Please Touch Museum

PLEASE TOUCH MUSEUM® Position Description SENIOR DIRECTOR, MUSEUM EXPERIENCE & INNOVATION

Reports To: President & CEO Department: Museum Experience

Direct Division: Museum Experience & Reports: Innovation FLSA Status: Exempt Grade: Effective Date: FY16 Status: Full-Time Hours / Week: 40

Background

Please Touch Museum, the Children’s Museum of Philadelphia (PTM) was founded in 1976 and was the first children’s museum to focus exclusively on young children ages birth to seven. PTM is multidisciplinary, providing exhibits and programs in the visual and performing arts, including theater, music and dance, literacy, humanities, math and science. PTM’s exhibits are themed environments that are hands-on and interactive helping children to learn, develop and practice the skills and social skills they need to be ready for and successful in school and in future careers. The mission of Please Touch Museum is to enrich the lives of children by providing learning experiences through play. In 2008 PTM moved to Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, a National Historic Landmark Building built for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.

Position Summary:

Senior Director of Museum Experiences and Innovation (SDMEI) overseas the creation of inventive exhibits, imaginative public programs, and the delivery of a five-star Museum experience. The SDMEI will be responsible for uniting the Museums core mission-oriented departments: exhibits, programs, outreach and visitor experience into a single high-functioning department. The SDMEI will collaborate on establishing strategic partnerships and alliances with academia and like-minded organizations as well as potential funding sources. As a member of the management team, the Senior Director Museum Experience and Innovations will participate in generating the next strategic plan, which will launch new initiatives in the field and have significant impact locally. The SDMEI contributes to the overall direction of the Museum and is responsible for ongoing planning, directing, and advancing the Museum’s strategic plans and priorities and aligning department goals and initiatives with the strategy, mission and values of the organization.

Essential Functions:  Provides the educational and innovative vision and multi-year plans for, and integrity of, the Museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions, theater and programs (internal and external) that connect the visitor experience and content priorities (e.g. STEM, literacy, art, performing arts, global awareness, school readiness).  Advocates for the Museum’s educational philosophy and incorporate it into all visitor experiences. Provides guidance, mentoring and development of staff to assure the operational effectiveness of all programs and functions related to the visitors within and outside of the Museum. 1  Partners with formal and informal learning institutions to develop and implement outstanding programs, exhibitions and opportunities for children, their families and educators.  Uses latest information on early childhood development and academic subjects such as art, literature, science, design, the environment, cultural diversity to generate innovative and engaging exhibitions.  Translate universal big ideas into age-appropriate engaging exhibitions that serve a wide range of ages and abilities and find a balance between experimentation and risk mitigation, education and fun, as well as safety.  Oversee ongoing development of temporary and seasonal exhibit programs that supports the permanent exhibit themes and subject priorities.  Ensure for the overall integrity, accessibility and security of the Museum collection.  Create and expand innovative informal and formal learning initiatives for children of all socio- economic levels, both in ad outside the Museum  Oversees the visitor services experience and exhibitory, to maintain quality standards and delivery to ensure visitors are receiving and outstanding Museum experience and build loyal visitor base.  Oversees job-specific training for visitor service staff to ensure that Visitor Service staff maintain excellent visitor service standards and adhere to Museum policies, systems and procedures and use spaces to bring exhibits and programs together for the benefit of the visitor.  Creates experiences that work for adults as well as children and encourage both to interact together in exhibits and programs.  Ensures that the Museum is in good standing with its affiliates such as the Association of Children’s Museums, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and leads the re- accreditation process for her/his departments while maintaining the core standards for Museums Excellence.  Recruits, trains and retains highly skilled and well qualified, diverse staff whom possess a strong museum education background and exemplify the museum’s belief in family learning and learning by play.  Supervises staff positively, performing timely performance assessments and affording them appropriate professional development.  Creates a budget and meets annual financial targets and metrics established in the annual operating plan.  Plans, implements and monitors financial resources throughout operational areas of responsibility;  Works with colleagues throughout the Museum to ensure and maintain timely knowledge of programs.  Identifies and develops projects for grant funding related to programs and works with the Development team to help secure funding. Develops and sustains a network of external professionals and stakeholder relationships, develop partnerships, and represent the Museum in development efforts, particularly those related to obtaining partnerships and grants.  Acts as a spokesperson for Museum, as it pertains to her/his respective areas. Advances the Museum’s mission and program initiatives in the community and museum field.  Continually builds strong relationships with a diverse, strategic like-minded partners and collaborators to expand the potential of the museum.  Works with the CEO in the development of the PTM Advisory Council which provides thought leadership to PTM in the areas of museum experiences and early childhood education.  Other duties as assigned.

Competencies Needed for Position:  Relationship Building  Strategic Planning  Critical Evaluation

2 Minimum Qualifications :  Eight plus years as an experienced leader who has been a member of an executive management team, demonstrating excellent accountability, leadership, communication, mentoring, empowerment and resource management skills.  Proven ability to build and lead successful teams and has a collaborative leadership style. Ability to lead people, building a cohesive team, coaching and developing staff and empowering managers to own their functional areas.  Well-developed interpersonal skills and ability to establish rapport with diverse families, staff, volunteers, community stakeholders and partners. Sensitive in dealing with people of different backgrounds, abilities and life experiences.  Five plus years in experience in successful development and implementation of programs, exhibitions, sponsorships, and strategic planning. Must understand multicultural programming to meet the needs of a diverse audience.  Understanding of museum industry, overall competition and market place.  A track record of performance excellence in meeting targets and objectives.  Demonstrated success in leadership roles developing innovative, audience appropriate exhibitions and/or programs and/or “big” ideas at an institution serving children and families.  Experience forming successful collaborations with community groups to create a variety of learning opportunities for children and families.  Responsive and enthusiastic for leveraging expertise available among thought-leaders on issues such as child development, STEM and technology.  Experience with urban communities, English-language learners and working with partners in academia, with a particular focus on early childhood development or education is a plus.  Understanding of customer service best practices and standards as they apply to crating outstanding and enriching experiences for PTM audiences (includes knowledge or willingness to learn about and use visitor evaluation tools to improve the visitor experience and technology to enhance the visitor experience, serve special audiences and stretch boundaries of the physical museum.  Strong analytical thinking skills; basic business intuition and common sense.  Proven project management experience that includes complex scoping, planning and integration of people and resources, managing risk and planning for contingencies.  Ability to manage multiple, complex priorities within demanding timeframes.  Ability to handle a variety of constituencies; proven ability to lead a fast-paced visitor focused department and instill accountability for results while creating a work environment that fosters change and innovation while appreciating PTM’s traditions, history and national  Strong written communications to prepare reports, presentations and proposals, including experience at supervising and providing consultation on grant and fundraising proposals for SDMEI’s areas of responsibility.  Exceptional communication skills (public speaking and presentation) as an advocate for the Museum. Persuasive, credible and polished communicator with excellent interpersonal skills.  Executive level budget management skills and revenue forecasting. Ability to manage and adhere to multiple project budgets and success at completing projects on time, within budget and with limited resources.

Please Touch Museum offers an excellent working environment; a comprehensive benefit package and competitive salary. To apply for this opportunity, please mail your cover letter , resume, accomplishments and salary requirements to: Director of Human Resources, Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA 19131: Email: [email protected] fax: 215- 581-3182 Office telephone: 215-581-3189 EOE Posted: January 13, 2016 Deadline: February 15, 2016