The Museum of Art & History at the McPherson Center

Exhibitions Manager

We are looking for a collaborative, experimental, organized person to join the MAH team as our exhibitions manager. This is a full-time position with benefits; salary range is $40,000-$50,000 depending on experience. In this role, you will have three primary responsibilities:

1. management of the development, design and installation of all exhibitions and site-based installations
2. development of interactive and participatory elements throughout the museum
3. community leadership and organizing to advance the Museum’s social goals through exhibition projects

To apply, please read the following job description and our exhibitions philosophy. Then, send a single PDF document to jobs@santacruzmah.org that includes three items:

1. A cover letter that addresses the unique skills you bring to the table, your long-term professional goals, and your availability. Include salary requirements and links to your portfolio or related work. Your letter should specifically address your experience with the tasks and responsibilities listed in the job description, as well as the values you bring to your work. Don’t worry about keeping it to one page–make sure we know what we need to know to consider you as a candidate.
2. A resume with at least one professional reference.
3. A filled-out application. Download the application here (it’s a word document) and follow the instructions to do a few activities to demonstrate your skills. These activities are not optional; you must return the application to be considered for the job.

Detailed Job Description: Exhibitions Manager

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Project management for all exhibitions and site-specific installations. A stickler when it comes to staying on schedule and budget. You must be a project management ninja to succeed at this job.
• Recruits, trains, and supervises exhibition design/development interns with support from the Visitor Services and Volunteers Manager.
• Works with staff exhibitions team to:
  • Manage the exhibitions program. Works closely with curators and program staff to develop and implement multi-year plans for exhibition and site-specific projects throughout the museum.
  • Coordinate and lead the design, construction and installation of exhibitions in the Museum’s galleries. Supervises the preparator.
  • Develop interactive, participatory, and technology-based elements for exhibitions to invite active visitor participation. Leads prototyping with visitors.
  • Develops plan for facilitation of participatory exhibition elements and trains volunteers, interns, and program staff to lead visitors successfully in these activities.
• Actively seeks out community partners for site-specific projects and exhibition collaborations in partnership with the Director of Community Programs.
• Leads the redevelopment of the permanent History Gallery to become a more flexible, participatory, social space with support from the Executive Director, History Curator, and Director of Education. Responsible for project management, content/exhibition development, design, and fabrication.
• Initiate and execute various affordable ways to make the museum more welcoming and delightful.

Other Responsibilities:

• Successfully and passionately represent the Museum, its mission and its goals to the community. Articulate and promote the Museum’s exhibition philosophy and program goals.
• Develop and implement tools and measurements to evaluate success of tasks and projects connected to this position.
• Be a supremely capable and enthusiastic collaborator.
• Promote the Museum’s programs.
• Exhibit generosity, creativity, and common sense in working closely with all Museum constituent groups.

Required Qualifications:

• Extensive project management experience in a museum, creative, or construction capacity.
• Generous perspective on how amateurs and visitors can contribute positively to our Museum’s vitality and exhibitions specifically.
• Great design eye without the ego; loves working in a team to co-develop exhibitions.
• Strong skills and experience in interactive exhibition development.
• Comfort with technology and technology-based exhibition development.
• Curiosity and engagement in experimental techniques for exhibition development, especially fast and light, participatory, and flexible approaches. Comfort working and thinking in terms of hybrid public/exhibition/program spaces.
• Reasonably skilled in Adobe Illustrator; able to whip out exhibition labels with ease.
• Able to motivate, supervise and manage interns and volunteers.
• Able to inspire and support a team of peers with tact and grace—motivating, guiding, and putting down your foot when it’s necessary.

Bonus Points for:

• Extensive graphic and 3d design experience.
• Community organizing related to cultural or arts projects.
• Experience working on history exhibitions or history-related projects (journalism, oral histories, multi-media), especially those that are community-based.
• Game design, interactive media design, delightful artistic surprises design.