POSITION SUMMARY

Boston Children’s Museum seeks an inspiring, pro-active, highly motivated leader with a strong academic background, who will leverage their knowledge of Humanities to develop engaging ideas from concept to reality, and forge deep connections among the Museum staff, visitors, artists, educators, and cultural and community groups in Boston. The ideal candidate has a strong background and experience in program development and interpretation for the Museum’s diverse audience of birth-10 year olds and their caregivers, across various platforms, ranging from exhibits, to virtual and in-person public programs, as well as curriculum and training for educators in formal and informal settings. Candidates must have excellent written communication skills and demonstrated experience writing and managing successful grants, excellent supervisory and project management skills, and the ability to develop and implement a strong and compelling vision and strategy for the new Humanities Team.

The Senior Director of Humanities (SDH) reporting temporarily to the President, CEO is responsible for spearheading the vision and strategy for a newly defined team that consolidates the Museum’s cross-disciplinary and multi-dimensional Humanities programming, including world cultures, religious literacy, performing arts, and the Museum’s collection (including the Museum’s archive) of about 50,000 natural history and Humanities objects, and interpretation of Humanities-based exhibits.

The SDH will play a key role in shaping and overseeing the interpretation for adults and children in our current development of a permanent exhibit Our City, which explores issues of race, religion, identity, diversity, empathy, and kindness. Will work closely with Museum’s equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) consultant and EDI Steering Committee to integrate and align the Humanities with the goals and vision of EDI. In addition, will lead project-specific grant writing, participate in overall Humanities fundraising, direct and manage budgets and implementation of Humanities projects, and engage in exhibit development. The SDH will also work in partnership with the Harvard Divinity School Religion and Public Life Program, among others, and be part of the Religious Literacy at BCM team that will implement the overall five-year project.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supervise and mentor members of the Humanities Team (5-7 staff). The Humanities team is tasked with the daily operation of the performing arts and cultural programs and exhibit interpretation, the management of the Museum collection and archive, oversight of the Our City and Japanese House exhibitions.
• Develop, deepen, and sustain strategic partnerships to further Humanities efforts at BCM, including, but not limited to, the partnership between BCM and the Religion in Public Life Program at the Harvard Divinity School.
• Provide vision and leadership for adult–focused workshops and discussion related to Our City, in partnership with relevant community-based organizations.
• Supervise the Museum’s collection, comprised of 50,000 artifacts including a cultural collection, natural history collection, and the BCM archive.
• Serve as an active member of the Resource Management Team, participating in grant seeking, and lead grant writing and grants management related to the Humanities department, including federal and large national foundation grants.
• Participate as a senior member of the Program and Exhibits department, reporting to the VP of Exhibits and Programs (TBH) and working collaboratively with others in the department and throughout the Museum. Participate as a member of the Museum’s Senior Leadership Team.
• Manage team budgets, including operating, grants and targeted funds.
• Work on external consulting projects as needed, and consult internally with other teams around Humanities content.
• Serve on the Collections Board Committee, and attend Board of Trustees meetings as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of BA in a Humanities discipline (MA preferred) with at least 5 years of experience implementing public programs and staff supervision.
• Experience in translating Humanities knowledge into programs appropriate to Boston Children’s Museum’s audiences of children birth to 10, and their adult caregivers.
• Experience and expertise in developing and implementing Humanities museums programs and exhibits, and passion for creating a culture of learning in the Humanities. Experience inventing new programs, building collaborations, and making novel ideas work in the Museum environment.
• Demonstrated ability to develop positive working relationships across the organization and other creative fields.
• Demonstrated ability to incorporate a child-centered educational philosophy, consistent with our emphasis on child-directed play and exploration, creativity and discovery.
• Demonstrated success in: staff management, supervision, mentoring, and training, and budget and program planning and management. The successful candidate will have a strong portfolio of programs they have developed, and demonstrated success in team supervision, and fluency in Human Resources practices.
• Demonstrated ability to manage effectively in a complex, multifaceted organization.
• Experience with access and inclusion, community programs, and capacity for including community voices into the program development process.
• Strong written communication abilities and demonstrated experience writing large federal and national grant proposals, and successfully managing their programmatic and budget implementation.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this position the Director is required to speak clearly, hear and listen intently, sit, stand and walk at varying intervals. Must be able to lift and carry up to 25 pounds.

Work Environment: Work environment may vary dependent upon physical location where work is performed (internally or externally). General office environment, shared common office space and equipment.

Other Factors: Work schedule is Monday – Friday 9-5. Business casual dress code required. Occasional weekend and evening hours required. Work is performed both inside and outside of the Museum setting.