POSITION DESCRIPTION
February 2015
DePaul Art Museum
Director
DePaul University seeks a visual arts professional to orchestrate development
primarily of content-rich modern & contemporary exhibitions, provide educational
experiences, manage museum operations, strengthen the organization’s Advisory
Board, and proactively drive fundraising outreach.
Located in Chicago, DePaul University traces its roots back to the 1898 founding of St. Vincent's
College to serve the children of immigrants who needed an education to help them succeed in
life. DePaul was the first Catholic university to offer admission regardless of religious
background and the first Catholic university to offer admission to women on an equal standing
with men. DePaul University is today America’s 13th largest private university, and its largest
Catholic university, by enrollment.
DePaul University annually serves over 16,000 undergraduate and almost 8,000 graduate
students from over 60 countries, who each bring to the university their own religious and ethnic
traditions and life experiences. DePaul offers vital, real world learning experiences so that its
students are inspired accomplished and ready to achieve more. In keeping with the philosophy
and actions of St. Vincent dePaul, the university has always placed special emphasis on
recruiting and serving students and others from disadvantaged backgrounds. The community
as a whole continually considers how the university, its staff, faculty and students may best
serve the common good by combining cultural, social, religious and ethical values with
analytical thinking and hard work.
DePaul’s two main campuses are located in Lincoln Park and the central business district of
Chicago (the Loop), with satellite campuses located in suburban Chicago. Colleges and schools
include:
• College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
• College of Education
• Driehaus College of Business
• College of Communication
• College of Law
• College of Computing and Digital Media
• School of Music
• The Theatre School
• College of Science and Health
• School for New Learning
DePaul University believes that there is a clear relationship between art and creativity across all
academic fields of endeavor. Visual and performing arts, and the sensibility of creators and
artists, have always been an important part of the university environment. Over the years,
support at DePaul grew for a separate museum to enable university and surrounding community
members to use the work of visual artists as another vehicle for exploring meanings in life, work
and the world of ideas in ways uniquely informed by DePaul’s sensibilities and values.
The DePaul Art Museum was founded in 1985, and it was initially housed in two classrooms. In
1998, the museum moved to larger exhibition spaces housed within the library building. At the
same time, the museum developed a governance structure, fully catalogued its collection, and
initiated an acquisition program. The museum’s staff also grew: from a single curator to four
full-time professionals employed today.
The museum’s building reflects the university’s broad commitment to the artistic and cultural
life of the city. In 2011, DPAM re-opened in a new $7.8 million facility. At 15,200 square feet,
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the new three-story building more than doubles the space the museum previously occupied and
includes space for class use, programs, and events.
The museum presents 6-10 exhibitions and associated programs annually and these generally
are organized into four areas.
•
Thematic exhibitions (Climate of Uncertainty, For and Against Modern Art, War Baby /
Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art)
•
The work of individual artists (Malick Sidibé, Ellen Lanyon, Paul D’Amato and Jeff
Carter)
•
Exhibitions highlighting the permanent collections, (Body and Art - African Sculpture,
Fires Will Burn: Politically Engaged Art, Ink, Paper Politics: WPA-Era Printmaking from
the Needles Collection and Gifts from the Koffler Collection, Andy Warhol, Bruce
Davidson, Dawoud Bey)
•
Travelling exhibitions (Drawn from Photography, From Heart to Hand: African American
Quilts and The Sochi Project)
Annual attendance to museum exhibitions and programs in the last three years has ranged
between 13,000 and 15,000 visitors, and the organization wishes to substantially increase this.
The permanent collection encompasses 2,800 objects of which two thirds are works on paper
and photography, strong holdings by Chicago and regional artists, strengths in North American
photography, WPA era prints, contemporary and traditional West African, and eastern European
graphic arts. Programs offered at the museum include, panel discussions, artist and scholarly
lectures, films, performances, artist workshops, public tours, and class use of the collection.
The mission of the museum is to enable the university community to be part of a global
dialogue surrounding art, a dialogue that takes place worldwide among museums, curators,
collectors, arts educators, artists and the public. The University is itself recognized by leaders in
the fields of its various colleges and schools for providing an exceptional education experience,
scholarly rigor, and thought leadership. DePaul is similarly ambitious for its museum, and it is
critically important that this part of the university and its staff be recognized by other museum
leaders for adherence to the highest standards of curatorial practice and exhibition excellence.
Museum staff includes the Director, Associate Director, Assistant Curator, Administrative
Assistant/ Events and Project Coordinator, custodian, three student interns, 10-12 student
gallery monitors, and guest curators. The Museum benefits from the wide-ranging expertise of
DePaul faculty, and also enables students to explore innovative approaches to art and culture.
The Museum has an established history of presenting exhibitions that appeal to the breadth of
Chicago’s audiences while maintaining high standards for museum practice and equally high
standards of academic and intellectual integrity.
BASIC FUNCTION
The Director will ensure that the DePaul Art Museum serves the needs of the university and
local communities, is well regarded by others across the museum field, and takes a deserved
place among respected Chicago art museums.
Reporting to the University’s Vice President for Teaching and Learning Resources, the Director
will lead and set the tone for the DePaul Art Museum, and will also work closely with faculty,
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artists and curators to organize museum based programming. Additionally, the Director will
ensure that the museum functions as a bridge between DePaul University and the art world.
This will involve close and appropriately scaled cooperation between the DePaul Art Museum
and other arts entities at the university, in Chicago, nationally and internationally. An area of
curatorial emphasis is expected to continue to be the modern & contemporary art, and Chicago
and the American Midwest.
The Director of the DePaul Art Museum will play a key role in setting the tone for the visual arts
across all campuses, colleges, schools and facilities of the university. The Director will
orchestrate exhibitions and programs, functioning as curator when necessary.
