Summary:
Full-time, Exempt; The Visual Arts Program Developer develops and maintains the Museum’s Art Loft, a 2000 sq. ft. interactive art studio for children ages 4-10 years old and their adult caregivers. The Art Loft features innovative, materials-rich activities designed to engage children and their families in the creative process and expose them to the tools and techniques of art-making. The Visual Arts Program Developer develops new activities monthly, identifies and acquires materials for activities and trains part-time museum staff in the facilitation of the activities. Visual arts programming is developed within a multi-disciplinary context to coordinate with other museum-wide initiatives including travelling exhibitions, cultural events, and new exhibition openings at CDM. The Visual Arts Program Developer also develops and facilitates the Artists-in-Residence program and curates the Tracy Heymann Art Gallery, featuring children’s art work.
Responsibilities:
This is a highly visible position, especially with external communities. Responsible for achieving goals and results, and focuses primarily on project and/or program execution. Expectations and experience are described below:
- Development of high-quality, interactive hands-on visual arts experiences for children (geared toward ages 4-10) and their caregivers for The Art Loft–a Museum workshop space designed for specialized arts learning experiences for children and their adult caregivers, including materials identification and procurement, activity write-ups, ongoing maintenance;
- On-going training for the program specialist part-time staff and volunteers who facilitate the activities in the Art Loft; one-on-one and group trainings include child development and arts information about the relevance and learning goals of activities, and are coordinated with Program Specialist and Volunteer Supervisors;
- Maintenance of the environment and physical space of the Art Loft, including art displays, supplemental materials, table arrangements, and storage;
- Materials management for the Art Loft, including prototyping of materials, procurement, organization, storage, prepping and coordination with the Museum’s Materials Coordinator;
- Development of culturally relevant activities in conjunction with Museum-wide community events including Family Lunadas, Three Kings, Lunar New Year, Children of the Dragon, Diwali and others.
- Program co-development and coordination with the other facilitated spaces in the Museum, including The Wonder Cabinet, Art Studio, and Bill’s Backyard Bridge to Nature;
- Curation of the Art Gallery, a space for two-dimensional and three-dimensional visual arts pieces created by children, including identifying potential community arts partners to feature in the space; Art Gallery installations occur at least quarterly;
- Implementation of the Artists-in-Residence program (at least 6 times per year) designed to bring local artists into the Art Loft space to showcase their work and expose children to artists in action;
- Co-development and implementation of the Museum’s Holiday Extravaganza, a 2-6 week installation designed to promote wonder and drive audience during the Nov-January timeframe. This installation changes each year and engages local artist(s) in its development and implementation;
- Departmental duties as required, including participation as Education Department representative in cross-departmental teams; and
- Fulfills other duties as assigned.
Education/Experience:
Any combination of education or experience providing the required knowledge and skills is qualifying. Minimum employment standards are:
- Undergraduate or master’s degree in art education, fine arts, or graphic arts;
- Prior experience in the development and delivery of arts programming for children, parents, teachers, and caregivers with a primary focus on children ages 4-10; multicultural activity development helpful;
- Ability to work with a diverse audience and staff, as well as build professional relationships within the community; and
- Experience with graphic design programs such as Adobe Illustrator helpful, but not required.