In 1925, the City of Davenport celebrated the opening of the first municipally owned art gallery in Iowa. It remained a city-run museum until its new building opened in 2005 when the city transferred responsibility to the Figge Art Museum, a nonprofit organization. The Figge has a collection of over 6,000 objects and recently received a gift of 44 art works of modern and contemporary art including luminaries such as Helen Frankenthaler, Alice Neel, and Marsden Hartley to join their other collections of Haitian, Spanish Colonial and Regionalist art works including the Grant Wood archive.

The Museum’s mission is Bringing Art and People together: We enrich or community with the experience of art through education, collections, exhibitions and preservation.

The Museum is overseen by a 21-member Board of Trustees. The Museum has a staff of 19 full-time staff and 23 part-time staff members. There are 35 active docents and more than 70 additional volunteers. Its annual budget is approximately $3.7 mil. The membership is 1,400.

A very active education program includes programs at the museum as well as programs with 95 community partners. The Studio School offers art classes for students of all ages and provides quality art instruction to students in grades 5-12 throughout the academic year.

The Executive Director will have the opportunity to plan the Museum’s twentieth anniversary in 2025 and celebrate the installation of the Leo Villareal sculpture called Evanescent Field on the four exterior sides of the David Chipperfield building.The Executive Director, reporting to the Board of Trustees, will bring vitality and direction, augment its financial resources and implement short -and long-term strategic plans.

The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree in Art, Art History or Museum Studies or a related field. A minimum of 7-10 years of experience at a senior level position; a commitment to DEAI, strong fundraising and management skills as well as connections throughout the art world.

Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range is $150,000-$200,000. The start date is fall 2024.

To apply applicants must submit a current resume, on one-two-page narrative describing interest and experience and three professional references. Please use MCA’s online application system: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/executive-director-figge