Shelby White and Leon Levy Director [Brooklyn Museum]

The mission of the Brooklyn Museum is to act as a bridge between the rich artistic heritage of world cultures, as embodied in its collections, and the unique experience of each visitor.  Dedicated to the primacy of the visitor experience, committed to excellence in every aspect of its collections and programs, and drawing on both new and traditional tools of communication, interpretation and presentation, the Museum aims to serve its diverse public as a dynamic, innovative and welcoming center for learning through the visual arts.  www.brooklynmuseum.org

THE INSTITUTION

History

The Brooklyn Museum is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States with roots that extend back to 1823 and the founding of the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library.  The Museum’s vast holdings span 5,000 years of human creativity from cultures in every corner of the globe.  Generally considered to be among the highest quality and most renowned are the ancient Egyptian objects, an unrivaled collection of the arts of the Americas, ranging from pre-Columbian relics, Spanish colonial painting, to Native American art and artifacts, as well as 19^th– and early 20^th-century American painting, sculpture and decorative objects.  The Museum is also home to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, which is the only curatorial center of its kind dedicated to the study and exhibition of feminist art.  The Museum and its activities are overseen by 30 volunteer Trustees, 278 full-time and 96 part-time staff, and a corps of over 150 interns, guides and volunteers.  The $32 million budget currently includes $7 million provided by local and state government.

The Brooklyn Museum is a leading cultural institution and a community museum dedicated to serving its wide-ranging audience.  With a full program of innovative special exhibitions and dynamic education programs, the Museum attracted 600,000 visitors in fiscal year 2014.  Housed in the heart of Brooklyn, the Museum’s audience is a reflection of the diversity of its borough and city.  Few, if any, museums in the country attract an audience as varied with respect to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational background and age.  Recent visitor surveys reveal that almost 40 percent of visitors self-identify as people of color, 58 percent are under the age of 45 and many are first-time visitors to a museum.

Today

Under the leadership of Arnold L. Lehman, director since 1997, the Museum has placed a major emphasis on the quality of the visitor experience and on reaching out to new audiences, often through partnerships with other thought leaders, community members, scholars, educators and artists.  The Museum has an ongoing commitment to the innovative installation and use of the galleries and collection, starting with its cross-genre approach to the American Art Galleries, the aforementioned Sackler Center and, currently, the restoration of the Asian Galleries on the second floor and the pending expansion of the education facilities.  Similarly, over the last decade, there has been a continuous push to update the building, including climate control, a transformation of the main entrance into a light-filled pavilion and public plaza designed by Polshek Partnership Architects (now Ennead Architects), and a redesign of the entire first floor that created new gallery spaces, new dining areas that include the Brooklyn landmark restaurant, Saul, and a new retail shop.

Programming and Presenting the Collection

The Brooklyn Museum is a leader in its innovative approaches to presenting its permanent collection and special exhibitions.  The Museum is proud of its record for sharing the riches of its collections with peer institutions and its commitment to developing touring exhibitions.  At home, Connecting Cultures: A World in Brooklyn, a cross-cultural installation, presents visitors with a model for how to view objects in museums as not only products of their own time and culture, but across boundaries of geography and time that often are imposed on museum installations.

The Brooklyn Museum is a leader in using technology in innovative ways to enhance the visitor experience by offering creative outlets, providing a way to voice personal opinions and share ideas and facilitating social interaction.  Open licensing of high-resolution images is used to promote sharing and provide better access to the Museum’s holdings.  In participatory projects, likeClick!, Split Second and GO, visitors have become co-creators and collaborators who help determine the shape of an exhibition.  Currently, through permanent collection galleries and special exhibitions, staff uses video to ask visitors questions and gain feedback via iPad kiosks so that the Museum can better understand how visitors are experiencing its installations.

The Museum is undertaking a major new initiative to promote visitor engagement through digital tools.  With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, this initiative is being developed to enable visitors to use their mobile devices to ask questions of experts in real time.  Location-based technology will be implemented throughout the Museum so that a visitor’s location can be used to provide relevant answers, as well as recommend objects in close proximity.

