activity and programme in exciting new directions in 2026–27. Each Convenor will provide research leadership in a specific topic area, developing BAN’s understanding and engagement through programme activity and communications, and contributing to longer-term plans for the Network.

Each Convenor is expected to have expertise and experience relevant to at least one of these research areas prioritised by BAN:

Curating in Northern Ireland (NI) – understanding and engaging with local ecologies for curatorial work in NI – creating a platform for sharing experience and knowledge.
Curating Historic British Art – the challenges and opportunities in presenting and interpreting art from the past; sharing skills and knowledge around maintaining criticality and addressing audiences.
Developing Curatorial Careers – Between “Emerging” and “Established” – how do curators identify, sustain themselves and continue to develop once they have “emerged”? deepening understandings of the challenges and needs “mid-career”.
Curating in Non-Metropolitan Contexts – exploring the specific dynamics of curating art outside of city centres, finding ways of addressing the major challenges and issues whether material, practical or critical.
Working with Collections – what are the possibilities for working with collections given the transformation of curatorial roles and practices, and the material pressures in play?

Potential Convenors are invited to interpret one of these areas of research interest as they prepare their applications.

This is a fixed-term, freelance role attracting a set fee. It is expected that the Convenor will contribute around thirty-six days’ work over the ten month duration of the Convenorship.

The Convenors will work independently liaising closely with the BAN team, which is based at Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre (PMC). They may be based anywhere in the UK or Ireland but could be expected to travel for events or meetings.

Who We Are

The appointment of Convenors is being administered by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (PMC), as part of our partnership with Tate in maintaining and developing BAN.

BAN is a community of curators, academics, artist-researchers, conservators, producers and programmers at all stages of their professional lives. The Network is supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Tate. BAN’s programme is overseen and developed by a team based at Tate and the PMC and guided by a Steering Group whose membership reflects a range of relevant experience and backgrounds.

The PMC is an educational charity that champions new ways of understanding British art history and culture. The PMC was founded in 1970 by the art collector and philanthropist Paul Mellon. It is part of Yale University and a partner to the Yale Center for British Art.

Why This Role, Why Now?

BAN was established in 2012 by Tate, prompted by an invitation from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) to develop one of the newly funded Subject Specialist Networks. It was initially conceived to maintain a research base and build scholarly capacity in the museum sector and celebrate a shared national collection of British art.

In 2018, the PMC became a partner host of BAN along with Tate, including supporting the appointment of a Convenor role to lead on strategic development. BAN expanded significantly and has developed into a network which reflects the range and variety of curatorial work in British art today. In 2021–24, BAN was in receipt of a project grant from Arts Council England to support a programme of research and sharing: Rethinking the Curatorial. The appointment of multiple Convenors from 2026 reflects this process of reflection and learning, helping further devolve BAN programming and facilitating more consistently Member-led activity.

Who We Need

This Convenorship would suit someone who:

is passionate about creating positive change through curatorial research and programming
is committed to BAN’s aims and objectives, while seeing the potential for deepening and extending the Network’s reach
has a depth of experience in curating, curatorial research or working with collections or heritage in the broad field of British art, and is looking to develop and share that expertise and lead research
has a track record of impactful research and engagement in one of the special interest areas identified as a priority by BAN
has a practical mindset, with an understanding of project management and event delivery
is a comfortable communicator, both in-person and in published formats
is collaborative, forward looking and open minded

You don’t need to tick every box – if you think you’d be a great fit and are excited by the role, we’d love to hear from you.

Applicants in employment are encouraged to secure a letter of support indicating that their employer will consider the time commitment involved as part of their work for the organisation.

Further information including a full job description can be found on our website.

Enquiries about the post should be directed to: Martin Myrone, Head of Research Support & Pathways, mmyrone@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk

Please note: We kindly ask that recruitment agencies do not contact us regarding this vacancy, as we are only accepting direct applications.