curates

Curates is the third-person singular present tense of the verb curate, meaning to select, organize, and present items or content for a particular audience or purpose. In museums, libraries, media, and digital platforms, to curate involves evaluating material, deciding what to include, and arranging it for display or access. The act of curating is called curation, and a person who performs it is a curator. The noun curate can also refer to a parish priest’s assistant in some Christian denominations, a usage that yields the plural curates but is less common in modern contexts where curator is the usual term.

Etymology and scope: Curate derives from Latin curāre, meaning “to care for,” through related Latin and Old French forms that gave rise to the noun curator and the modern verb curate. The sense of curating as selecting and arranging items for presentation developed in relation to museums, galleries, and editorial contexts, and expanded in the digital age to include online collections and content platforms.

Context and usage: In cultural institutions, curators are responsible for building and maintaining collections, planning exhibitions, and researching objects. In media and technology, curating often refers to selecting pieces from a larger pool and organizing them for consumption, such as playlists, news roundups, or social feeds. The terms curate and curator emphasize process and responsibility in shaping how audiences encounter material.

Overall, curates reflects a professional and editorial activity centered on thoughtful selection and arrangement to convey meaning, context, or value to an audience.