Chief Curator of African-American Culture
Reporting & Responsibilities : The Chief Curator will work in a co-leadership structure with the Managing Director, reporting to the Board of Trustees.
The Chief Curator key responsibilities are as follows:
• Serve as the company’s artistic guide in choosing exhibitions and programs; and assuring high standards of excellence.
• Curate four shows a year and work with board to identify guest curators for two of the shows.
• Will develop exhibitions with the intent for the exhibition to travel
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with creatives to keep HMAAC at the forefront of American art and culture with a focus on contemporary and diverse new work.
• Work in concert with the staff and Board to develop and execute key strategic organizational initiatives and work towards long-term sustainability.
• Serve as a primary face and voice of HMAAC, embracing key external relationship building roles.
• With the Board and Managing Director, lead the HMAAC’s commitment to engagement in low-income neighborhoods.
• Set a positive and productive working culture and ensure effective communication with staff and trustees.
Qualifications: Ideally, the successful candidate for this role will possess many of these skills and experiences:
• A deep and broad knowledge of African American culture in the visual arts, film and literature, particularly with contemporary new and emerging talent.
• A demonstrable history of successfully producing new and contemporary work.
• Significant artistic management experience in a nonprofit institutional environment.
• An understanding of collective leadership with the ability to develop a collaborative relationship with the Managing Director and Board.
• An ability to think strategically and develop a clear artistic and institutional vision.
• A willingness and, ideally, a demonstrated ability to build relationships with major donors and community leaders.
• An understanding of physical and digital audience development.
HMAAC BACKGROUND
History & Mission: HMAAC is a museum that is engaged in superior artistic and film expression, discovery-driven learning and visitor and community empowerment and uplift. The Museum is a part of Houston’s Museum District, home to fifteen museums and cultural spaces. Founded by former Mayor Lee P. Brown in 1999, HMAAC opened its doors on a regular basis in 2012. By 2017, in just five years, HMAAC reached 40,000 annual visitors, becoming the most visited African American cultural asset in Houston, with the expectation of reaching 50,000 in 2020 before COVID-19. Accommodating the dramatic growth of our audience has been the highest priority for HMAAC’s Board.
City & Region: Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, known for its demographic diversity and home to a nationally renowned arts and cultural community. It is arguably the state’s intellectual center, anchored by four major universities. Known for its energy community and world class medical center, the city is attracting some of the most entrepreneurial and innovative tech companies. Texas boasts a vibrant arts and culture scene, with major museums in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and and a stellar music scene in Austin.
LEADERSHIP : HMAAC is currently governed by an active twelve-member Board of Trustees, populated by a variety of business leaders – all of whom are culture lovers dedicated to the continued growth of the museum. Under the leadership of CEO Emeritus John Guess, Jr. HMAAC has grown in ten short years to become nationally recognized, by the American Alliance of Museums, Museum Next, with relations with ACA Galleries and Jack Shainman Galleries in New York City, and Johns Hopkins University, the University of Alabama and Prairie View A&M University. Current organizational restructuring replaces the former CEO model with Managing Director and Chief Curator leadership.
CURRENT ENVIRONMENT : Budget, Size, Scope : HMAAC operates with a budget of $1 million, with strong, committed foundation and individual support. Despite an ever changing and challenging environment, HMAAC continues to adapt and scale its programming as needed to forge its strong community as well as artistic and cultural presence.
Exhibitions and Programs : HMAAC annually produces approximately six to eight exhibitions in its main galleries and four exhibitions in its emerging artist gallery. HMAAC’s exhibitions are routinely reviewed by mainstream press and frequently are found to be among the Top Five exhibits in the state. National and global artists including Faith Ringgold, Malick Sidibe, Benito Huerta, Danny Simmons, Ellen Kaplowitz, Aminah Robinson, Eleanor Merritt, Juan Rodriguez and Najee Dorsey have had shows in the main galleries. HMAAC is Houston’s Black film house, the first museum to become a part of Ava Duvernay”s ARRAY film distribution, and is known for advance screenings of Black Panther (first Houston screening), The Hate You Give and more, as well as its robust Sunset Cinema Drive-in, which brought movies to low income neighborhoods at reasonable prices in response to COVID-19 and its virtual screenings and film director discussions. The HMAAC Literary Lectures have included Isabel Wilkersom, Tope Folarin, Attica Locke and Martha Jones. HMAAC annually funds an HMAAC Fellow; historically included a folklorist, a business Ph.d and currently a writer. The latter is part of the programming surrounding the engagement of HMAAC’s ownership, as the only African American asset, of a Confederate monument, The Spirit of the Confederacy, which will be engaged at least three times a year by national identified artists.
Community Programming and Public Art: Beyond the walls of its Museum District building, HMAAC conducts robust community programming and public art, including message murals on buildings in two low income neighborhoods, and in two of color high schools as well as its MASK-UP signage campaign in low income and of color neighborhoods. HMAAC also partners with an HBCU’s satellite facility to bring exhibitions to a community canvass at least twice a year.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES: The Chief Curator will join an organization with an important national profile, a commitment to new work and diverse voices, and a history of artistic and cultural excellence.
• Continuing to seek out important and diverse voices in the visual arts, film and literature and support those voices through development and production of their work.
• Developing the post COVID-19 HBCU gallery schedule.
• Expanding education and community engagement programming.
• Partnering and collaborating with other cultural assets locally and nationally.
Along with these opportunities, there are challenges the new Chief Curator must embrace in concert with the Board:
• Expanding the current digital footprint and refining the website as a cultural platform
• Building a national and global audience through our digital platform.
HMAAC has engaged Consultants Vicki Meek, Michelle Barnes and Lise Ragbir to lead this important search. The following personal attributes are also important to the Consultants and Search Committee:
• A transparent, collaborative, and confident leadership style.
• Exceptional communication skills – both speaking and writing.
• An enthusiasm for embracing the role of ambassador in business and social settings.
• A real love of artists.
Benefits will include the following:
• Medical insurance plans.
• Paid vacation, holidays, sick leave, and personal days.
The Search Committee, comprised of current and former trustees and the CEO Emeritus, intends to make its final decision this year with the new Chief Curator’s start date to be mutually agreed but no later than August/September 2021.
HOW TO APPLY : To be considered for this position, you must submit pertinent information including name, contact information, and salary requirement and attach a current résumé, a cover letter (no more than 1 ½ pages), and at least three professional references (name, work relationship, email, phone) using the online application submission ADSearch@hmaac.org. Once all materials have been submitted online, the applicant will receive a confirmation of their submission.
For clarification on any of this information, please contact Davinia Reed at dreed@hmaac.org.