Coordinating Curator of Community Engagement

University Information
UNC Greensboro, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is 1 of only 57 doctoral institutions recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for both higher research activity and community engagement. Founded in 1891 and one of the original three UNC System institutions, UNC Greensboro is one of the most diverse universities in the state with 20,000+ students, and 3,000+ faculty and staff members representing 90+ nationalities. With 17 Division I athletic teams, 85 undergraduate degrees in over 125 areas of study, as well as 74 master’s and 32 doctoral programs, UNC Greensboro is consistently recognized nationally among the top universities for academic excellence and value, with noted strengths in health and wellness, visual and performing arts, nursing, education, and more.

Primary Purpose of the Organizational Unit
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro enriches the lives of diverse individuals and connects multiple communities, both on and off campus, by presenting, interpreting, and collecting modern and contemporary art. In recognizing its paramount role of public service, the Weatherspoon fosters an appreciation of the ability of art to positively impact lives. WAM is internationally known for its collections of American paintings, sculptures, and works on paper and for its exhibitions that help broaden the story of American art to be more inclusive of women and artists of color. History The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro was founded by Gregory Ivy in 1941 and is the earliest of any art facilities within the UNC system. The museum was founded as a resource for the campus, community, and region and its early leadership developed an emphasis—maintained to this day—on presenting and acquiring modern and contemporary works of art. A 1949 bequest from the renowned collection of Dr. Claribel and Etta Cone, which included prints and bronzes by Henri Matisse and other works on paper by American and European modernists, helped to establish the Weatherspoon’s collection. Other prescient acquisitions during Ivy’s tenure included a 1951 suspended mobile by Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning’s pivotal 1949-50 Woman, and the first drawings by Eva Hesse and Robert Smithson to enter a museum collection. In 1989, the museum moved into its present location in The Anne and Benjamin Cone Building designed by the architectural firm Mitchell Giurgula. The museum has six galleries and a sculpture courtyard with over 17,000 square feet of exhibition space. The American Alliance of Museums accredited the Weatherspoon in 1995 and renewed its accreditation in 2005 and 2015. Collections + Exhibitions The permanent collection of the Weatherspoon Art Museum is considered to be one of the foremost of its kind in the Southeast. It represents all major art movements from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Among the approximately 6,000 works in the collection are pieces by such prominent figures as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edward Weston, Joseph Stella, David Smith, Jackson Pollock, Elizabeth Catlett, Louise Nevelson, Gordon Parks, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Cindy Sherman, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar, Amy Sillman, Nick Cave, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Sanford Biggers. The museum regularly lends to major exhibitions nationally and internationally. The Weatherspoon also is known for its dynamic exhibition program. Through a lively annual calendar of exhibitions and a multi-disciplinary educational program for audiences of all ages, the museum provides an opportunity for visitors to consider artistic, cultural, and social issues of our time—enriching the life of our university, community, and region.

Position Summary
The Coordinating Curator of Community Engagement will facilitate this grant-funded project, including establishing community and campus partnerships and developing an evolving “inquiry hub” within the museum’s galleries for community engagement with the art collection. By encouraging participants to reflect upon, question, and re-imagine the “rules” of the art world, and by extension, the larger world, the project will draw out histories of American art that have not been told and place them into dialogue with existing narratives. This engagement will guide a major reinstallation of the collection in 2023. Serving as an experience designer, facilitator, and strategist, the coordinating curator will assist in all logistical aspects of this socially engaged project, which will involve faculty, student, museum, and community stakeholders. Reporting to the museum’s curator of education, the Coordinating Curator of Community Engagement will be a full-time, 24-month term position offering a highly mentored and structured curatorial experience at the Weatherspoon. The start date will be determined based on the successful applicant’s schedule, but, ideally, in August 2021. The Coordinating Curator of Community Engagement will work collaboratively with all museum staff, especially the director, curators, and educators, as well as registration, marketing, and development. Further collaborations include those with university, city, and community project partners.

Minimum Qualifications
● Master’s degree (M.A.) OR B.A. in areas such as social sciences, education, sociology, psychology, public history, anthropology, social work, museum studies, or communication with at least three years of relevant experience.
● Experience working in cultural, arts, or civic organizations, or relevant settings.
● Demonstrated coordination and administrative abilities.
● Excellent written and interpersonal skills; proven ability to work with a range of colleagues and communities.
● Interest in the role of art in civic and community life.
● Willingness to meet with constituents in various settings: civic, cultural, municipal, museum, and other locations on campus and in the city.
● Demonstrated commitment to a diverse and equitable working environment and to serving the needs of a large and diverse community.
Additional Required Certifications, Licensures, and Certificates
Preferred Qualifications
● Knowledge and ability to communicate proficiently, effectively, and efficiently.
● Experience in facilitating dialogue-based community engagement in cultural or civic organizations, or related programs.
● Experience in facilitating engaged inquiry.
● Project management and implementation skills (follow throughs, meeting deadlines, working within established budgets and timelines, and implementing programs and their assessment).
● Ability to build and maintain relationships with students, staff, campus colleagues and faculty, and community members of diverse backgrounds.
● Ability to collect quantitative and qualitative data.
● Ability to take initiative, find solutions, and proactively communicate this process with a team.

Special Instructions to Applicants
Applicants are required to upload the following documents with their electronic application:
Resume
Cover Letters.

Recruitment Range $37,000- $43,000
Org #-Department Weatherspoon Art Museum – 11001
Job Open Date: 07/06/2021
Open Until Filled: Yes
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Percentage Of Time 25%

Key Responsibility: Community Engagement

Essential Tasks
▪ Develops meaningful partnerships with campus and community organizations and their respective audiences in support of the goals of Leading with Objects: to include campus and community members’ engagement with the collection as a driver in the museum’s curatorial and interpretation process.
Percentage Of Time 25%

Key Responsibility: Managing Partnerships

Essential Tasks
▪ Works closely with the Curator of Collections and the Curator of Education to identify and manage partnerships between the Weatherspoon and its project constituents. This work includes scheduling, organizing, and running project meetings and soliciting project participants.
▪ Coordinates and leads focus group or audience feedback opportunities to gather input.
Percentage Of Time 20%

Key Responsibility: Project Planning and Logistics

Essential Tasks
▪ Coordinates the planning logistics for participation/collaboration in the socially engaged inquiry hub with a focus on exploring such issues and topics through the museum’s collection as diversity, equity, and inclusion; health and wellness; and foundational skills, including academic skills and personal development, values, and relationships.
▪ Maintains the inquiry hub, reinstallation, and publication checklists in WAM’s collection management database (EmbARK), leads project-related tours, and trains inquiry hub facilitators.
Percentage Of Time 20%

Key Responsibility: Project Support and Administration

Essential Tasks
▪ Assist with collections-based research, including supporting access to the collection by expanding documentation and collection digitization.
▪ Assist with day-to-day coordination of project-related travel and guest arrangements, preparation and submission of expense reports, and preparation of correspondence, reports, and presentations.
Percentage Of Time 10%

Key Responsibility: Publication

Essential Tasks
▪ Assist with the preparation and presentation of the project at its various stages to museum affiliates.
▪ Contributes to the final publication and assists with the publication’s preparation, including coordinating the contributions of other authors and obtaining photographic material and rights and reproduction permissions.