Call for applications to cover the position of director of the Fundació Privada AAVC and Hangar. Period 2022-2025
Fundació Privada AAVC
The Fundació Privada AAVC was legally constituted on March 5, 2003, being classified as a Private Foundation.
The creation of the Fundació Privada AAVC was the result of the need of the visual artists’ sector to articulate a center that would offer services adapted to all the phases of the artistic production process and that at the same time would cover many of the needs derived from creation.
According to its statutes, the Foundation’s objectives are to generate services of an assistance nature and to support the training and creation of visual artists, and to disseminate their work in order to contribute to the social knowledge of contemporary art.
The main project of the Fundació Privada AAVC is Hangar.
What is Hangar?
Hangar is a production, research and residency center generated by the artistic community in Barcelona. It was founded in 1997 by the Association of Visual Artists of Catalonia and its mission is to facilitate access to the means for production and creation; and to defend an open context for experimental research and shared knowledge.
Hangar is a center that serves the entire process of contemporary artistic production and creation, understanding that this requires technical, material and human resources for production, a space for experimentation, research and knowledge transfer, and a context of community building around cultural production. It is not an art center with services but a space in a public service position, essentially intended for the artistic community but also for other cultural producers, creators or mediators, and also for researchers from other sectors.
Hangar has a committee of independent experts that is periodically renewed every two years (next renewal: December 2021). This committee — the Programme Committee — is in charge of selecting the center’s resident artists and collectives, and of deciding on the public calls for the various national and international grants that the center promotes. It also has a specialized technical team that makes possible the daily operation of its various laboratories, residencies and programs. The Fundació Privada AAVC has an annual budget of about 800,000 €, from public, private and own resources.
Hangar is the main program of the Fundació Privada AAVC, which is in charge of its management. The governing body of the Foundation is its Board of Trustees, made up of artists and other professionals from the curatorial, museum and university fields. This governing body, the Matronat, as it has self-appointed itself internally, is renewed every three years, the next renewal being in January 2024.
Every four years, the Fundació AAVC organizes a competition for the selection of the directorship of Hangar and the Foundation. Thus, the candidates must be aware that this directorship implies a double line of responsibility: the direction of the production and research center, and the direction of the Foundation. Likewise, the direction implies both the management of the contents and the management of the Foundation. It is planned to soon implement the figure of assistant director to the direction and management.
Professional assignment
The Fundació Privada AAVC is looking for a professional or a group of people or committee with experience in the field of the arts, willing to continue developing a unique project in its definition. The professional assignment to the new director for a period of 4 years (01.01.2022 to 12.31.2025) will have to be based on an analysis of the Foundation and the center itself, on the needs of the local artistic context, and on the potential of the Foundation and Hangar in relation to these needs, through a project of artistic practices.
In the case of a group of people or Committee, they will have to appoint a representative to assume the executive management in the economic, organizational and human resources areas. The Board of Trustees shall communicate to the group of persons or committee the rules of operation of said body.
Functions
The Director/Manager shall be responsible for:
1. Complying with the Code of Good Professional Practices in the visual arts approved by the Ministry of Culture in 2008 and ensuring the physical and moral integrity of Hangar’s workers, managing the Foundation from ethical principles and values, without discriminating against any of its members for reasons of class, race, gender or others.
2. Exploring and promoting new forms of research and artistic production.
3. Developing and optimizing programs, services, spaces and projects, together with Hangar’s technical team and in coordination with the Board of Trustees to:
– Explore contemporary creative phenomena.
– Promote research networks.
– Explore, generate and promote new services for the artistic community.
– Disseminate and make visible the work of resident artists nationally and internationally.
– Strengthen the offer of workshops for artists or groups (long and short stays).
– Promote and adapt its laboratories to contemporary artistic practices.
– Articulate the temporary use of multipurpose spaces.
– Specific advice for projects.
– Promote the strategic program of residencies and international exchanges.
– Develop the programming of public activities (workshops, presentations, debates, meetings with professionals, etc.).
– To make the infrastructures (multipurpose spaces, sets, coworking spaces and residency spaces) profitable.
4. Managing Hangar’s technical team, supporting each member of the team in the coordinated achievement of the common objectives.
