Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs

POSITION SUMMARY

The Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs is responsible for the overarching vision and strategy that brings together exhibitions, collection gallery installations, and collection initiatives that support OMCA’s brand as amuseum, garden, and gathering place and that advance its social impact of building trust, understanding,and connection between people and communities. Working closely with the Director & CEO and otherdepartment managers, the position leads the development of a comprehensive content calendar for theMuseum’s temporary exhibitions and collection installations that showcase the breadth of OMCA’sinterdisciplinary collections, center equity and community voice, engage multiple constituencies, and tell theunique and compelling stories of Oakland and California. The position also partners closely with the SeniorDirector of Learning, Experience and Programming in leading the Content and Experience “circle” thatcomprises departments that collaborate to create a dynamic and integrated set of exhibitions and programsthat align with the Museum’s mission and achieve OMCA’s audience, social impact, and financial sustainabilitygoals. As a member of the Senior Directors Council, the position shares in overall leadership for the Museum,including responsibility for strategic planning and policy-making. This position oversees approximately 35employees in the Collections, Curatorial, Design, and Production departments, and directly coaches andsupervises 6 positions.

POSITION DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Executive Responsibilities

• Provide leadership to the overall institution as a member of the Senior Directors Council,contributing to policy-making and ensuring the Museum’s vitality and success through activecommunication, problem-solving, and decision-making
• Provide leadership for institutional planning, annual priorities, and institutional initiatives
• Contribute to the prudent and ongoing monitoring of OMCA annual budget and financial demands toensure a sustainable future
• Demonstrate exceptional leadership skills in motivating staff, delegating tasks, encouraging independent problem-solving by individuals and teams, and providing an understanding of theinstitutional vision
• Keep apprised of trends and developments in the museum and non-profit field and ensure thatOMCA maintains leadership as a model for a 21st century museum in service to the public
• Work with specific Board committees as staff liaison as assigned
• Serve as Acting Director in the absence of the Executive Director, as requested
• Serve as a spokesperson for the organization in the community, the field and media; participate inand present at professional conferences and conventions, attend community and civic gatherings onbehalf of the organization; and play an active role in sharing OMCA’s work with the field and keepingabreast of developments in the field

Leadership and Strategy

• The Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs oversees the work of the Senior Curator of Art, SeniorCurator of History, Curator of Natural Sciences, Design Director, Director of Collections, andAssociate Director of Production to:
• Translate OMCA’s strategic plan, social impact, and business model into multi-year institutionalexhibition and core gallery priorities and budgets, monitoring performance and adjusting course tomeet targets
• Lead priority-setting and budget planning and management for Curatorial, Collections, Design, andProduction departments
• Provide strategic leadership and coaching of key cross-institutional initiatives and teams
• Play an active role in donor cultivation and stewardship; attend cultivation and solicitation meetings with individual donors; participate in the development and solicitation of grants and sponsorships to support the Museum’s collection, exhibition, conservation, and program priorities
• Partner with the Marketing & Communications department to develop communications related to exhibitions, collections, and other content strategies
• Collaborate on the development of meaningful and relevant visitor-centered content development to support the programmatic schedule of exhibitions and core gallery presentations
• Build a culture of support through fostering professional development and growth, engaging with keyproject milestones such as exhibition openings and major programs, and championing the work of the team collectively and individually.

Curatorial and Exhibitions Oversight and Execution

• Define a clear strategic direction for OMCA’s exhibition and core gallery initiatives based oncommunity listening and an analysis of the internal and external programmatic landscape as well asdistinctive strengths of OMCA’s collections, staff, and history
• Lead annual and multi-year planning of innovative exhibition and gallery programs that meet OMCA’smission, business, and social impact goals; ensure a clarity of vision and appropriate frameworks,principles, tools and resources are in place for productive cross-discipline and cross-departmentalcollaboration in creating the visitor experience within exhibitions and galleries
• Support the direction of priority setting and planning for the collections, curatorial, design, andproduction teams to ensure exhibition and gallery projects are delivered effectively, efficiently, ontime and on budget, and with timely engagement of and collaboration with internal stakeholders
• Facilitate cross-department conversations and problem-solving for staff capacity, time, andresource management

Collections Care and Management

• Oversee OMCA’s collecting and collections strategy, including accessions and deaccessions, with thecuratorial and collections teams
• Oversee and consult in the care, installation, and presentation of the collections
• Advocate for internal initiatives that uplift collections stewardship and modernize, streamline, andintegrate collection content to provide enhanced access to collection items and information for bothinternal and external stakeholders
• Support the institutional position on ethical collections and exhibition practice, including NAGPRAand CalNAGPRA compliance, intellectual property and copyright concerns, and integratingcommunity input into collections care and descriptions

Design and Production

• Oversee priority setting and planning for the design studio to ensure consistent and powerful visualexpression of OMCAs brand and institutional goals through both visitor environments andinstitution-wide and department-specific projects
• Oversee priority setting and planning for the production team to ensure exhibition, gallery, anddepartment-specific or institutional projects align with strategic planning initiatives

EXPERIENCE

• Ability to display the competencies of strategic thinking, development of self and others and abilityto deploy and align organizational strategies and objectives
• 10+ years of experience with progressive growth towards senior leadership in a museum setting
• 7+ years of supervisory experience
• M.A. in relevant field required
• Demonstrated experience in directing successful exhibition and collection initiatives in museums
• Familiarity with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fields including the arts, history, and/or natural sciences with a focus on community engagement and civic and audience development
• Demonstrated knowledge of trends and progressive practices in the museum field
• Demonstrated knowledge of up-to-date principles of collections care and museum conservation
• Familiarity with the history and current landscape of museum relations with Indigenous communities
• Demonstrated achievements as an adaptive change agent, collaborator, coach, and team and coalition-builder
• Superior communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a capacity for managing and leading people with diverse backgrounds, views and work styles
• Understanding of fundraising techniques, grant application procedures, and funding sources
• Demonstrated cultural competence and a history of building equitable and inclusive programming
• Works well in a deeply collaborative, highly fluid culture.
• Experience with utilizing Google platform preferred.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee tosuccessfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enableindividuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The environment may include:

• Museum environment involves both indoor and outdoor working conditions
• Ability to travel between OMCA locations, and other travel as required by position responsibilities