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Careers

Do what you love

SAM attracts, develops, and retains highly qualified employees who enrich and develop their love of the arts while contributing specific skills and talents to our mission. ​

Join the team

We offer employment in administration, admissions, curatorial, development, education, finance and operations, museum services, retail, security, and other professional fields.

SAM is dedicated to racial equity and looks for employees, volunteers, and interns who are passionate, qualified, and offer diverse perspectives. SAM prioritizes racial equity in the workplace because we know that people of color are the most impacted when it comes to inequities. We are particularly interested in engaging with historically under-represented groups in the museum field as we strive to be inclusive and equitable. SAM is responsive to cultural communities and experiences, and our strategic plan goals address the role art plays in empowering social justice and structural change to promote equity in our society.

What we stand for

Mission

​​SAM connects art to life.

Through art, the Seattle Art Museum fosters creativity and builds community. As a leading visual art institution in three unique locations, SAM shares its global collections, powerful exhibitions, and dynamic programs to engage, educate, and inspire.

Vision

Seattle Art Museum is a welcoming community where people find inspiration and discover our common humanity. We are committed to equity, exceptional art, and dynamic programs. At our three sites we offer enriching, fun, and rewarding experiences for all.

Values

Creativity
We bring art into people’s lives and help them understand its unique power to inspire creative thinking, which is crucial to understanding and solving our world’s complex problems.

Excellence
We build and create collections, exhibitions, and public programs of the highest quality and excellence.

Equity
We are responsive to cultural communities and experiences, and we think critically about the role art plays in empowering social justice and structural change to promote equity in our society. We are dedicated to racial equity in all that we do.

Engagement
We engage our audiences through dialogue that is mutually beneficial, inclusive, and enlightening in a spirit of mutual respect.

Diversity
We invite and respect many viewpoints and experiences, as we develop and sustain a diverse staff, board, and audience, and showcase art from the world’s diverse cultures.

Accessibility
We work to lower economic and physical barriers as well as barriers to understanding, so that art is accessible to everyone. We recognize the importance of excellent customer service in making art accessible to all.

Leadership
We recognize and embrace the leadership role SAM plays in the museum field and in our community. We lead responsibly in our approach to exhibitions, programming, collection stewardship, engaging visitors, and supporting our staff in line with our core values and mission.

Stewardship
We are transparent and careful stewards of resources, including collections, staff, volunteers, facilities, investments, and institutional records. We share SAM’s collection, our greatest resource, and legacy to the future, with the public through scholarship and interpretation, creative installation, conservation, and programming.

Internships

Interns collaborate on projects relevant to their career goals with visible impact on the museum’s programs, exhibitions, community partnerships, and more.

Volunteers

From advising to visitor engagement, volunteer roles support the museum’s mission and have an impact on all that SAM does.

Docents

SAM Docents build on their passion for art and their knowledge of art history to support gallery tours for a wide range of audiences.

Equity & Accessibility

We are committed to reducing barriers in order to facilitate art experiences for all.

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