Posted August 1, 2014.

Director of Galleries and Exhibitions

To Apply: otis.simplehire.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=50725

About the Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design
The Ben Maltz Gallery is a major Los Angeles art center that plays a key role in the city’s vibrant art and design community. Attracting thousands of visitors each year, the gallery has a distinguished history of producing innovative exhibitions and events that appeal to diverse audiences and function as dynamic learning opportunities for students of all majors at all levels.

In equal parts a public forum, classroom, and laboratory, the Gallery is an active academic partner on and off campus, providing expansive curatorial initiatives that connect artists, designers, curators, and scholars within an environment that fosters conversation, curiosity, visual literacy, critical thinking, individuality, collaboration, and social responsibility. Open free to the public year-round, the Gallery serves Los Angeles’ diverse population and vibrant art community as an important educational resource for students, faculty, and staff. It reaches beyond the region by both originating and participating in national and international touring exhibitions and programs, and has received support from distinguished sponsors and partners such as The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, The Getty Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Fellows of Contemporary Art—Los Angeles. For more information on the Ben Maltz Gallery please see http://www.otis.edu/ben-maltz-gallery/about-gallery.

Opportunity for the Director of Galleries and Exhibitions
The Director of Galleries and Exhibitions performs a leadership role at the College that bridges the internal community of educational leaders, faculty, and students with the larger regional and national communities. The Directorship is an opportunity to program exhibitions that engage and respond to issues of contemporary art and design and innovative related public programming attract visitors to the College as a kind of cultural center, and at the same time purposefully and responsively expose students of all levels to exemplary artists’ work, activities, and practices.

Job Function
The galleries at Otis College of Art and Design advance the educational mission of the College by introducing audiences to ideas and activities that promote knowledge and understanding of contemporary art and design practices. The Director of Galleries and Exhibitions is responsible for bringing professional-level exhibitions and programs to Otis, envisioning and implementing long- and short-term planning for the 3,520 square foot Ben Maltz Gallery, developing exhibition program policy, and coordinating with academic departments and other stakeholders on and off campus to enrich the experiences of all Gallery audiences, with a particular emphasis on the educational experiences of Otis graduate and undergraduate students. This is a full-time, exempt position reporting to the Provost.

Responsibilities:
1. Coordinates a professional gallery space as an educational resource for students, the professional community, and the general community. Exhibitions are rooted in contemporary fine art while developing
opportunities to represent and showcase a wide range of art and design practices.
2. Plans, manages, and organizes a calendar of exhibitions. Curates three-to-five (3-5) exhibitions a year, arranges for guest curators, and secures participation in traveling exhibitions originated elsewhere.
Curating exhibitions includes developing a concept, selecting artists, providing catalog or brochure documentation when possible, developing didactic panels, and overseeing exhibition design and installation. Networks with colleagues in other presenting institutions. When appropriate and feasible, arranges for the tour of exhibitions originated at the Gallery.
3. Coordinates visits and residencies by artists, scholars, and critics in tandem with exhibitions. Activities include public lectures, symposia, and exhibitions, as well as direct interaction with students through studio visits, seminars and master classes.
4. Develops and oversees the Gallery budget, manages grants, and supervises two full-time staff members and a curatorial fellow/assistant.
5. Serves as the Gallery’s primary liaison with the Otis community and with the public at large, and partners with collaborators on and off campus
6. Develops and oversees production of exhibition catalogs, including writing catalog essays and/or commissioning essays from other appropriate writers.
7. Writes government and foundation grants for a select number of exhibitions primarily in order to fund catalogs. Seeks independent curatorial grants (i.e. Pasadena Art Alliance, Fellows of Contemporary Art, Siff Foundation, and so on) for the Gallery.
8. Provides advice and consultation on fundraising strategies and special events for the Gallery.
9. Represents the College and Gallery at off-campus events and exhibitions. Provides community service as a juror, lecturer, panel member, or catalog essayist when appropriate.
10. Regularly visits artists’ studios, art galleries, and museums to develop and maintain professional connections with the broader community.
11. Serves as a member of the Chair’s Council and a voting member of Academic Assembly, and chairs the Gallery Committee.
12. Provides innovative educational programming and curricular integration with Otis’ B.F.A. and M.F.A. programs; may include teaching in the form of curatorial workshops, graduate studio visits, guest speaking, etc.
13. Other duties as necessary or assigned by the Provost or President.

Position Requirements
This is an exempt position and requires previous progressively responsible evidence of curatorial experience and a strong curatorial vision. It is important that the Director be open to the needs of the Otis community while developing a vision for the Gallery. MFA or other terminal degree preferred; proven leadership, knowledge of installation, management, and interpersonal skills; grant writing and fund raising experience. Salary commensurate with experience.

More About Otis
Otis prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.
Otis College of Art and Design was founded in 1918, when General Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, bequeathed his MacArthur Park property to the City of Los Angeles for “the advancement of the arts.” Originally named Otis Art Institute, the College became affiliated with New York’s Parsons School of Design in 1978 and was nicknamed Otis-Parsons. In 1991 it became an independent institution and was soon renamed Otis College of Art and Design. The College remained in its historic Westlake home until 1997, when the main campus was moved to L.A.’s Westside. Satellite locations were established in downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Culver City.

Today, Otis is one of the world’s foremost professional schools of art and design, a recognized leader in academic excellence, learning technologies, community engagement, and professional preparation. The College’s reputation attracts students from 40 states and 28 countries, making it one of the most diverse private art colleges in the US. The College’s diversity is one of Otis’ great strengths; it prepares students to imagine what lies ahead and benefits employers who know the value of creativity. The College offers an interdisciplinary education for 1,200 full-time students, awarding Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees in Architecture/Landscape/Interiors,
Communication Arts, Digital Media, Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Product Design, and Toy Design; and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Public Practice, and Writing. Continuing Education offers certificate programs as well as personal and professional development courses.

Otis has trained generations of artists who have been in the vanguard of cultural and entrepreneurial life. The College’s alumni are well represented at leading museums and prestigious collecting institutions throughout the world: the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and many others. Otis-educated designers shape the visual world, from the products people use to the built environments they live in, and from the clothes people wear to the toys children play with. Otis alumni are cultural leaders working around the world in companies like Mattel, Sony Pictures, Nike, Gap, Pixar, and Disney. Imagine the Oscar ceremonies without its golden statuette, The Sound of Music without its costumes, The Lord of the Rings without its visual effects, Avatar without its trademark blue alien skin, or the Getty without its famed garden, and you will have a sense of the world without the College’s alumni. Since 1918, Otis graduates have made an individual, positive, and lasting mark on the world.

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