Current Opportunities

Associate Director, Museums and the Arts - Ithaka S+R Team

Associate Director, Museums and the Arts - Ithaka S+R Team
New York, NY
Seniority Level
Director


Who we are


Ithaka S+R is a non-profit research and consulting service. Our mission is to help the academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological, and demographic change. Ithaka S+R has helped to spearhead organizational innovation and strategic direction for academic libraries and scholarly publishers for more than a decade. We have undertaken a number of focused partnerships related to museums and the arts over the past decade as well. Now, we are formally expanding our Libraries and Scholarly Communication program area to include Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums, and we are creating this new position to lead our expansion to serve museums and the arts communities more fully.


Museums and the Arts


In recent years, Ithaka S+R has completed a number of major research and advisory projects focusing on the museums, arts, and culture communities. Our ongoing partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) has worked to drive forward diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for art museums. Other major areas of work include efforts to bolster the strategy and leadership of art museums, to strengthen collaboration between art museums and libraries in higher education institutions, and to provide appropriate digital platforms for museums, other collections, and art historians. Funders and partners, in addition to Mellon, AAMD, and AAM, have included the American Architectural Foundation, the Getty Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Our museum-related publications are available online. Looking ahead, in addition to a strong portfolio of current projects, we have a number of proposals pending with a variety of additional partners and funders.


The Role


We are seeking an Associate Director to lead our portfolio and team serving museums and the arts. This will include responsibility for our community relations, business development, project delivery, and staff management. In collaboration with the Program Director, the Associate Director will be responsible for developing the strategic direction of our work to support museums and the arts in the coming years, including potential product and advisory offerings, as well as large-scale research projects. The Associate Director will lead client and funder relationships and will be accountable for specific business development goals, including a revenue target. The Associate Director will be responsible for supervising and mentoring a small and growing team whose members work primarily on projects led by the Associate Director, as well as work closely with our other methodological leads on project design and delivery.


Responsibilities
● Strategic Direction and Community Engagement
○ Develop and deepen relationships with leaders across the arts and culture communities with an initial focus on art museums as well as relevant foundations, funding agencies, philanthropists, and potential sponsors
○ Identify the key strategic dilemmas and opportunities facing individual arts and culture organizations and the sector broadly
○ Lead community awareness of these dilemmas and opportunities through writing and presentations
○ Design focused research projects and an overall research agenda to help the arts and culture community address these dilemmas and opportunities
○ Create standardized advisory services (such as audience surveys, technology evaluations, readiness assessments, etc) that can support the strategic directions of individual arts and culture organizations and small groups of them
● Business Development
○ Generate revenue through grants, sponsorships, advisory services, and other sources to meet an annual target
○ Create compelling proposals for funding the research agenda, working closely with the grants manager, and secure grants and other outside funding to support research projects
○ Develop consulting engagements for individual arts and culture organizations and small groups of them to meet their bespoke needs
● Advisory Services and Research
○ For all portfolio projects, ensure successful on time under budget completion, overseeing the work of all colleagues staffed to these projects
○ Collaborate effectively with methodological leads and other colleagues to design projects and research gathering tools and conduct research; for example, design interview guides and conduct interviews, develop survey questionnaires and conduct analysis, and/or run focus groups
○ Facilitate client workshops and other strategic planning engagements
○ Issue research project findings and analysis through reports and conference presentations
○ Deliver analysis and recommendations to clients through presentations and written reports
● Recruit, supervise, and mentor direct reports, initially a senior analyst and potentially growing in number.
● Represent Ithaka S+R at conferences, networking events, and client engagements.
● Some travel required for research, reporting, and representation purposes - approximately 10-15%.


Experience and Skills


We are searching for an individual with executive level experience in a museum or other arts-related organization. This could include someone with experience as a museum director or in a senior curatorial, financial or administrative role. The position might also be well suited to someone who has experience as program officer, a consultant or a government policy maker.

Specific requirements:


● Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s or PhD preferred.
● 10+ years of experience in a museum or other arts-related organization, with three or more years in an executive or other leadership role.
● A well developed professional network in the fields of museums and the arts.
● The ability to identify strategic challenges and opportunities in these fields, and shape research projects and advisory engagements to address them.
● Demonstrated success in grant seeking, fundraising, and/or partnership development.
● Experience managing complex projects and drawing together multiple stakeholders to achieve shared objectives.
● Supervisory experience including mentoring more junior colleagues.
● Demonstrated ability to translate complex concepts and research findings into compelling and accessible narratives, well-written reports, and engaging presentations.

Work for ITHAKA

Our team is passionate about our mission and supporting one another.  We enjoy working together to create opportunities for people to learn and grow out in the world, and we bring that same commitment to helping our teammates develop in our careers and our lives.  One of our core values is belonging. We embrace differences, and believe that the things that make each of us unique are the things that help us see new insights and build better solutions.
Learn more about Working at ITHAKA.

Apply Now:

Interested candidates can submit their resume, a detailed cover letter, and salary requirements.


We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, domestic violence victim status, veteran status, disability, history of disability or perceived disability, or other status protected by law.

Salary Range: 
Competitive

About This Job

  • ITHAKA
  • New York, NY
  • Category: Professional
  • Salary Range: Competitive
  • Posted: January 15, 2019