Call of interest for the position of Director of the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography forming part of the Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus). Specification of qualifications, formation of an evaluation committee and selection criteria.
The Board of Administration of the Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus)
Having regard to:
1. The provisions of Articles 1, 4, 8 and 14(5) of Law 4572/2018 on the “Establishment of the Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki and other provisions” (Government Gazette 188, Series I).
2. The need to appoint a Director for the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography (TMP) for a four-year tenure, in implementation of Article 14 of Law 4572/2018
hereby launches an international open call for expressions of interest
In the position of Director of the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, which operates as an individual unit – at the Directorate level – of the public legal entity (legal entity governed by private law) registered as the Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus), which is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Ι. Job description
1. The Director is the head of the Photography Directorate (TMP) at MOMus. She/He is responsible for specifying and promoting MOMus’ vision and mission, which are the factors that shape its unique identity. The above are implemented by managing and enriching collections, by scheduling, planning and implementing exhibitions, educational and research programmes or other similar actions, as well as by raising funds from public and private sources in order to ensure the sustainable operation of the TMP and its further growth, in collaboration with the Organisation’s Board of Directors, the General Director and MOMus’ Artistic Committee, under the supervision of the five-member Ephorate of the Photography Directorate.
2. In particular, for the purpose of fulfilling his/her mission, the TMP Director is granted the following powers under the law:
a. S/he directs all TMP departments, schedules, plans, supervises and coordinates their operation, and ensures the implementation of decisions made by the Board of Administration (BoA), as well as the implementation of the relevant laws and internal rules of procedure.
b. S/he collaborates and consults with the relevant five-member advisory Ephorate supervising, monitoring and evaluating the operation of the museum, for the purpose of specifying the objectives of the TMP in regard to scheduled exhibitions and educational actions, and also in regard to matters pertaining to the budgets of the departments.
c. S/he schedules and plans, with the assistance of the responsible curators, museologists, museum educators and staff, and submits documented proposals to the General Director on the scheduling of exhibitions and educational actions, as well as on the Directorate’s plans, in line with MOMus’ objectives and policy.
d. S/he draws up and submits the budget and annual report of the Directorate to the General Director, so that they may be incorporated in the plan that is to be submitted for approval to the BoA, and notifies the General Director in due time about the expenses and revenues from the management of the museum’s collections.
e. S/he manages the budget approved by the BoA for exhibitions, educational and scientific programmes, as well as the operating expenses of the Directorate, and is also responsible for making the relevant expenses up to the amount authorised by decision of the BoA.
f. S/he assigns the artistic curation of exhibitions using works from the Directorate’s collections to curators working inside or outside the Directorate; however, s/he is ultimately responsible before the BoA for the successful planning and implementation of these exhibitions.
g. S/he coordinates the organisation of the Photography Biennial and submits a documented proposal to the General Director on methods to ensure the most effective implementation possible.
h. S/he proposes that the Directorate participate in funded programmes, that it enrich the collection and archives, and also that it replace and improve its equipment and library.
i. S/he promotes and monitors communication and collaboration with other similar institutions in Greece or abroad.
j. S/he submits proposals to the BoA on enriching the collections of the TMP through purchases and, mainly, through the acceptance of donations, subsidies, inheritances, bequests and assignments.
k. S/he brings forward any issue concerning the scientific, administrative and auxiliary staff of the Museum to the BoA.
l. S/he exercises any additional responsibilities that may be assigned by the BoA, as well as any responsibilities connected to the operation of the Directorate’s departments.
3. In any case, the TMP Director must ensure and work towards:
a. the promotion of the history and art of photography in Greece;
b. strengthening ties between the TMP and the domestic and international artistic photography community, the main aim being to attract and highlight new artists, and to promote the contemporary Greek art of photography in Greece and abroad;
C. achieving audience expansion, placing particular emphasis on young people and generally on citizen groups with limited access to the contemporary art of photography, the creation of cooperation networks with similar institutions and cultural and/or educational organisations in Greece, Europe and beyond;
d. shaping and establishing the identity of the TMP in relation to the city of Thessaloniki and promoting its pervasive presence in the everyday lives of citizens, especially young people.
Generally, in this capacity the Director is expected to promote a broader perception of contemporary museums of photography, i.e. a perception of the TMP as a museum that is open to society and to difference, capable of staying in touch with the spirit of our time, a museum that advocates interdisciplinarity, inclusion, intervention in the public sphere and osmosis of the arts, and demonstrates morphological, expressive and perceptual versatility in its choices, without being fixated on the conventional boundaries between the arts and other typological, theoretical or ideological prohibitions.
4. This is a full-time and exclusive employment position and the salary is in accordance with the provisions in force at each given time on the single salary scale applying to staff of agencies coming under General Government. The Director shall not undertake any additional salaried work from the agency s/he will be directing during his/her tenure.
