Position: The University of South Dakota and the Board of Trustees of the National Music Museum are seeking a dynamic professional to serve as the Director of the National Music Museum (NMM) at the University of South Dakota (USD).
Requires a professional with the stature and track record to fulfill all responsibilities of the Director’s job.
To:
· Provide administrative and academic leadership for the Museum, working collaboratively with its Board, staff, and the College of Fine Arts to continue the growth and development of the Museum as a world leader in outreach, research, education, and preservation of the history of musical instruments.
· Serve on a new building project committee and assist in finalizing a multi-million dollar capital campaign.
· Lead transition to new purpose-built off-site storage facility in Vermillion.
· Raise funds for annual operations, including increasing membership and grant funding.
· Implement strategic plan and report progress to board and staff.
· Maintain a strong commitment to the university campus and its education programs.
· Oversee the continuation of successful Museum offerings and the development of new programs and exhibitions.
· Work with and engage a Board of thirty members.
· Manage a professional staff of twelve.
· Oversee high standards for the care, display, and interpretation of important collections and loans.
· Develop and monitor the $1.5M annual budget.
· Work with staff and the marketing committee to enhance marketing of the museum as a world-class institution and destination.
· Manage the facilities, including the NMM’s Carnegie-library 1910 climate-controlled building, where 1,100 representative instruments are exhibited in 9 galleries; the building also includes a concert hall, library, and conservation laboratory.
· Foster a professional and collegial environment.
· Oversee the Master of Music degree program in the History of Musical Instruments (a prestigious program and the only one in the US, from which the musical-instrument curators at the Metropolitan Museum in NY and the MFA in Boston and other curators have graduated).
The NMM is the world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of 15,000 rare and historic American, European and non-Western musical instruments. It is the premier institution of its kind, well-known internationally, with research scholars visiting from Paris, London, Dusseldorf, The Hague, Mexico City, and New York. It holds many of the earliest, best preserved, and most historically important musical instruments known. Forbes.com said, “Bob Dylan’s and Johnny Cash’s guitars meet Stradivarius violins at this dazzling museum.”* The NMM is associated with the USD Department of Music as a unit within the College of Fine Arts. Programs range from concerts and lectures to school tours. Multi-media tours allow visitors to see videos and hear instruments and curators. For the right person, this is a “died and gone to heaven” job. Visit www.nmmusd.org and take a virtual tour.
*Forbes lists the NMM as #8 on its international “Worth It” list, where #2 is the Hotel Le Bristol, Paris. #6 is a hotel suite at Dar Ahlam, Morocco near Marrakech; and #9 is the Epic Pass, a national season pass for unlimited skiing at top-tier mountains such as Vail and Tahoe. 2
Qualifications:
· Academic credentials – graduate degree in the field of musicology, museum studies, ethnomusicology, arts administration, or business required.
· At least five years of experience in museum administration, music administration, or other non-profit organization administration preferred.
· Experience with non-profit fundraising for operations and capital, including private-donor gifts, grant-writing, and membership-development giving at a scale appropriate to this museum is preferred.
· College teaching and museum-curation experience are desirable.
· Knowledge of and passion for music history and for rare and historical musical instruments desirable.
· People skills to engage the Board, membership, donors, and the public, and to serve as the face of the Museum desirable.
Salary: This position is a full-time, twelve month administrative job with the salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. USD offers benefits package and the NMM and USD offer travel budget to attend conferences and maintain national/international contacts. The person in this position reports to the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and to the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Location and USD: Enjoy the life-style of a small (population 11,000), safe university town and the option to teach at the state’s flagship liberal-arts university (enrollment over 10,000), founded in 1862. USD Vermillion encompasses the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine Arts, the Schools of Business, Law, Medicine, and Education, as well as the Graduate School. USD offers 132 undergraduate programs, majors and minors and 65 graduate programs. Visit http://www.usd.edu/about-usd/ . USD is healthy, growing, and financially stable.
Vermillion, SD, lies atop a bluff on the Missouri River and is known for its parks and intellectual, cultural, and recreational amenities, plus a winery. Home to Native peoples for centuries, today’s Vermillion was founded in 1859 by French fur traders. The city and regional towns have excellent schools. Enjoy the low cost-of-housing and choose a Victorian mansion or Arts-and-Crafts bungalow in a lovely residential neighborhood near the University and cycle to work.
To apply: Applications will only be accepted on-line at https://yourfuture.sdbor.edu . Include on the website: application letter, resume, philosophy of administration and educational development at a
museum, names and contact information of five current references, and an unofficial copy of your graduate transcript.
Questions, contact:
Monica Tiahrt, Office of the Dean
NMM Director Screening Committee
College of Fine Arts
The University of South Dakota
414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069
605-677-5481
Application Deadline: Review of applications will begin July 10, 2017, and will continue until the position is filled.
USD is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty, staff, and students.
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