Exhibition and Collection Manager

About Mills College:

Located in Oakland, California, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills College is a liberal arts college for women and gender non-binary students, with graduate programs for all genders. Consistently ranked one of the top master’s universities and one of the best value colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, Mills also has been named one of the Best Colleges in the nation by The Princeton Review. The Mills experience is distinguished by small, interactive classes, one-on-one attention from exceptional faculty, a culture of creative experimentation, and cutting-edge interdisciplinary learning opportunities which empower students to make a statement in their careers and communities. As one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, we have a strong record of academic success with first-generation students, students of color, Latinx students, LGBTQ students, and other underrepresented students. Mills College has recently become a Hispanic Serving Institution. Applicants with expertise and experience in supporting and promoting success for Latina/o students are encouraged to apply.

Mills College encourages diversity in hiring and particularly welcomes applications and nominations from women, gender non-binary individuals, and minorities. Mills College seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to equity, inclusion, and social justice and our desire to maintain the excellence of our faculty. In so doing, we offer our students not only the opportunity to learn about varied disciplines but to engage with diverse perspectives and ways of knowing and learning. For more information, please visit www.mills.edu.

Job Description:

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
Reports To: Director of the Art Museum
Supervises: Part-time student employees and contract professional art handlers

Summary of Position:

Under the direction of the Director of the Art Museum, the Exhibition and Collection Manager at the Art Museum is responsible for managing the physical and logistical aspects of the museum’s exhibition program; overseeing the care and record-keeping of the museum’s permanent collection; and for supervising student employees and contract professional art handlers working in these areas. This position advances goals set out in the Mills Mission Statement and Strategic Plan by ensuring the long-term care of a vital academic asset on campus (the permanent collection and museum facility) and providing professional oversight of exhibitions that enhance the intellectual and creative life of the Mills community and the larger Bay Area.

Essential Job Functions:

• Plan, schedule, and direct the fabrication, installation, deinstallation, and return of museum exhibitions.
  Arrange for the transport of exhibition materials.
• Identify vendors/contract workers and evaluate quotes to ensure budget compliance.
• Recruit and supervise contract art preparators.
• Train and supervise student employees, including best practices for art handling and registrarial duties as appropriate.
• Develop and maintain systems for accessioning, deaccessioning, and generally managing collection of approximately 13,000 works of art.
• Serve as registrar in activities related to accessioning, maintaining records on artworks, arranging for transportation of artworks loaned from or to the museum, and managing contract conservation work on artworks.
• Organize and maintain orderly files and retrieval systems associated with exhibitions, acquisitions, accessions, deaccessions, loans, packing, shipping, customs, inventory, insurance, art conservation, and storage.
• Responsible for maintenance and security of the building, as well as digital and physical art collections.
• Work with the college legal office to assure that collections and exhibitions are properly insured against potential damage or loss.
  Develop short and long-term recommendations related to updating and maintaining exhibition and collection storage environments in accordance with established standards.
• Serve as co-instructor for the annual Spring Senior Exhibition seminar.

Additional Duties and Responsibilities:

• Communicate with guest curators and other contract staff, exhibiting artists, and the staff of partner institutions.
• Work closely with art department technical staff as needed.
• Provide timely information for the preparation and monitoring of budgets related to collections care, exhibitions, and renovations.
• Recommend contract staff and other art professionals to allow for effective design and timely, safe installation of exhibitions; recommend same to care for, maintain, and make accessible the museum’s collection.
• Mat and frame collection works for exhibitions as needed.
  Explain techniques of framing, installing, and handling artwork to students.
• Create opportunities for collection and archive engagement with students, faculty, outside researchers.
• Serve as the primary contact person for annual Senior and M.F.A exhibitions, through studio visits and technical consultation.
• A valid California driver’s license and safe driving record is required. Driving is a requirement of this job.

Requirements:

Knowledge of:

• Proper artwork handling and moving procedures.
• Artwork installation techniques for a variety of media, including basic AV equipment.
• Museum registration, accession and deaccession, tracking, shipping, and insurance procedures.
• EmbARK collection database software, or museum collection software equivalent.
• Using appropriate hand and power tools.
• Microsoft Office, PhotoShop, PowerPoint or equivalent imaging software.
• Basic photography and lighting techniques.

Skills/Abilities:

• Ability to meet schedules and time lines assigned; ability to plan and prioritize.
• Ability to handle multiple projects requiring independent execution.
• Ability to work under pressure and deadlines.
• Interpersonal skills, including tact, patience, and courtesy.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective and productive working relationships.
• Good oral and written communication skills.

Education and Training:

Master’s Degree in Art History and/or Studio Art, or equivalent in education and experience. Specialization in museum or curatorial practice preferred. At least four years of curatorial, installation, and/or registration experience, preferably in a college or university museum. Experience supervising students and volunteers in a museum context.

Physical, Mental and Environmental Demands:

• Work involves entering collection cataloguing data which requires attention to detail and high levels of accuracy.
• Work occasionally involves physical exertion such as lifting heavy objects over 50 pounds.
• Work occasionally involves working at heights of 20 feet.
• The work station is located in an open office area. Interruptions and meeting with a variety of people will be required on a regular basis.
• There are a number of deadlines associated with this position, which may cause significant stress.
• This position description is not intended to contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties, or responsibilities.
• Additional duties may be assigned based on business operational needs.

Additional Information:

This is a full-time, exempt position with an FTE of 1.0. Salary is $58,240.00, and includes an excellent benefits package including medical/dental/vision/life/LTD insurance, 403(b) retirement plan, 10 days of vacation for year one, 15 days of vacation for years 2-10, and 22 days of vacation years 10+ plus, 12 sick days and 17 paid holidays (subject to annual review).

Mills College does not permit discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, race, religious creed, color, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. For more information on Mills’ non-discrimination policy, please go to https://www.mills.edu/policies/ada-policies/nondiscrimination-statement.php.

All positions are subject to a background check. Prior to the first date of employment, an applicant’s background check must be cleared.

Application Instructions:

Click the “Apply Now” button below and follow instructions to submit the following documents:

• Employee Application
• Resume
• Cover Letter and
• Contact Information for 3 References

Please note that you can only upload 6 “Other” documents. You can consolidate multiple pages/documents into one file upload. The file size limit for each upload is 10Mb.

Review of applicants will begin immediately; applications will be accepted until the position is filled.