The Brooklyn Museum has been designing and implementing innovative and dynamic educational programs for visitors of all ages for nearly a century.  Over 400 schools are engaged annually, while 750 adult and 400 youth programs are provided each year.  Some of these activities, ranging from Target First Saturdays to ArtyFacts to Teen Nights, have become signature popular pursuits for making the visitor experience the Museum’s first priority and to demonstrate the power of the arts to unite the local community and draw first-time, young and repeat visitors to the Museum as a destination where all feel welcome – to be inspired, challenged, delighted, educated and moved.

THE POSITION

The Director of the Brooklyn Museum must be a leader in the field who is eager to chart a dynamic course for the Museum.  The Director also has been an influential voice in the cultural renaissance of Brooklyn, a role the board would like to see continue.  He or she must be comfortable in identifying and integrating progressive ideas into a large operation that will keep it true to mission and audience as well as relatively nimble.

The Director is responsible for the Brooklyn Museum’s artistic vision, strategic and financial direction and overall management, including its collections, exhibitions and programs, physical, human resources, its future growth and development, and the professional practices of collaboration, acquisition, deaccession, preservation, program organization and presentation.

The Director, with the support of, and in partnership with, the Board of Trustees, is responsible for the financial health of the Museum through civic engagement, fundraising and appropriate earned revenue pursuits.

Key institutional priorities for an incoming Director include:

Internal Priorities

• Assessing and addressing the administrative and infrastructure needs of the institution;
• Supervising, supporting and recruiting a highly qualified professional staff; delegating responsibilities and authority appropriately;
• Developing close relationships with the Trustees and government leaders, finding ways to bring forth new ideas and resources from each;
• Leading Trustees and staff in an inclusive strategic planning process and executing it successfully;
• Championing museum best practices with respect to governance, exhibition planning, collection management, acquisitions and facilities;
• Holding all individuals accountable for specific and collective performance, providing direction and enhancing morale;
• Fostering a transparent and collaborative culture, including open communications with staff and Trustees.

External Priorities

• Ensuring curatorial excellence and programmatic vision for the Museum’s artistic direction and development; planning and executing a balanced yet forward-thinking exhibition program consistent with the Brooklyn Museum’s outstanding collections and international stature;
• Solidifying the Museum’s institutional identity, including clear and proactive messaging and branding; enhancing the overall visibility of the Museum regionally, nationally and internationally;
• Executing a multifaceted fundraising operation that builds community, civic support and trust along with financial security; embracing the demands of a close working relationship with government and civic leaders that includes maintaining and enhancing financial support;
• Investing the time and resources in scholarship to ensure that the Museum remains an educational and cultural leader;
• Continuing to define the Museum’s audiences clearly and expansively; offering and implementing compelling strategies for diverse audience engagement;
• Continuing to enhance the visitor experience; using technology as an innovative strategy  to set the Museum apart as an institution on the cutting edge in visitor experience;
• Developing collaborative relationships with established and rising members of the Brooklyn cultural, educational, political and business communities, as well as institutional peers and leaders in the museum field.

THE PERSON

The Director must be an experienced leader with a proven record of successful management, and an ambassador with an informed eye and compelling vision to represent the Brooklyn Museum in local, national and international arenas.  The Director must have or be:

• A deep and passionate love of art; a commitment to the highest levels of scholarship and education in all areas of the arts of the Museum;
• An innovator, with a vision of the future of museums;
• An enthusiastic and effective fundraiser; practiced in working effectively with boards;
• Accessible and collaborative, generous of spirit, outgoing, and one who enjoys the social demands of the Director’s role;
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to be effective under pressure and to handle constant multitasking and diverse constituencies;
• The experience and ability to manage financial operations;
• Integrity, fairness, decisiveness, and good and tempered judgment;
• Credibility and extensive experience in the field, and the networks to prove it;
• Prior experience with museum operations, government, governance and best practices; community driven and civically minded;
• Excellent writing and communication skills;
• Willing and able to sustain a demanding Brooklyn Museum events and travel schedule;
• A self-starter able to bring an entrepreneurial spirit to an established institution; a track record of coalescing others around objectives and their successful implementation.

Applicants for positions at the Brooklyn Museum are considered without regard to race, creed, color, country of origin, sex, age, citizenship, disability, marital status or sexual orientation. Candidates of color are strongly encouraged to apply.