The Alserkal Residency Director drives the development of Alserkal Residency, its public programmes, and multi-disciplinary commissions

This role includes advising on content for Alserkal Group initiatives, as well as Concrete, and Alserkal Avenue.

Alserkal Residency

• Ideate and develop annual strategy for Alserkal Residency, aligning how it will fit into the future Alserkal Trust, working closely with AA Director and the Alserkal Family.
• Act as the key contact and liaison between Alserkal Residency and the Alserkal Avenue Central team to ensure communication is maintained between the different teams
• Act as the key contact for Concrete’s cultural development initiatives, guiding and advising on any of Concrete’s programmes
• Ideate and develop programmes and initiatives regionally and internationally to expand Alserkal Residency’s network
• Oversee and manage budget and annual expenditure for Alserkal Residency and its programmes and physical spaces, including Commissions which are to take place in Alserkal Avenue or outside.
• Secure travel budget for research trips, particularly looking at cultural institutions and regions which align with AR ethos, expanding the mission of the programme through collaborations.
  • Work closely with Selection Committee members for Alserkal Residency, which will stay in place from 2019-2020.
• Manage Alserkal Residency’s team, i.e Alserkal Residency Programmes Manager, Operations Executive and Residency coordinator, ensuring that are given the support to achieve their goals.
• Oversee the development of a new system which will hold all records of past participants  and form the basis of Alserkal Residency’s public archive.
• Establish strong and unique position for Alserkal Residency amongst arts organizations regionally and internationally, focusing on discursive platform and Global South participants.
• Widen the scope of Alserkal Residency to include academics from the fields of social sciences / humanities by 2020, complementing multidisciplinary nature of the programme.

Commissions 

• Ideate and oversee Alserkal Residency’s Commissions Programme for 2019-2020, working alongside the Alserkal Residency Programmes Manager and Alserkal Avenue team.
• Ideate and develop public programming around Alserkal Residency’s Commissions

Alserkal Avenue 

• Work alongside AA Director and Cultural Development Director, advising on all not-for-profit partnerships and collaborations for Alserkal Avenue.
• Advise on possible external partnerships with institutions and cultural practitioners
• Advise on possible collaborations and partnerships with community members within Alserkal Avenue
• Weekly meetings with Programming team to review programme status.

Concrete 

• Advise the Concrete Director on not-for-profit partnerships and collaborations, specifically during March and November, but also for the performance programme.
• Work closely on public programmes related to not-for-profit partnerships and collaborations being held at Concrete

Day to day task entails 

• Ideate and develop series of talks, workshops, film screenings, seminars and other programmes which will form the backbone of the Alserkal Residency programme
• Scheduling of critiques and open studios with regional and international art-world professionals for Alserkal Residency
• Work alongside computer programmer to develop archiving methods on new residency website
• Oversee the launch of AR website and social media accounts, ensuring they remain within brand and work alongside AA communications director on annual strategy
• Review, edit and write texts on or related to Alserkal Residency
• Invest time in researching participants and institutions with similar ethos to AR, scheduling meetings and creating connections
• Schedule weekly meetings with programming team, consulting when necessary on future programmes.
• Provide constant bridge between AR and AA teams, ensuring there is information being shared, and communication is up to speed.
• Oversee maintenance and operations of AR physical spaces via AR Apprentice and Operations Executive and AA Operations team.

Skills/ Abilities 

• Bachelor’s degree in Art History with a focus in contemporary art is required and/or professional training and experience that equates to BA, such as University Degree in Art History, Curatorial Studies, Museum Studies, Arts & Cultural Management, Culture & Heritage Management; MA preferred
• An in-depth understanding and appreciation of the current public engagement and positioning of Alserkal Avenue
• A demonstrable understanding of, and commitment to arts and culture
• Minimum of five (3) years of experience working with contemporary art and artists in cultural institutions
• Experience working with others to develop long-range exhibition and public programme calendars
• Experience managing public art commissions and special project budgets
• Demonstrated record of hands-on experience and project management from ideation through execution
• Ability to work openly and respectfully with a flexible and collegial team and evidence of strong working relationships with a diverse range of contemporary artists, curators, and cultural institutions
• Familiarity with Middle Eastern contemporary art market and strong awareness of current ethical practices and laws regarding contemporary art within the region.
• Experience in collaborating with key constituents to further develop local, regional and international relationships
• An interest and enthusiasm for public engagement and contemporary art from MENA