The Director of Education leads a creative, adaptive, innovative, and mission-driven education department who works to establish the Museum as a center for learning through a continuation of offerings from early childhood through life-long learning. The Director of Education is strategically focused and aims to connect inclusivity, diversity, access, and equity for Museum audiences through education, interpretation, and programs. A successful Director of Education will create a lasting impact that broadens and deepens relationships with Museum audiences on a local, state-wide, and national level.
Essential Functions
Role #1: Leadership, Management, Accountability
Lead the Museum’s interpretive initiatives, public programs, studio programs, collegiate, and K-12 statewide outreach efforts to strengthen the Museum’s mission while providing innovative learning experiences for a diverse audience of all ages
Guide a high performing education and academic affairs team that collaborates effectively with other departments with strong collegiality and communication
Support the education and academic affairs teams’ growth and development, set clear priorities, and foster an inclusive work environment that fulfills the Museum’s mission, vision, and values
Model the Museum’s values by following and enforcing systems, policies, and procedures
Represent the Museum’s mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities with internal and external stakeholders
Represent MMA as a leader in the Museum field and educational sector
Thought partner with Center for Art and Public Exchange (CAPE) team members to move the work of CAPE forward in connecting to new audiences on a local, statewide, and national level, creating environments that foster connection and care, and leading museum practices towards more authentic ways of relating to community, power, class, and privilege through programs, interpretation, and exhibitions
Role #2: Interpretation, Educational, and Exhibition Experiences
Provide leadership in interpretation planning for exhibitions and collaborate with the curatorial department, contractors, and applicable community members to ensure that the content and interpretive techniques best meet our audiences’ needs
Oversee the development of innovative and meaningful exhibition engagement spaces in the permanent collection exhibition and rotating exhibition spaces
Support and provide guidance for the successful continuation of the Teaching Fellows program and Close-Looking practices
Recruit and train Museum Guide co-horts using Close-Looking methodologies, oversee their schedules, and book adult group tours to promote audience participation and meet attendance goals
Support career paths into the Museum field through the Teen Council, Teaching Fellows program, paid internship program, and other learning opportunities
Role # 3: Program Management to Engage with and Grow the Museum’s Audience
Plan and facilitate an innovative and ambitious calendar of programs for local and national audiences with artists, scholars, and field professionals that connect audiences with artworks and exhibitions by exploring themes that deepen meaning and understanding, link local and national conversations, elicit brave conversations, and inspire new narratives in contemporary Mississippi.
Plan and facilitate monthly public programs, including Museum After Hours, Music in the City, gallery talks, and wellness offerings
Host regular conversation-based programming, gallery interventions, and other public facing events to engage with local audiences
Work with the Director and Advancement team to propose innovative programs and projects for prospective funders and grant initiatives
Provide oversight and guidance for a distinctive and innovative Teen Council program
Oversee the planning and execution of robust studio programs that integrate art and hands-on studio activities into K-12 core subject areas and for adult learnings
Provide guidance for Art Therapy programs and other studio initiatives
Role # 4: Early Childhood, K-12 Student and Teacher Engagement
Build relationships with teachers and school administrators in the Jackson-metro area and across the state to create partnership opportunities and to increase state-wide school group visitation, connecting early childhood learners with art enrichment through arts-based curriculum, virtual tours, digital resources, and visits to MMA and Affiliate Program exhibitions
Implement and expand the Museum’s Second and Third Grade Initiative to focus on access to art education in all public schools and interested private schools
Support the creation of teacher resources and school group bookings to meet strategic priorities and attendance goals
Support the growth of after-school offerings and out-of-school experiences for students during summer and holiday breaks
Work with colleagues to expand school partnerships in the affiliate network program offerings across the state through digital resources, virtual tours, and visits to affiliate exhibitions
Work with the Director and applicable partners on short and long-term plans to establish the Center for Childhood Creativity
Role # 5: Curricula Development, Evaluation, and Data
Develop formal and informal learning goals and resources to connect new and existing audiences with the MMA, its exhibitions, facilities, and programs
Oversee the development of both printed and digital educational resources, such as exhibition guides and the digital app
Prepare recommendations for program developments that are based on program evaluations informed by audience research and data
Co-lead the Museum’s data initiative to ensure accurate tracking of audience data in all departments, and provide data reports that allow the Leadership team to stay in tune with both operational successes and concerns and guide decision-making
Role # 6: Academic Affairs
Grow the Department of Academic Affairs offerings with Jackson State University, Millsaps College, Touglaoo College, and Belhaven University
Expand the work of Academic Affairs to students and faculties in universities outside of Jackson
Oversee the work of the Fellows and partner with other MMA colleagues to mentor Fellows, supporting their career paths into the Museum field
Build meaningful relationships with college faculties to strengthen DAA partnerships and to grow MMA’s impact with college students
Explore higher ed concentrations in art therapy and art education in partnership with the DAA consortium of colleges and universities
Supervisory Responsibility
Supervises the Education and Academic Affairs Departments as well as the Teaching Fellow and Museum Guide programs
Travel
Some travel may be required
Salary Range
$88,000 - $98,000
Expected Hours of Work
Exempt - This is a 40-hour a week job, primarily between Monday through Friday. Some evenings and weekends are necessary to support Museum events and programs.
