Director [Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Lansing, MI]

Description

Our Client

“Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 150 years.” Founded in 1855 as the nation’s first land-grant university, Michigan State University (MSU) enrolls over 46,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in its 17 colleges. MSU is known internationally as a major public research university with global reach and extraordinary impact. With more than 200 academic programs, many nationally ranked, MSU attracts scholars worldwide and students from all 50 states and approximately 130 countries. The 5,200 acre campus is located in East Lansing, three miles from the state capitol, 80 miles from Detroit, 210 miles from Chicago, and 90 miles from the shores of Lake Michigan.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum is the art museum of Michigan State University. As an engaged public institution, the Broad MSU is a contemporary museum devoted to the exploration and exhibition of significant art from around the globe. The Broad MSU is a place where artists’ ideas, words, and actions create a vibrant center for questioning and understanding the modern world.

The Broad MSU is unique among contemporary art museums by virtue of the historical collection it inherited from the Kresge Art Museum, formerly the art museum of MSU. This collection, which contains objects from the Greek and Roman periods, through the Renaissance, and on to the Modern, enables the Broad MSU to explore the art of our time through the long lens of art history. The museum collects in the areas of painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, decorative arts, architecture, design, film, video, installations and new media art with a special focus on international contemporary art.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the museum features a striking facade of pleated stainless steel and glass, signaling the museum and the university’s dynamic vision. More than 70 percent of the 46,000-square-foot facility is dedicated to exhibition space.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University has a staff of approximately 25 employees and an annual operating budget of approximately $3 million.

Requirements

The Role

Reporting to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, with ancillary reporting to the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, the Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (Broad MSU) will be the energetic leader of the university’s art museum.

The Director will draw on strong relationships with artists, an international perspective, and connections in the art world to advance the Broad MSU as part of Michigan State University and its worldwide linkages. The Director will articulate a curatorial vision for interdisciplinary exploration manifested in compelling populist and academic exhibitions. With a commitment to collaboration, the Director will establish credibility with the faculty and relate intellectually to diverse fields of study. The Director must be an engaging leader adept at building relationships with a wide range of constituents including students, community members, and donors. The Director will need to understand and pursue opportunities possible in the academic environment created by the member institutions of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC=Big Ten Athletic Conference and University of Chicago).

Responsibilities

Develop and implement a unique and independent curatorial vision that distinguishes the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum from other contemporary and university art museums.

• Lead curatorial staff in the generation of new scholarship and exhibitions that engage the campus and raise the profile of the Museum.
• Oversee the development and implementation of innovative education initiatives and public programs that will appeal to and foster new connections with a range of audiences.
• Oversee management of exhibition development and exhibition production to ensure the highest level of quality and efficiency.
• Oversee the development and care of the collection including acquisitions, de-accessioning, registration, loans, display, conservation, and storage in accordance with industry standards.

Serve as the Broad MSU’s chief liaison with the university and global community, ensuring that the Broad MSU’s impact is felt campus-wide, locally, and internationally.

• Develop and manage positive working relationships at MSU to ensure that the Broad MSU significantly contributes to academic and cultural life.
• Develop local, national and global networks and partnerships, including those with museum professionals, to ensure that Broad MSU consistently reaches beyond the MSU campus.
• Lead Broad MSU fundraising efforts in coordination and collaboration with university and college advancement teams on fundraising efforts.
• Seek advice and guidance from the Broad MSU Advisory Board, which includes internal and external members.
• Serve as senior liaison with university internal and external communications staff, for all marketing, public relations and sponsorship activities. Serve as primary spokesperson with media, sponsors, VIPs, etc. and supervise the communications manager at Broad MSU.

Manage the operational and administrative duties for Broad MSU in an efficient manner that provides close coordination with the university and college.

• Oversee the day-to-day public operation to ensure quality and efficiency.
• Direct the hiring of all staff with careful coordination with university and college officials.
• Manage budgets and grants and work closely with university and college finance teams to ensure effective development of and adherence to all art programming and operations budgets.
• Provide reports, information and assistance to university staff and/or other departments for grants, loans, surveys and other communications, development and curatorial initiatives.
• Take an active role leading and supporting efforts in coordination with the University’s Advancement Office to develop annual revenues and enduring endowments to ensure the financial stability of the museum.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will possess at least a master’s degree in art history, studio art, or other relevant field or research area.

The candidate must have museum experience in the contemporary art world including direct experience with curatorial practice and exhibition planning, education programming, operations, fundraising, public relations and/or marketing, and budget management. The candidate must have management experience based on a collaborative work style and team-building skills.

The candidate will have demonstrated excellent communication and presentation skills and ability to implement use of new communication technologies. He or she will have an international perspective with a contemporary art specialty. He or she will have a solid track record of curating well-received exhibitions of both populist and academic shows and will possess the ability to establish credibility with the faculty and relate intellectually with a wide range of disciplines. He or she will have to travel on behalf of the art museum. Experience in an academic environment is preferred.

Michigan State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. MSU is strongly committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The University actively encourages applications and nominations of women, persons of color, veterans, and persons with disabilities.