Hangar currently has a professional team of 11 people with different types of contracts and working hours. The Director will have to examine the organization chart of the center and the competencies of the team in order to improve, reorganize and/or expand the technical team as long as it responds to the needs of the center and the candidate’s program, with the prior approval of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
5. Preparing and proposing the budget and income plan for the operation of the center, using both public and private resources, which will have to be approved by the Board of Trustees of the Foundation.
The annual preparation of the budget, its distribution to the programs and its presentation for approval to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation is the responsibility of the Director; as well as the increase and diversification of the economic resources in the following three aspects: public subsidies, sponsors/patronage and own resources.
6. Managing and strengthening existing external relationships and generating new ones.
It will be involved in the generation and maintenance of relations with institutions and with the associative and cultural fabric at the national and international level.
Lead the consolidation of agreements, network relations and research projects.
7. Following up any structural work and maintenance of the Hangar buildings.
In the period 2022-2026 the intervention for the improvement of the facilities of the workshop building is foreseen.
Professional profile and requirements
The professional profile of Hangar’s director is that of an individual or group of people with expertise in cultural management, willing to face the professional assignment defined above and with the following requirements:
– To accredit knowledge in the field of contemporary artistic practices.
– To prove knowledge of research networks.
– To accredit knowledge of the local artistic context.
– To prove experience in the management of cultural projects, international relations and communication.
– To prove experience in economic management, fundraising and fundraising.
– Communication, negotiation and planning skills.
– Ability to lead, work as part of a team and delegate functions.
– Ability to work horizontally and in networks.
– Ability to represent Hangar in all areas.
– Spoken and written Catalan (or presentation of a letter of commitment to achieve level C of Catalan in the next two years).
– High level of English, spoken and written.
– Knowledge of other languages would be an asset.
Conditions
– Exclusive dedication and full timetable.
– Starting on December 1, 2021, transference phase. Full incorporation as Director of Hangar and the Foundation from January 1, 2022, lasting until December 31, 2025.
– Wage of €43,500 gross per year.
– Employment contract for a fixed term of four years (fixed term), senior management. The continuity of the employment relationship for a single new four-year term is subject to the fact of re-applying for and winning the next competition.
Applications
Those interested in participating in this call will have to submit the following documentation:
– Photocopy of ID card or passport.
– Curriculum vitae.
– A letter of motivation addressed to the attention of Anna Pahissa, president of the Fundació privada AAVC, maximum length of 1 page.
– A program of strategy and action based on the “professional assignment”, between 3 and 5 pages in length.
– Documentation (certificates, texts, publications, etc.) that accredits the professional profile, the fulfillment of the requirements and the rest of the aspects to be evaluated.
All documentation must be sent in a single pdf document (maximum 10 MB) indicating the subject “Call for applications for the direction of Hangar and the Fundació privada AAVC” to the following e-mail address:
concurshangar2022@hangar.org.
Applicants will be sent an email confirming receipt of the application and documentation submitted, without prejudice to its subsequent review.
Any queries during the opening period of this competition will be resolved exclusively via e-mail at the same address.
Candidate selection process
– Formal validation of the digital documentation submitted and admitted.
– Pre-selection of applicants according to the projects submitted.
– Final selection of a maximum of 5 finalists for the personal interview.
– Personal interview with the finalists.
– Selection of applicant(s).
Prior to the personal interview, the originals of the documentation previously submitted in PDF must be submitted.
The jury will be made up of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Fundació Privada AAVC, and an external person from the artistic and cultural context who will be announced prior to the closing date of the application process.
The Foundation will not be responsible for travel expenses in the case of being selected for the personal interview.
Deadlines
Deadline for submission of applications: until midnight on September 26, 2021.
Date of communication to the finalists: October 25, 2021.
Interview date for the finalists: October 29, 2021
Date of decision and communication to the successful candidate: November 2, 2021
Date of incorporation of the transfer period: December 1, 2021
Resolution
The resolution of this competition, which will correspond to the Board of Trustees of the Fundació AAVC and is not subject to appeal, will take place on November 2, 2021, and will be made public through the usual communication channels of Hangar.
The decision will be final and the competition may be declared void.
Confidentiality
All persons involved in the selection process of candidates undertake to guarantee the absolute confidentiality of all personal and professional data of these, and ensure that the participation of unsuccessful candidates will be kept within the scope of the knowledge and assessment of the Board of Trustees.
