Job Description

Department:

Museum Communications

Pay Rate Type:

Hourly

Employee Type:

Job Summary:

The Mirken Family Postbaccalaureate Fellowship in Museum Practice offers a comprehensive introduction administrative functions within an art museum, with particular focus on communications and public engagement. The successful candidate will significantly contribute to making the museum more visible and inviting and improving access to its programs and resources.

The Mirken Fellow supports social media, marketing, the development of digital and print communications, and other activities that encourage audiences to visit and participate. In addition, the Fellow builds connections in the field of art and helps to create professional pathways for Colby students by helping to plan and execute the logistics of an annual professional development trip for seniors in the Colby College art department.

The Mirken fellow reports to the communications manager and the Barbara Alfond director of exhibitions and publications and works with all departments including communications, administration, advancement, collections, curatorial, and engagement.

The Mirken Family postbaccalaureate fellowship in museum practice at the Colby College Museum of Art will support a two-year appointment to the museum, with the possibility of a renewable third year.

THE MUSEUM AND ITS MISSION

The Colby College Museum of Art is a collecting and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, display, and interpretation of the visual arts. We embrace within our collections works of art from diverse cultures and historical periods, with a focus on American art, and commitment to collecting and exhibiting contemporary art. We manage these resources for the benefit of the Colby College community, the region, and the nation and aspire to display works that embody the highest standards of achievement.

A COMMITMENT TO EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Working to advance equity and inclusion in the field of American art—and, by doing so, in the wider world—is core to our mission. We feel the urgency of national and campus conversations on inequality and are keenly aware of the unique responsibility that we have as an academic art museum—as a place where we can listen, ask questions, and challenge assumptions—to engage in this dialogue, and to act. We affirm the Colby Museum’s commitment to multidisciplinary teaching and learning and our potential for deep engagement with students will be leveraged in this effort toward fighting racialized violence, injustice, and inequality; and we encourage inquiries from candidates who will contribute to the diversity of our college, including its cultural and ethnic diversity.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support museum communications and information access
• Assist the communications manager in executing the museum’s digital marketing, including:
• Crafting and posting content to the museum’s website and social media accounts
• Assembling the museum’s “What’s Happening at the Colby Museum” e-newsletter, which is distributed biweekly to more than 25,000 subscribers
• Serving on the advisory committee for The Lantern, the museum’s digital arts magazine
• Designing and distributing print materials for the promotion of museum initiatives
• Update and maintain the centralized photography archive of museum images; maintain digital and print archives of museum advertising, collaterals, and earned media
• Research and facilitate rights and reproduction requests for images of artworks in the museum’s collection
• Support and facilitate student engagement and pathways
• Work with Colby Art faculty to plan, schedule, and arrange all logistics for the department’s annual Mirken field trip offering seniors majoring in art exposure to careers in the arts
• Mentor and delegate work projects to student interns supporting with museum marketing and communications
• Provide support for the museum’s exhibitions and publications
• Assist the director of exhibitions and publications with logistics for exhibition installations
• Maintain the internal exhibitions website, including content management and updates
• Assist with exhibition catalogue proposals, correspondence with publishers, designers and editors, rights and reproductions and photography, and production and distribution of publication projects
• Support with the distribution and sale of Colby Museum publications, including organizing book fair opportunities and book sales, conducting outreach to booksellers and arts organizations, and posting publications on the Colby Museum website.
• Attend and support museum special projects and events, including occasional night and weekend events
• Perform additional duties as assigned; duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in education and experience. Recent grads encouraged to apply
• Relevant coursework in art history and demonstrable administrative experience preferred
• Highly motivated, flexible, and comfortable with diverse audiences
• Outstanding interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills with a high level of motivation
• Unwavering commitment to fostering an antiracist, equitable work environment supportive of people from different cultures, backgrounds, and life paths
• Excellent writing and design skills and attention to detail
• Experience in a professional environment, able to work collaboratively within a team and a diverse organization
• Able to work independently as well as in a team, exercise judgment, establish priorities, and manage projects with minimal supervision and to adjust as new projects are assigned
• Ability to effectively collaborate with staff, students, and faculty
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Creative Suite, especially Photoshop and InDesign, WordPress, and Google applications; familiarity with digital cloud collaboration platforms preferred

KEY RELATIONSHIPS:

Reporting to the communications manager and the Barbara Alfond director of exhibitions and publications, the fellow also works closely with the manager of collections and registration and deputy director, and has ongoing interactions with all museum teams as well as Colby faculty, students, staff, alumni, and museum guests.

WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

General open office and campus environment. Position involves sitting, although frequent movement is necessary. Occasional lifting is required. Computer usage involving repetitive hand/wrist motion is also necessary. Some night and weekend work required based on museum events.