Museum Educator: Academic & Docent Programs Leader

Munson Willliams Proctor Art Institute; City of Utica (NY); On-site; USD 54,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job summary

Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute is seeking a Museum Educator for Academic and Docent Programs in Utica, NY. The role develops tours and educational experiences connecting students, educators, families, and docents with the museum's collections and exhibitions.

The position manages the daily operation of academic and docent programs, recruits and trains docents, coordinates internship programs, and collaborates with the Education team to create standards-aligned experiences for K-12 and

Qualifications

• BA/BS degree in Art History, Museum Studies, Education, Art Education, or related field.
• Three years or more of experience in a museum or a similar cultural organization, including developing and planning educational programs and supervising individuals and projects.
• Knowledge of current practices in art education, museum work, art history, and theories of education and learning.
• Knowledge of a range of artistic processes, materials, and tools.
• Demonstrated organizational and management skills.
• Excellent verbal, writing, and public speaking skills for diverse audiences that include students, educators, and community leaders.
• Knowledge of the needs of art teachers and other educators, including K-12 educators and New York State and Common Core Learning Standards.
• Knowledge of Visual Thinking Strategies with diverse groups.
• Experience in using new technologies to deliver educational content.
• Experience with social media, print media, email newsletters, and other digital content.
• Experience with database entry and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and mentor volunteers and provide immediate feedback to improve performance in order to support the visitor experience.
• NY State Driver’s License

Responsibilities

• Plan and schedule docent meetings, briefings, and educational sessions.
• Provide docents with orientation and interpretive training on exhibitions to engage visitors and tour groups of all ages from pre-K to adult.
• Provide docents with continuing education and prepare educational and reference material on current interactive methodology and knowledge of the permanent collection (e.g. artist/acquisition/provenance).
• Initiate and supervise docent recruitment, selection, training, and evaluation.
• Maintain pertinent information on the docent web page as a resource for docent scheduling, training, tours, program information, resources for docents, and exhibition-related educational materials.
• Present tours as needed when a docent is unavailable, a larger than anticipated number of participants arrives for a tour, or for special tours.
• Identify and engage guest speakers to provide training, reference material, and resources for docent briefings or training, prepare honorarium payment, make arrangements for travel and/or accommodations as needed.
• Coordinate tour dates and times for internal or external groups and schedule appropriate number of docents for each tour. Enter information into the database.
• Develop connections between Munson’s collections and exhibitions and school curricula from elementary to higher education in furtherance of New York State learning standards.
• Serve as Munson liaison to educators at all levels of the educational system to align programming with classroom objectives.
• Work with appropriate Museum Curator to design tours in advance of each special exhibition or installation of collection works of art.
• Research the exhibition and works of art and determine the intent of the educational materials to be presented.
• Develop theme, select works of art to be highlighted in each tour, prepare tour outline.
• Manage all aspects of planning and scheduling school tours and programs, including internal Museum preparation.
• Develop educator training workshops for orientation to museum school programs.
• Maintain Museum Education database for scheduling and reports.
• Manage school program budget: monitor inventory and purchase supplies as needed; issue invoices; collect and deposit tour fees.
• Maintain Munson’s student and educator web page as a reference for programs and resources.
• Develop online supplementary educational resources to support museum-based programs.
• Develop and analyze teacher evaluations for school programs.
• Conduct school tours as needed.
• Maintain pertinent information on the docent web page for all student-based programs

Skills

Public speaking

Organizational skills

Museum education

Communication

Education

BA/BS in Art History, Museum Studies, Education, Art Education or related

Tools

Google Suite

Microsoft Office

Job description

Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute is seeking a Museum Educator for Academic and Docent Programs in Utica, NY. The role develops tours and educational experiences connecting students, educators, families, and docents with the museum's collections and exhibitions.

The position manages the daily operation of academic and docent programs, recruits and trains docents, coordinates internship programs, and collaborates with the Education team to create standards-aligned experiences for K-12 and