Physical Demands and Work Environment
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Some duties may require long periods of movement and moving objects 5 pounds or more.
Work may be performed both indoors and outdoors in different weather conditions.
About the Mississippi Museum of Art
The Museum is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to creating a diverse environment. The Museum is a private not-for-profit and is not a department or agency of the state or federal government.
The Mississippi Museum of Art is more than an art museum in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a museum of Mississippi – a museum that connects Mississippians to our culture, our history, our communities, and to each other. It is a museum informed by the legacy of our past and emboldened by a vision of a future without division.
We believe it our responsibility to the community to explore and examine every facet of the Mississippi story. The Mississippi Museum of Art is committed to curating a shared space for every Mississippian – a brave space where we can all find wonder, peace, and a voice.
We pride ourselves in being a visitor and community-focused art museum and garden in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The Museum employs a collaborative staff that works to ensure the exhibitions, programs, operations, and community outreach fulfill the mission, vision, and core values of the institution. We are committed to building a culture of inclusivity that includes continued professional development opportunities at all levels of the Museum.
Mission
The Mississippi Museum of Art connects Mississippi to the world, and the power of art to the power of community.
Vision
Committed to honesty, equity, and inclusion, the Mississippi Museum of Art is a leader in engaging art, artists, and participants in the critical work of reckoning with the past, connecting with each other in the present, and thinking how museums will work with their communities in the future.
Core Values
Artworks + Artists: Museum programs recognize artworks as primary sources of meaning and explore them in the context of their creation and creators; the Museum builds relationships with artists, amplifies their voices through exhibitions, and engages them with new audiences.
Warm Welcome + Inclusion: The Museum models gratitude and hospitality for all people and demonstrates inclusiveness at all levels of its operations and programs; everything, from the exhibitions to the gardens, is thoughtfully designed to prioritize accessibility, ensuring that everyone can participate fully. The Museum will model open hospitality for all people and will demonstrate inclusiveness at all levels of its operations and programs.
Excellence + Equity: Museum programs, exhibitions, and collections place artistic value as central and simultaneously challenge traditional hierarchies of genre and style.
Local Relevance + National Importance: The Museum facilitates investigations into Mississippi’s cultural histories that resonate with Jacksonians and Mississippians; the resulting programs hold up a mirror to the world, attracting local and national partners who seek to explore our shared histories.
Honesty + Diversity: Honoring diverse viewpoints, histories, and lived experiences, the Museum is a place for honest conversations that explore power and privilege in services of learning, understanding, and empathy.
Trust + Exchange: The Museum believes accurate interpretation of artworks depends on lived experience as well as scholarship. The Museum invites intellectual exchange between the audiences, staff, and artists who create exhibitions and deepen their meaning through their exploration.
Resilience + Sustainability: Museum operations and facilities are designed with attention to the present and future needs of visitors and environment alike; recognizing the increasing need for adaptability in the face of uncertainty, the Museum prioritizes strength, adaptability, and growth.
Employee Values
A successful member of the Museum’s team will be mission-driven, welcoming, inclusive, respectful, empathetic, ambitious, will bring a level of excellence to their work, have a high respect for artists and artistic integrity, and will collaborate within their department and with other departments.