The museum’s Director is expected to a) strengthen its management practices, b) incorporate
diverse curatorial voices and sensibilities into the museum’s programming, c) attract donors of
art and financial support for the museum, and d) define DePaul Art Museum’s brand position
within Chicago’s arts community.
PRIORITIES
The Director’s immediate priorities will be to:
•
Understand all facets of the DePaul Art Museum, including DePaul University’s and the
museum’s culture, staff, collections, faculty, finances, students, planned exhibitions,
academic and public programs, facilities, infrastructure and operations; understand the
university’s diverse campus, and local, national and international constituencies and
supporters;
•
In the first 120 days, develop and submit (and thereafter periodically enhance) a plan
for approval by the Vice President that minimally includes sections on:
o Exhibitions and education programming, including an outline of an exhibition
schedule that serves the needs of the University’s academic programs is of
curatorial and educational merit.
o Plans for the collections, including for current works - cataloguing, imaging,
conservation and storage; and enhancing the collections through donation or
acquisition of works of merit; plans to address public art on campus.
o Public programming and education that serves to extend DePaul’s reach into the
community and that invites the community into the environment of the
university; in particular development of content-rich visual arts programs in the
museum and across the campus.
o Financial plan to both assure careful financial management, and to develop new
resources for the museum through outreach to donors interested in contributing
to the arts mission of the museum in various ways;
o Marketing, Communications, and Branding, particularly: setting the DePaul Art
Museum’s brand identity, and aligning all collections, exhibitions and
programming to that identity. Use of social media and conventional means to
connect audiences to Art Museum and generate attendance to programs and
exhibition is considered to be part of marketing.
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•
Work with the DePaul University faculty, administrators and staff to understand their
contributions, strengths and concerns; instill a strong sense of partnership and cohesion
across the organization; use open channels of communication to reinforce a culture of
excellence at the DePaul Art Museum; facilitate collaborations between curators, guest
curators, and faculty acting in a curatorial capacity, as well those providing public and
academic programming;
•
Work closely and cooperatively with DePaul University’s Office of Advancement to raise
funds for the DePaul Art Museum exhibitions, programs, collections (including in-kind
donations of works of merit), facilities and events;
•
Serve as an articulate and persuasive spokesperson for the museum, representing the
museum to all of its constituencies, including faculty and students, funders, and the arts
and museum community; continually improve relationships with key stakeholders and
alliance partners in DePaul University and Chicago, and across the greater community of
museums, galleries, arts organizations and artists in the region and across the field;
•
Work with the Vice President to enhance the museum’s governance structure, advisory
groups and committees, practices to strengthen the museum financially and otherwise.
IDEAL EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate will have the following range of experience and qualifications:
•
Management and leadership responsibility in an art museum or associated institution
that is known for innovative programming, curatorial excellence, strong ties with its
community, and fundraising;
•
A familiarity with and enthusiasm for university/academic institutions and their values;
an appreciation for sound museum practice, the work of studio and art history
educators, and the perspectives of diverse students and faculty is essential; an extensive
background in and passion for a broad range of art, particularly contemporary art;
experience in working with others to develop exhibitions and related programming;
•
Deep and current experience in marketing and raising the public profile of visual arts
and cultural institutions and in branding nonprofit institutions;
•
Understanding of operations and financial management, particularly in a museum or
similar nonprofit environment; some experience of museum revenue and expense
models would be an advantage;
•
The ability to work successfully with donors, community leaders, artists, curators,
educators, faculty and museum boards to strengthen the Museum in various ways;
•
An entrepreneur’s ability to navigate the operating infrastructure and leverage the
resources of large institutions (a university in particular); success in this regard will
depend upon a balance of patience, fortitude, lobbying, coalition-building, political
acumen and drive;
•
Outstanding oral and written communication skills, including the means to address
issues in non-confrontational and non-polarizing ways, but nevertheless with
determination;
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•
An arts related bachelor’s or advanced degree is required, and an advanced degree in
art history, studio arts, digital media or museum practice would be beneficial. Plans for
a museum studies minor are underway, and it is hoped that the Director will be able to
contribute to this program.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
The successful candidate should be:
•
An individual with passion for the visual arts and a demonstrated commitment to
exploration, education and research of art;
•
A leader adept at planning, prioritizing, organizing and following through; a hard worker
with a high energy level; highly accountable; a mentor to existing staff;
•
A good listener and strategist; comfortable receiving input and guidance from many
sources, and able to analyze and formulate disparate information into a sound, wellorganized plan; a team player and team builder; a graceful communicator able to
connect with a broad spectrum of people; a person who cultivates trust and engages the
interest of constituents;
•
Someone who will enjoy building connections for the DePaul Art Museum to students,
faculty and others at DePaul, and to connecting the museum to a larger public outside
of DePaul University;
•
An individual who is straight-forward, shares information easily, and respects the
abilities of others; someone who imparts trust, integrity and solidity;
•
A collaborator who thrives on entrepreneurial partnerships within the University and
larger community; an ability to disagree without being disagreeable;
•
The ideal Director will have qualities of an impresario, diplomat and arts promoter,
combined with a values-driven, practical, roll-up-your-sleeves, hard-nosed work ethic.
DePaul University offers equal employment opportunities to all persons without regard to race,
color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, physical or
mental disability, parental status, housing status, source of income or military status, in
accordance with applicable federal, state and local EEO laws.
For more information please contact:
Kim Brettschneider
(646)762-0818 or kimb@mOppenheim.com
Mark Oppenheim
(415)762-2640 or marko@mOppenheim.com
m/Oppenheim Associates
425 Market Street, Suite 1020
San Francisco, CA 94105
DePaul Art Museum
February 2015
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