Position Overview
The Director, Haggerty Museum of Art is a dynamic, innovative, and thoughtful leader who advances the Museum’s mission, vision, and values to connect people to art, ideas, and one another. The Director cultivates and stewards philanthropic relationships that allow the Museum to sustain and thrive. The Director understands and can communicate art’s importance as a teaching instrument for cross-disciplinary, object-based inquiry and is committed to exploring the wide-reaching possibilities of this academic unit on campus. An active and engaged presence in the university and community at large, the Director works collaboratively with stakeholders at Marquette, in Milwaukee, and beyond to identify partnerships and opportunities that deepen the impact of the Museum’s exhibitions, collections, and programs. The Director provides inspirational leadership and promotes a shared culture of inclusion for the museum’s audiences and for its staff.
Duties and Responsibilities
1. Actively partners with University Advancement to determine a comprehensive strategy for engaging multiple philanthropic, corporate, and community partners and ensuring financial sustainability.
Expand the portfolio of contributed revenue and grow unrestricted endowment by cultivating and effectively stewarding past, current, and future individual donors.
Identify and secure grant funding from foundations and other public funding opportunities and secure gifts and sponsorships from businesses.
Oversee the staff in the management of a successful annual campaign and membership program.
2. Develops, plans, and implements key strategic initiatives that maximize the unique role of the museum in the context of an academic mission while ensuring activities are also relevant and attentive to diverse local, regional, and national communities.
Oversee curatorial and collections staff in the creation and presentation of exhibitions and programs that are mission-aligned―e.g., that are academically and artistically excellent, that enhance university priorities, that leverage and maximize distinctive assets, and that highlight faculty, staff, and community expertise.
Collaborate with various departments, colleges, units and programs to ensure that the Museum’s activities maintain and expand curricular and co-curricular connections and contribute to the intellectual and creative life of university constituents.
3. Builds and sustains relationships with campus constituents, communities, and national and global networks to amplify the museum’s profile, increase understanding of the museum’s activities, and ensure the museum’s impact is felt broadly.
Serve as a highly visible and dynamic ambassador for the Museum and its culturally responsive, community-engaged programming.
Engage with campus partners to position the museum as an integral part of the Marquette student, faculty, and staff academic experience.
Engage with other cultural institutions and community partners to amplify the Museum’s role in creating vibrant culture on campus and beyond.
4. Manages direct reports and provides compelling organizational leadership that aligns with the Museum’s Mission, Vision, and Values.
Recruit, retain, and motivate the Museum’s staff through continuous professional development.
Create and maintain an inclusive, healthy, collaborative, and high-functioning institutional culture that celebrates the talents of each team member while holding them accountable to institutional and performance goals.
5. Stewards existing resources, including oversight of long-term and annual operating budgets and endowments, to ensure a strong organizational future.
Follow fiscal management and operational practices that comply with university policies, procedures, agreements, and guidelines.
Maximize financial and programmatic sustainability while ensuring the Museum’s fiscal health.
6. Serves as the Museum’s Academic Program Review and Accreditation officer and liaises with national organizations such as American Alliance of Museums and Association of Art Museum Directors as needed.
Receive and maintain AAM Accreditation, collaborating with Marquette partners in Facilities Planning and Maintenance, the Office of the General Counsel, and the Office of Risk Management as needed.
Understand and adhere to the highest standards of museum practice, in accordance with national and international standards and best practices.
7. Stewards Marquette University’s collection of fine art in compliance with the approved Collections Management Policy.
Protect, strengthen, and preserve the collection through strategic and ethical acquisitions, deaccessioning, and collection management.
Develop and implement a Collections Plan that aligns the Museum’s holdings with its mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities. Work with the curatorial staff and Collections Committee to achieve these goals.
8. Perform other duties and responsibilities as required, assigned, or requested.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Responsibilities
Master’s degree in art history, museum studies, or a related field is required.
Minimum of 6 years prior management within an art museum known for quality and excellence.
Commitment to structural equity, inclusion, and belonging toward broad-based institutional excellence, representing a range of perspectives, thoughts, and actions.
Strong cross-cultural competence
High emotional intelligence and proven ability to forge mutually respectful, trusting, and effective relationships with a diverse group of staff, donors, artists, community leaders, and decision makers.
Knowledge of current art museum practices articulated by the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and other professional organizations.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
Strong leadership, decision making, interpersonal, planning, and organizational skills; solid presentation, negotiation, problem solving, conflict resolution, and meeting management skills.
Ability to recruit and develop professional talent, delegate effectively, and maximize the contributions of directly reporting staff members while holding each accountable to institutional and performance goals.
Ability to develop and monitor annual operating and multi-year project budgets.
Experience with and enthusiasm for fundraising, especially the development of philanthropic relationships resulting in major gifts.
Ph.D. Preferred
It is the policy of Marquette University to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other applicable federal or state-protected classification.
To apply, please visit the Marquette University website at: https://employment.marquette.edu/postings/20650
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