Current Opportunities
Executive Director
The Bruce Museum is a regionally-based, world-class institution highlighting art, science, and natural history in more than a dozen changing exhibitions annually. After years of planning, the Bruce Museum is ready to embark on an expansion plan of its current footprint, paving the way for more temporary and permanent exhibition space, deepening its educational programs and activities, a café, and an internal garden for light and reflection, consistent with its mission to foster the intersection of art, science, and natural history. The next Executive Director will have the singular opportunity to partner with the Board of Trustees and staff to refine and realize its future.
ABOUT THE BRUCE MUSEUM
The Bruce Museum promotes the understanding and appreciation of art and science to enrich the lives of all people. Consistently voted the “Best Museum” by area media, the first exhibition ever at the Bruce Museum took place in 1912. It featured works by local artists known as the Greenwich Society of Artists, several of whom were members of the Cos Cob Art Colony—an important part of the history of American painting, and the nucleus of the Museum's holdings of painting, watercolors, sketchbooks, and notebooks by such artists as Leonard and Mina Ochtman, George Wharton Edwards, and Hobart Jacobs. Over the years, the community, through its generosity, has built the Museum collection to nearly 15,000 objects representing the arts and sciences. Paralleling an interest in Connecticut painters and their paintings, early directors of the Bruce Museum, such as Ray Owen, Paul Howes, and Jack Clark, pursued the development of the natural sciences, building particular strengths in the mineral and avian collections. For more information on the collection, please visit here.
THE OPPORTUNITY
With guidance and support from a motivated and engaged Board of Trustees, the Executive Director will be the prime mover in enhancing the Museum's profile to increase visibility and recognition in the community and among peer institutions. The Executive Director will guide the Museum and its professional staff in pursuing its mission and assuring a sustainable future, garner support for the institution's priorities including serving as chief fundraiser leading the Museum's development team, provide skillful oversight of its operations, and serve as a thought leader in planning exhibitions, scholarly publications, and programs that engages the local community and an expanding audience.
Key priorities for the Bruce Museum's next Executive Director will be to collaborate with the Board of Trustees to implement the expansion project, organize and lead a capital campaign toward growth across all programmatic, operational, and physical aspects of the Museum, and develop the Museum's next strategic plan.
As the face of the Bruce Museum, the Executive Director will have the gravitas, enthusiasm, and ambition to develop and leverage a range of relationships locally, regionally, nationally, internationally, and within the industry. The Executive Director is also seen as the primary advocate for arts and culture in the community and speaks for the Museum's collections, exhibitions, connecting the public to arts, science, and culture. Through inspired, active, and diligent leadership and management, and drawing on a well of experience and knowledge, the Executive Director will take the Museum into the next phase of its evolution.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
The Executive Director is responsible for fulfilling the Museum's mission and its financial objectives by providing leadership and creative vision for its growth, and skillful management of all Museum operations. The Executive Director serves as the Bruce Museum's primary representative to the community, engaging and inspiring broad support for the Museum, and expanding its profile as a cultural beacon for the region. This individual will work closely with the Museum's Board of Trustees to develop and implement strategic goals and objectives, including a strategic plan to expand the Museum's campus, collections, and programs. As the chief fundraiser for the Museum, the Executive Director will lead the planning and implementation of a capital campaign and other advancement activities and will be actively engaged in cultivating and stewarding current and potential donors. The Executive Director will plan and manage the business and financial affairs of the Museum, and will inspire, mentor, and provide ongoing professional development for its staff.
CORE COMPETENCIES
The Bruce Museum's next Executive Director will be a seasoned executive with high energy and creativity, as well as a track record of achievement, management skills, and business acumen. With a demonstrated passion for art, science, and natural history, they will be a tested, persuasive, inventive leader who is inspired by the Bruce Museum's mission and can inspire others as well. Competitive candidates will possess the intellectual visor and vision, professional reputation, integrity, ethics and values, and personal magnetism needed to encourage trust and galvanize support for the Museum.
The Executive Director will model the Museum's commitment to access for and inclusion of multiple diverse constituencies within the local community. In addition, successful candidates will have knowledge of AAM/AAMD standards and practices, an advanced degree in museum studies, art history, or a related discipline, and the expertise required to evaluate, care for, and steward the Bruce Museum's collection.
CONTACT
The Bruce Museum has engaged Koya Leadership Partners to help in this hire. This search is being led by Naree Viner and Stephen Milbauer. Please submit a compelling cover letter and resume here or email Stephen at the following:
Naree W.S. Viner
Managing Director
Stephen Milbauer
Principal
ABOUT KOYA LEADERSHIP PARTNERS
Koya Leadership Partners is a national retained executive search and human capital-consulting firm that works exclusively with nonprofits and social enterprises. We deliver measurable results, finding exceptionally talented people who truly fit the unique culture of our client organizations and ensuring that organizations have the resources and strategies to support them. For more information about Koya Leadership Partners, visit www.koyapartners.com.
Apply Here
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