Employment Opportunities


Avoca Museum and Historical Society is currently seeking an Outreach & Special Programs Coordinator and Museum Curator. If any of these areas interest you, please contact Executive Director Caleb Lafoon with your resume and cover letter at: director@avocamuseum.org.

Avoca is a landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places because the property is the home site of Colonel Charles Lynch (1736-1796), a colonial planter and who distinguished himself as lawmaker and soldier during the turbulent Revolutionary Era. Additionally, the museum grounds are the site of an ancient Native American civilization and the site holds significant Civil War, Gilded Age, and architectural history.

Coordinator of Outreach and Special Programs

General Definition of Work:
Coordinates, plans, and facilitates special events for the museum; assists in the museum’s gift shop as
needed; assists in presenting educational programs for students, plays a vital role in developing the
museum’s newsletter, and manages volunteers.

Qualification Requirements:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function
satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability
required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform
essential functions.

    • Manages, coordinates, and recruits volunteers through detailed communication.

    • Plans, markets, and executes all special events for the museum.

    • Works with outside agencies on coordination of events.

    • Presents educational programs for students.

    • Assists in conducting tours of the museum.

    • Assists on an as-needed basis in the museum’s gift shop.

    • Prepares and distributes marketing materials.

    • Works with various forms of the media (social, radio, TV, newsprint) to advertise and promote museum events.

    • Creates advertisements and informational pieces to highlight museum happenings.

    • Coordinates event logistics.

    • Attends Board of Directors and committee meetings as needed.

    • Thorough knowledge of standard office practices, procedures, and equipment.

    • Knowledge of business English, spelling, and math; social media outlets; website content update; advertising practices and methods.

    • Ability to plan events and carry them to a successful conclusion; record and maintain accurate office records; perform and organize work independently; meet deadlines; communicate ideas clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing; establish and maintain effective working relationships with peers, volunteers, members of the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, members of the museum, visitors, and community leaders.

  • Experience and/or education commensurate with the job title.

  • This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 10 pounds of force; work regularly requires sitting, speaking, or hearing and repetitive motions, frequently requires using hands to finger, handle, or feel and reaching with hands and arms and occasionally requires standing, walking, pushing or pulling, lifting; work requires close vision, distance vision, ability to adjust focus, depth perception, color perception, night vision, and peripheral vision; vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word; hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels; work requires preparing written or computer data; work occasionally requires exposure to outdoor weather conditions.

    • Valid driver’s license from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

    • Certification in “Basic First Aid” and “CPR.”

Associate Museum Curator

General Definition of Work:
The Associate Curator will help to realize the museum's commitment to increasing Avoca’s impact in
everything we do, and specifically in the curation of exhibitions at Avoca. This position will implement
new exhibits including Native American, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Victorian era as well as Altavista
Town History. The AC will support Avoca volunteers and the Executive Director in developing one main
exhibition for Avoca accompanied by associated public programs. In addition, the AC will work with
Executive Director and others to support and manage smaller rotating exhibitions at Avoca and any
offsite exhibits associated with the museum. The Associate Curator will facilitate and collaborate on
research, checklists, didactics, publications and programming related to Avoca Museum’s exhibitions and
collection. Reporting to the Director, this position will also undertake research on the collection and
contribute to the development of digital resources. Specifically, the AC will update Avoca’s social media
with weekly historical posts and integrate them with the Avoca website. Additionally, the duties of the
AC will include overseeing the digital categorizing of all historical artifacts. This may be with the
assistance of interns and volunteers.

    • Bachelor’s degree in History

    • At least one year of museum or art gallery curatorial experience

    • Relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree

    • Knowledge of American history and experience curating or co-curating exhibitions

    • Good communication and organizational skills are necessary for this position, as is the ability to work in a highly collaborative, team-based environment

    • Candidates should be able to multitask and work well under pressure to meet deadlines and manage multiple projects concurrently

    • Candidates should also have strong public speaking skills and engage with the community, donors, and supporters of the museum

  • The AC will support the curatorial fellow in developing one main exhibition for Avoca Museum accompanied by associated public programs

    • In addition, the AC will work with guest curators to support and manage smaller rotating exhibitions at Avoca

    • The Associate Curator will facilitate and collaborate on research, checklists, didactics, publications and programming related to Avoca’s exhibitions and collection

    • Reporting to the Director, this position will also undertake research on the collection and contribute to the development of digital resources

    • Manage curatorial projects for the museum, working collaboratively with curatorial fellows undertaking residencies at Avoca, guest curators and artists

    • Work with Avoca staff to establish a schedule of curatorial activities with specific deliverables to ensure projects are realized on time

    • Undertake and facilitate research on the collection in support of exhibitions and digital projects

    • Generate and post social historical social media posts weekly

    • Work with curatorial fellows, staff and volunteers to develop and implement programs associated with exhibitions

    • Work across departments to achieve Avoca's strategic initiatives outlined in the Strategic Plan

    • Contribute to activities concerning the collection, such as the development of core documents, policies and procedures and digital initiatives

    • Archive and store artifacts which are on the museum grounds or are procured/donated

    • 20 hours per week

    • Non-benefited position

Special thanks…

Avoca Museum would like to thank our generous annual sponsors!