Museum Director & Chief Curator

Association of Academic Museums & Galleries.; Colorado Springs (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Museum at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College invites applications for the role of Museum Director & Chief Curator. This senior leader will guide strategic direction, teaching, and community engagement while stewarding collections and exhibitions.

Responsibilities include budget oversight, fundraising, donor cultivation, and building strong partnerships with Colorado College and the broader Colorado Springs community.

Qualifications

• Education: Master’s degree in Art History, Museum Studies, Museum Education, Arts Administration, or a closely related field.
• Experience: A minimum of 8 years of progressively responsible museum or arts institution experience, including at least 3–5 years in a senior leadership or director-level role.
• Sensitivity to the diversity of the Indigenous and historic cultures of the American Southwest and the ability to responsibly engage Indigenous and other descendant communities represented in the collection.

Responsibilities

• Provide administrative and operational leadership for the museum department — including strategic planning, staffing, budget management, and departmental infrastructure.
• Lead, supervise, and evaluate museum staff performance; establish goals and strategic plans across departments in service of a cohesive museum vision.
• Oversee museum operations and manage the department’s annual operating budget in collaboration with budget managers.
• Serve as a member of the FAC senior leadership team to collectively set strategic direction for the Fine Arts Center.
• Serve as the museum’s chief curator, setting artistic vision for a program that connects to the Southwest and the Americas.
• Direct a robust exhibition program — foregrounding the museum’s holdings in the Southwest and diasporic art of the Americas.

Education

Master’s degree in Art History, Museum Studies, Museum Education, Arts Administration, or a closely related field

Job description

The Museum at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) operates at the intersection of Colorado College’s (CC’s) academic mission and public engagement. The Director & Chief Curator (the Director) provides administrative and curatorial leadership for the museum at the FAC, one of the region’s most significant multidisciplinary arts institutions. The Director leads museum operations, staffing, and budget, and sets the museum’s curatorial vision. The exhibition program, spanning collections-based and loan-based projects, draws on the intellectual assets of the Colorado College campus community and the cultural legacy of the Southwest within a broader focus on the art of the Americas, while welcoming work from outside the Americas when it resonates with and enriches the museum’s curatorial vision. The Director holds ultimate responsibility for the museum’s collections stewardship and NAGPRA compliance on behalf of Colorado College.

As a member of the FAC’s senior leadership team, the Museum Director & Chief Curator collectively shapes strategic direction for the Fine Arts Center as a whole. The role requires deep engagement with Colorado College as an academic institution, including the capacity to teach, as well as a highly visible presence in the broader Colorado Springs community. The Museum Director & Chief Curator helps build the philanthropic, academic, and civic relationships that sustain the museum’s growth.

Essential Functions

Administrative & Institutional Leadership

Provide administrative and operational leadership for the museum department — including strategic planning, staffing, budget management, and departmental infrastructure — the foundation that enables the museum’s curatorial and public-facing work.

Lead, supervise, and evaluate museum staff performance; establish goals and strategic plans across departments (curatorial, collections, exhibitions) in service of a cohesive museum vision.

Oversee museum operations and manage the department’s annual operating budget in regular collaboration with the divisional and institutional budget managers.

Serve as a member of the FAC senior leadership team to collectively set strategic direction for the Fine Arts Center as a whole.

Serve as the museum’s chief curator, setting artistic vision for a program that draws on the intellectual assets of the Colorado College campus community and connects to the cultural legacy of the Southwest, within a broader curatorial focus on the art of the Americas.

Direct a robust exhibition program — encompassing both collections-based and loan-based projects — foregrounding the museum’s significant holdings in art of the Southwest and the diasporic art of the Americas, while also incorporating work from beyond the Americas that aligns with and extends the museum’s curatorial vision.

Ensure an intellectually rigorous and broadly engaging program; align exhibition planning with college curricular goals as well as divisional visitation and admission revenue goals.

Maintain an active curatorial and scholarly practice engaged with ideas and issues critical to the college and its communities.

Collections Stewardship & NAGPRA Compliance

Hold ultimate institutional responsibility for collections stewardship and NAGPRA compliance, exercised in partnership with the Collections Manager & NAGPRA Coordinator, who carries out this work day to day.

Ensure restorative collections stewardship practices that elevate the care of, and access to, the collection as a core institutional priority, including sustained engagement with descendant communities, tribal leaders, and college partners.

Support the Collections Manager & NAGPRA Coordinator in fulfilling the museum’s NAGPRA obligations on behalf of Colorado College, ensuring institutional resources and strategic priority.

Work with Collections staff to prioritize collections management, care, and broadened access to the collection stewarded by the FAC.

Partner with the college’s Advancement Department to shape and execute fundraising strategy for the museum, cultivating major donors, foundations, and prospects, building membership, and driving museum admissions. Play a lead role in identifying and writing grants for program funding.

Serve as a highly visible representative of the FAC within the greater Colorado Springs community, through public talks, lectures, and active participation in community conversations, working groups, and civic initiatives.

In partnership with the Department of Communications and Marketing, elevate the museum’s profile and visibility through strategic communications, storytelling, thought leadership, and advocacy within regional and national museum discourse.

Academic & Institutional Engagement

Serve as an active member of the Colorado College academic community, including teaching capacity within relevant departments, active participation in the museum studies faculty group, and service on college and community committees as appropriate.

Collaborate with the Engagement department and academic departments to facilitate academic use of the museum, and serve as a teaching and learning resource for regional K-12 schools and educators.

Work requires sophisticated, sustained collaboration across a wide range of internal and external stakeholders — museum and FAC staff, Colorado College faculty and leadership, donors, tribal leaders and descendant communities, and civic and cultural organizations. The role requires building trust and authentic relationships across highly diverse constituencies, often navigating complex or sensitive institutional and cultural dynamics without direct authority over external partners.

Technical Knowledge

Work requires advanced, specialized knowledge of museum practice — including curatorial, engagement, and collections work, with particular depth in collections stewardship standards such as NAGPRA compliance — along with art-historical expertise in the art of the Americas. Requires the ability to design and implement complex, multi-year programs and institutional strategy.

Relevant Background and Formal Education

Education: Master’s degree in Art History, Museum Studies, Museum Education, Arts Administration, or a closely related field.

Experience: A minimum of 8 years of progressively responsible museum or arts institution experience, including at least 3–5 years in a senior leadership or director-level role; experience within a higher education setting strongly preferred. Sensitivity to the diversity of the Indigenous and historic cultures of the American Southwest and the ability to responsibly engage Indigenous and other descendant communities represented in the collection.

Supervision Exercised / Supervision Received

Supervision Exercised: This position directs and manages the museum department, providing strategic leadership, goal-setting, and performance oversight for museum staff across curatorial, collections, and exhibitions while partnering with engagement.

Supervision Received: This position functions as part of the FAC’s senior leadership group alongside the leaders of Theater, the Bemis School of Art, and Operations. It reports to the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, and operates with broad autonomy in setting curatorial vision and departmental strategy consistent with the FAC’s mission.

Organizational Risk Management and Compliance

This position ensures institutional compliance with federal collections law, including NAGPRA, and industry-standard museum practices for collections care and stewardship.

Fiscal Responsibility

This position manages the museum department’s annual operating budget (approximately $1.1 million), prepares and justifies budget and grant proposals, and actively cultivates and secures philanthropic funding, including major gifts, foundation grants, and bequests in collaboration with the CC Office of Advancement.