President and CEO [Ols Salem Museums & Gardens, Winston-Salem, NC]

Description

Old Salem Museums and Gardens (OSM&G) seeks an innovative, dynamic President and CEO to build on its recent progress and to secure a vibrant future.  This prominent museum complex includes living history presentations in restored buildings, working gardens, and a nationally renowned decorative arts museum and research center.  Its programs and events are lively contributions to a culturally rich region.

OSM&G has nearly completed a $17-million capital campaign, created and furnished new self-guided galleries, grown visitation, increased programming, retired significant debt, and reduced structural deficits.  The organization now looks to solidify its base and forge a shared vision for the future.

The successful candidate will have a record of accomplishment at leading a complex museum or other cultural organization.  He/she will have strong leadership and management skills and the diplomacy to work effectively with diverse constituencies, including trustees, advisory board members, a talented staff, the Moravian community, and the city.  He/she will appreciate and embrace the regional setting and local culture.  An outgoing relationship builder, the new President and CEO will seek opportunities for partnerships with arts organizations, educational institutions, and municipal and county leaders.

About OSM&G – Historic Town of Salem, MESDA, and Gardens

OSM&G is part of a National Landmark historic district in the oldest section of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Historic Town of Salem was founded in 1766 by the Moravians, a Protestant religious group who established an earlier settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania prior to coming to North Carolina.  Salem was developed as the central administrative, spiritual, craft, and professional town surrounded by five outlying congregations. Salem’s restored buildings, shops, and gardens are interspersed with private homes, the Home Church, and Salem Academy and College.

The town’s restored and reconstructed buildings and gardens, staffed by knowledgeable, dedicated interpreters, portray those who lived and worked in the early South.  Tinsmiths, potters, cobblers, gunsmiths, bakers and carpenters practice their trades while interacting with visitors.  Retail shops and restaurants enhance visitors’ experiences.

MESDA is home to the finest collection of Southern decorative arts in the country. The museum is internationally recognized for its contributions to the study and understanding of the history, decorative arts, and material culture of the American South.

The MESDA Research Center houses the MESDA Object Database, a collection of approximately 20,000 records of southern-made objects, and the MESDA Craftsman Database, a collection of primary-source information on nearly 85,000 artisans working in 127 different trades in the early south.

The Gardens in Old Salem showcase horticultural practices in the community at different times, each one reflecting the period of the buildings associated with it. Gardens feature open-pollinated vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruits, and grains. Seed saving is a core mission. Historic methods and sustainable practices are gaining new relevance today.

The Historic Town of Salem and MESDA serve an audience of 190,000 annually with daily tours, educational programs and special events. The museums employ 200 people and have a budget approaching $8 million.  Endowments total $34 million.

Opportunities

• The new President and CEO will play a key, creative role in leading a 66-year-old organization with diverse assets, a multi-faceted living history program and a nationally renowned decorative arts collection.
• A strong senior staff, dedicated front-line people, and a well-connected board are ready for constructive change
• The new President and CEO will inherit the momentum of recent successes in fundraising, budgetary control, audience growth, and expanded programming.
• OSM&G enjoys strong ties with corporate and foundation funders in the area.
• OSM&G has broadly regional ties through collections, advisors, and board members, drawing interest and funding from well beyond the local community.  MESDA has a national reputation and reach.
• The President and CEO will live and become an important player in a desirable city with strong arts and educational institutions and a revitalizing downtown, one of the Piedmont Triad cities where quality of life and temperate climate are drawing new residents.
• The President and CEO will have the opportunity to make a treasured cultural resource vital and meaningful to new generations.

Challenges

• Despite a nearly complete capital campaign and recent debt retirement, structural deficits and over-reliance on endowments must be resolved in coming years.  Significant plans are in place, but additional new strategies will be needed.
• Many constituencies to address, including the Moravian Church, the City of Winston-Salem, residents of private homes within the shared historic district; major donors; the MESDA board of advisors, and the Board of Trustees.

Requirements

Qualifications

• A graduate-level degree in museum studies, public history, nonprofit management, or a related field.
• Five to ten years’ successful leadership experience in a complex organization.
• Commitment to public history, preservation, education, and material culture.
• Strong business sense.
• Demonstrated fundraising skills.
• Active participation in community organizations; a builder of strategic partnerships.
• Thorough understanding of the challenges facing historic-house and living-history museums and the current efforts to keep them vital.
• Diplomatic, outgoing personality.
• Ability to build consensus among diverse interests; a good listener, writer, and articulate speaker.

How to Apply

Nominations welcome.  Apply in confidence: Email cover letter, résumé (Word document preferred), salary requirement, and names of 3 references with contact information by July 11, 2016 to retained search firm: Scott Stevens, Associate Search Consultant, Museum Search & Reference/Marilyn Hoffman, SearchandRef@museum-search.com. References will not be contacted without prior permission of the applicant.  EOE.

City and Region

Two adjacent towns merged in 1913 to form Winston-Salem, now a city of 236,000 people.  Winston-Salem is in the northwest Piedmont area of North Carolina, situated midway between the state’s Blue Ridge and Great Smoky mountains to the west and the Atlantic beaches and Outer Banks to the east.  It is the seat of Forsyth County.  Nearby Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem comprise the Piedmont Triad, renowned for their industries, educational institutions, and cultural centers.

Previously driven by its tobacco and textile industries, Winston-Salem is becoming a leader in the nanotech, high-tech, and biotech fields.  Medical research is gaining prominence, with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center the largest employer in the city.  Many large firms have corporate headquarters there.

Winston-Salem is called the “City of the Arts and Innovation.”  Local cultural attractions and institutions include the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Twin City Stage, Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, Piedmont Opera, Winston-Salem Symphony, Stevens Center for the Performing Arts, Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, Hanesbrands Theater, The North Carolina Black Repertory Company, Piedmont Craftsmen, Hispanic Arts Initiative, and The Sawtooth School for Visual Art. The arts district around Sixth and Trade Streets features many galleries and workshops.  The city hosts the National Black Theatre Festival and the RiverRun International Film Festival.

Winston-Salem has a number of colleges and universities, including Wake Forest University; Salem College, the oldest women’s college in the nation by founding date and the 13^th oldest college overall; Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university founded in 1892; and University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a top-ranked creative and performing arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, founded in 1963 as America’s first public arts conservatory.  The city is also home to Carolina Music Ways, a grassroots arts organization focusing on the area’s diverse, interconnected music traditions, including bluegrass, blues, jazz, gospel, old-time string band, and Moravian music.

The Piedmont Triad and surrounding towns are drawing new residents from other parts of the country attracted by the moderate climate and the presence of so many educational and cultural institutions.  The area has been cited in national publications and websites as among the most livable communities and best places to retire.