Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation (RAiR)

Search for a new Executive Director

Roswell, New Mexico

The Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation seeks a leader to steward a nearly 60-year-old artist-in-residence program and a museum devoted to the work of the more than 300 artists who have passed through it. 

RAiR, called “the gift of time,” offers six artists each year a house, a studio, and a stipend to follow their creative pursuits in Roswell for a twelve-month period. Created by the artist and businessman Donald B. Anderson in 1967, it was long run and funded entirely by him; in 2002, it became a registered non-profit, and gradually began transitioning into a fully professional, autonomous institution. Both the residency and its affiliated Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art (AMoCA) are thriving: the residency gets more than 600 applications each year for its six slots, and the museum has recently added rotating shows to its permanent collection and auxiliary community programming. RAiR is still mainly funded through the endowment Don Anderson established for it on his death in 2020 at the age of 101, but grant-writing and external fund-raising are increasingly important. 

Despite its popularity among artists, RAiR and AMoCA remain a well-kept secret even to much of the art world. Our hope is to retain the uniqueness and intimacy of this special program while bringing it to the attention of more people who would be excited about it. 

Our Executive Director position is currently a part-time position, of 32 hours/week. 

The main components of the job are these:

Vision: Understanding RAiR and its mission, and knowing how to support and cultivate this without distorting it. 

Public face of the organization: Speaking and networking; creating enthusiasm for the program and finding supporters both within the Roswell community and in the larger New Mexico arts community, and even nationally. 

Staff oversight: working with the current directors as an ally and someone they can turn to for help; working well with lower-level staff; keeping up morale and a feeling of collaboration. 

Development: finding new sources of funding to enable us to pay higher salaries, increase artists’ stipends, and expand programming at AMoCA. 

Financials: keeping abreast of the organization’s fiscal state and overseeing expenditures, income, tax returns, etc.

Residence in Roswell is highly desirable but not an absolute requirement; however, residence in New Mexico is a must. 

The expected salary range for this position is $50,000-$65,000.

We are open to expanding this to a full-time job in the future, if the budget is able to grow enough to cover the additional expense.

For further information or to apply, contact Anne Midgette, president of the RAiR board, at MidgetteA@mac.com.