Director, Vance Wall Art Education Center [Montclair Art Museum]

“Montclair, as generously endowed by Nature, may be enriched by Art and so rendered even more attractive as a select residential town”
–William T. Evans (1909), Montclair civic leader who presided over the commission that led to the founding of the Montclair Art Museum. He was the largest collector of American art up to World War I.

A notable community institution with an international reputation, the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is still located in the same—though now thrice-expanded—building in which it opened in 1914. Situated amid a beautiful, tree-lined residential area of Montclair, New Jersey, just 12 miles west of New York City, the Museum is esteemed for its holdings of American and Native American art, its exhibitions, its family and public programs, and its art school. It welcomes more than 65,000 visitors annually.

The Museum was a pioneer: one of the country’s first museums primarily engaged in collecting American art (including the work of contemporary, nonacademic artists) and among the first dedicated to the study and creation of a significant Native American art collection. This pioneering spirit still reverberates in the Museum’s pursuit and presentation of high-quality art that characterizes and celebrates America’s diversity, including the recent launch of New Directions, a series of solo exhibitions of the work of contemporary artists and the cornerstone of MAM’s newly created contemporary art program.

From its founding, the Montclair Art Museum has maintained a vital presence in its surrounding community. The Museum’s collection began with gifts from prominent Montclair residents that included both American and Native American art, laying the foundation for the Museum’s holdings. MAM’s George Inness Gallery is one of the few in the world dedicated to the work of America’s greatest landscape painter, who spent the last nine years of his life in Montclair, from 1885 onward, and who drew inspiration from the local landscape. Other well-known artists followed in his footsteps, cementing Montclair’s reputation as an intellectual center and artists’ colony, a reputation it retains to this day.

MAM’s collection has grown to over 12,000 works. The American collection, which started with a gift of 36 paintings from William T. Evans, comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculpture dating from the 18th century to the present, and features excellent works by Benjamin West, Asher B. Durand, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as younger and emerging artists such as Louise Lawler, Chakaia Booker, Whitfield Lovell, and Willie Cole.

The Museum’s superb holdings of traditional and contemporary American Indian art and artifacts, New Jersey’s largest, represent the cultural achievements in weaving, pottery, wood carving, jewelry, and textiles of indigenous Americans. The collection was begun by Annie Valentine Rand and carried on by her philanthropic daughter Florence Rand Lang, one of the Museum’s founders, and continues to grow with commissioned works, gifts, and purchases that celebrate the vitality and modernity of traditional forms and beliefs. Among the contemporary American Indian artists represented are Tony Abeyta, Dan Namingha, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Allan Houser, Bentley Spang, and Marie Watt.

Equally important for its community presence and its reputation are the Museum’s public and family programs and art school, serving everyone from all ages, toddlers to older adults. Collaborations with numerous cultural and community partners bring artists, performers, and scholars to the Museum on a regular basis. Guests have included Holland Cotter, John Elderfield, Bill T. Jones, Jeff Koons, Faith Ringgold, Winfred Rembert, Kiki Smith, Philip Pearlstein, Shirin Neshat, and Lorna Simpson. More than 10,000 K–12 students from 190 school districts visit the Museum every year. Free Family Days, a Family Learning Lab, MAM Park Bench, Home School Days, and Birthday Art Parties allow families to experience art in a variety of different ways. As the New Jersey affiliate of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, MAM opens opportunities to creative teenagers to gain national recognition for their work. The Museum also provides programs for seniors and special needs individuals—such as the hearing impaired and people with Alzheimer’s—as well as training for teachers in the arts.

MAM’s studio program, established in 1924, grew as a result of a merger in 1998 with a beloved community program, the Yard School of Art, now an integral part of the Museum’s profile, offering courses year-round to kids, teens, and adults. Courses cross a broad range of the artistic spectrum, including drawing, painting, collage, pastel, printmaking, and illustration. In 2011, the school launched two new areas: a Ceramics Studio and a Digital Media Lab.

The first institution in New Jersey designed as a museum and one of the first in the nation to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Montclair Art Museum, as it completes its Centennial year, continues to seek novel ways, through its exhibitions, education programs and outreach efforts, to inspire and inform its growing and ever more diverse audiences.

The Museum operates with a budget of approximately $4.2mm and a staff of 30 FT and 75 PT individuals. MAM is governed by a 39 member Board of Trustees and has over 300 volunteers.

OPPORTUNITIES: 

The new Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center inherits an education division with a reputation for excellence and a strong foundation to build upon. To build audiences, awareness and support for MAM, the new Director must continue to evolve and promote the museum’s strong educational philosophy, positioning MAM as innovative, accessible and connected to and engaged with the Montclair community and surrounding constituencies.

The Vance Wall Art Education Center provides the new Director the opportunity to re-imagine how a mid-size museum can operate in the future to assure a relevant and meaningful educational role in its communities.  The new Center is expected to be transformational in nature while still meeting budgets, and universal in its application in order to serve as a model for educational efforts at other similar institutions.

