Chief Curator [Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach, FL]

Chief Curator, Museum of Arts & Sciences

The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) in Daytona Beach, FL seeks a Chief Curator for one of the largest multidisciplinary museums in the Southeast.  The ideal candidate will be experienced with multiple types of collections and have a track record of innovative and engaging exhibits as the museum begins to rebuild its exhibits program after an extensive period of construction and renovation.

Founded in 1955, MOAS moved to its current site in 1971 and grew to around 100,000ft² through a number of endowed capital projects as the collections grew. Today MOAS continues to operate the original museum, which has recently undertaken a $6.4m project to rebuild its West Wing and to relocate and upgrade the planetarium, which also features a hands-on children’s science center, the Charles & Linda Williams Children’s Wing. In February 2015 MOAS opened the $14.3m Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art on the same campus, a 26,000ft² facility dedicated to Florida art. MOAS also owns Gamble Place in nearby Port Orange, a collection of historic buildings set in a 180 acre nature preserve that is currently operated in collaboration with a local partner organization.

MOAS has multiple national and internationally recognized collections including:

• The Cuban Foundation Collection – the largest collection of Cuban Art outside of Cuba containing internationally important works.
• The Root Family Museum – collection of Americana, social and industrial history documenting the life and work of the Root family, owners of the Root Glass Company, designers of the original Coca Cola Bottle. Collection includes two recently restored railcars in a newly renovated dedicated indoor display space.
• Giant Ground Sloth – the most complete skeleton found in the US, now redisplayed in a dedicated natural history gallery in the new West Wing
• The Brown Collection of Florida Art – an extensive collection of 2,600 paintings representing Florida by renowned artists such as Martin Johnson Heade, Herman Herzog, Frank Henry Shapleigh, George Innes Jr. and Andrew Wyeth.
• Extensive collections of early American, European, Chinese and African art.

Responsibilities:

The Chief Curator is responsible for management and oversight of the museum’s curatorial function, including staff management, budget production and management, exhibit development, production and installation, collection management and development, collection donor cultivation and solicitation, development of academic programming, undertake research and produce articles and publications as required. The Chief Curator will work closely with other senior management colleagues on museum-wide initiatives and planning, particularly with the education and marketing departments on the production of exhibits and academic programs.

Additional skills include:

Experience of multiple collection types

Self-motivated and able to prioritize multiple tasks

Excellent public speaking skills

Excellent time and project management skills

Superior writing and verbal communication skills

Advanced problem solving skills

Ability to motivate and manage staff

Ability to adapt to change

Ability to produce and work within departmental and project budgets

Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite software

Educational Requirements:

Master’s Degree in a related field and extensive experience with a wide variety of collections

Because of the varied nature of the collections we are looking for an experienced curator who has worked with multiple collection types rather than a fine arts specialist – a separate search for a Curator of Art will be led by the Chief Curator once appointed. The ideal candidate should be experienced in the development of exhibits as the recent construction projects have allowed the organization to greatly expand the amount of space available for temporary exhibits. The Chief Curator will play a key role in revising and updating the museum’s collecting plan as part of the strategic planning process planned for 2016.

We offer a competitive salary and full benefits for the right candidate, along with the opportunity to work with impressive collections in a newly renovated and expanding building. For more details about the Museum of Arts & Sciences please visit www.moas.org . Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to the Executive Director, at asandall@moas.org