MAM’s leadership is committed to innovation and has established an environment welcoming new approaches in teaching and learning, communications and operations.  The new Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center will find willing collaborators internally and ready partners externally all eager to explore creative ways to advance the museum’s educational mission.

MAM will initiate a strategic planning process in 2015. A key goal will be to infuse MAM with renewed vision, energy and excitement, building on the collection, exhibition and program strengths. The Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center will play a critical role in developing and implementing the plan.

POSITION:

Reporting to, and in concert with the Director of the Museum, the Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center provides the leadership, oversight and management for the programmatic vision, audience experience and strategic initiatives necessary to ensure that MAM provides a museum experience for the 21^st century for all of its visitors both on and off site as well as virtually. The Director of the VWAEC will play a critical role in analyzing current programming, evaluating potential and developing the tactical growth of The Center to be fully launched by the new Director. The Vance Wall Art Education Center is a conceptual umbrella that includes all educational activities from tours, public programs, curricular partnerships and gallery interpretation to the Museum’s community-focused Yard School of Art, and represents the Museum’s overall educational direction and programming both current and future.

The Director of the VWAEC will help formulate the essential messaging of the educational program of the Museum, and work across departments to ensure that audience needs are integral elements of programming and functionality.  Finally, the Director of the Vance Wall Art Education Center assists the Museum Director in representing MAM locally, regionally and nationally, reflecting the Museum’s strong commitment to high quality exhibitions, educational programs and relevance in the life of its community.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Director of the Vance Wall Art Education Center is responsible for managing, directing and evaluating all programmatic initiatives created by education, public programs and the Yard School of Art.  S/he will work closely with department heads on operational functions related to visitor experience and fundraising, and with the Museum Director and Curators on exhibition planning, presentation and interpretation.

KEY PRIORITIES:

Assists Museum Director in:

• Fully launching the Vance Wall Art Education Center
• Helping to develop and oversee the implementation of the art education vision for the Museum
• Realizing the 21^st– century audience experience of MAM, from front line staff approach and voice, to appearance of entrances, to presentation of program and interpretation
• Representing the Museum’s mission in the community.  This will mean a strategic and coordinated approach to advocacy, appearances, welcoming duties and all other interactions with Museum’s many constituencies
• Fundraising activities, participating in discussions on the rationale for pairing donors and programs, and going on solicitations

Direct Responsibilities: 

• Oversee professional staff in their execution of the Museum’s strategic priorities in education and audience engagement, including all elements of the Vance Wall Art Education Center:
  • Public Programs, including those paid, free and in coordination with donor/patron benefits
  • Tours for both school and community organizations, including the strategy and promotion of growth in this area
  • Interpretation, including the voice for gallery copy, presentation and strategies for Docent training
  • Develop full potential in the areas of special needs, teen, senior and family programs
  • School Programs, including the potential for depth in areas of higher and post-secondary education
  • The Yard School of Art, including instituting regular evaluation and analysis of potential for expansion.
  • Successful launch of the Art Truck, a community studio outreach program

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Education and Training:  M.A. degree in relevant areas of art and/or education; affiliation with professional organizations and a thorough knowledge of the field required. Familiarity with data management and learning technologies, as well as with analysis and evaluation techniques is essential.

Work Experience: Minimum 5+ years of senior museum experience in program development and execution, including team-building and staff management; proven record of effective strategic goal setting and analysis as well as fund raising for programs and activities of the division.

Skills and Abilities:  Excellent planning, organizational, managerial and budgetary skills are required; must enjoy working in a collaborative environment and leading and working in teams; also requires clear motivational abilities, and strong written and oral communication skills. Knowledge of and experience with VTS.  Ability to professionally and effectively represent the Museum, with discretion and confidentiality, to the community and potential donors; ability to work together with the Director and other museum staff and Board, demonstrating sound business judgment in decision making; knowledge of necessary computer software.

In sum: The new Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center must have vision and imagination and must be a leader with a deep passion for the visual arts, art history and art education. S/he should be well versed in new practices, research and theoretical models of museum education and have a strong network of relationships with leaders in the field of education in general and museum education in particular. S/he must be able to work effectively with the curatorial staff to help implement interpretive plans that make the art accessible to the Museum’s diverse audiences and must be able to work successfully in a dynamic and collaborative environment.

The Director of Vance Wall Art Education Center, a new position, will be a creative pacesetter, flexible enough to work within an established institution with an important collection, an ambitious program but real financial constraints. S/he will be a person of integrity with a commitment to excellence and innovation, able to set expansive goals with realistic budgets and able to both raise funds and generate revenue. The new Director will understand and contribute to the changing role of art museums in society by supporting the leadership role of the Montclair Art Museum in the community and in the nation.

SALARY:

The salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

START DATE:

Late Spring 2015 

PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATION:

Applicants should submit resumes, the names of three references and a one-page narrative describing their interest in the position and their experience that relates to the responsibilities described above. Management Consultants for the Arts, an executive search firm retained by the Montclair Art Museum, will review applications. Send applications and recommendations of candidates to:

Linda Sweet

Partner

Management Consultants for the Arts

Box MAM

E-mail: mcawall2@gmail.com