Collections Assistant, Department Manager, Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art

Philadelphia, PA
Full Time
Mid Level
We Are Committed to an Inclusive Workplace

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, we actively seek to employ a diverse group of people who embody our organizational values. We welcome and encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply, especially those from marginalized and underrepresented groups in the museum field, who are inspired by our shared purpose and enjoy working collaboratively with others.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship or immigration status, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected status. 
The Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art seeks a highly organized, dynamic, team-oriented Collections Assistant, Departmental Manager with a special interest in African and African American Art to assist the Director of the Brind Center and Brind Center Department. This person will oversee the daily operations of the office and work closely with the Director, providing support as needed for special exhibitions, special projects, and programming. As a core member of the newly formed Brind Center team, they will facilitate collaborations within the PMA and help set the tone for partnerships between the center and other institutions.

This person will also be responsible for preparing the Department’s semiannual Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art Committee Meetings. This involves correspondence with Committee members, spearheading the internal timetable for meeting preparations, organizing materials using online tools in advance of meetings, and taking and compiling meeting minutes.


Specifically, you will:
 
  • Performs various administrative and clerical tasks for the Department including, but not limited to answering phones, organizing departmental files, coordinating departmental finances (including the fiscal year budget and other internal Departmental budgets), processing reimbursements, and ordering supplies
  • Manages the processing of the Brind collections in consultation with the Director and PMA conservators. This includes coordinating the rehousing of existing collections as well as processing the Brind gift and additional acquisitions.
  • Works closely with the Director to draft internal and external communications and outgoing correspondence.
  • Works under the direction of the Director of the Brind Center and in cooperation with other members of the museum’s curatorial staff to achieve the mission of the institution and its strategic objectives.
  • Work closely with the museum’s Conservation, Registration, Installation Design, Installations and Packing, Photography, Education, Editorial and Graphic Design, Library and Archives, Security, Facilities, and IIT staff to ensure that the works of art in the department are properly documented, photographed, conserved when treatment is needed, stored in a safe and accessible manner.
  • Coordinate object moves to and from galleries, storage areas, and conservation and create expects and change of location paperwork, notifying key staff of moves and any related work and updating object locations in TMS when moves are complete.
  • Support curators, conservators, and registrars in the coordination of loans. This includes facilitating conservation examinations and treatments, providing object-specific information to lenders, assisting curators in establishing insurance values, and completing outgoing and incoming condition reports. 
  • Facilitate incoming gift and purchase considerations and manages accessioning and deaccessioning processes, including creating paper and digital object files, completing condition reports, arranging for conservation review of objects, assisting registrars and legal counsel with details of contracts, warranties, and pledge agreements, and sending out donor and artist questionnaires. Assist with appraisals by outside parties and arrange for photography of incoming objects.
  • Monitor galleries, identifying and scheduling maintenance and conservation needs. Coordinate lighting, labeling, security, and other logistical details for gallery changes.
  • Advance the production, accuracy, and detail of digital cataloguing records and other materials related to objects in the collection, recognizing that technology and the digital needs of the collection are evolving.
  • Conduct research on objects in the collection or on related topics in consultation with the Department Head.
  • Assist curators with organizing talks, lectures, scholarly symposium, and study days
  • Work with the Director in the coordination of Brind Center Committee meetings, including arranging meeting space, sending invoices, tracking acceptances and regrets, preparing agenda, placing catering order, taking minutes, circulating draft minutes, and distributing final minutes, agenda, and reports to departmental committee and Executive office.
  • Draft annual report, departmental budget, and stewardship documents.
  • Maintain departmental files and object files, coordinates departmental files for expansion and transfer to the archives, and manage digital assets in the department in collaboration with Library and Archives, IIT, and other staff.
  • Manages all departmental travel arrangements.
  • Fields routine questions about the collection and directs specific questions to the appropriate curator, manages appointments for visitors to the department, and regularly answers or redirects queries.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.


Your background and experience include:
 
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience. 
  • Excellent written and verbal skills with a high degree of detail orientation.
  • Demonstrated experience with project coordination and/or office administration.
  • Technical proficiency with personal computers and standard office equipment; fluent with Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint); fluent with Photoshop; and general comfort level with online tools.
  • Familiarity with TMS (The Museum System) for collections management a plus.
  • Ability to work on the occasional evening or weekend for meetings and public programs organized by the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art.
  • Proficiency with any language widely spoken by Africans on the continent or in diaspora a plus. (Relevant languages include but are not limited to Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Igbo, Pidgin, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Twi, Yoruba.)


Position and Compensation Details
 
  • The hourly rate for this position is $28.74.
  • This position is Full-Time, Non-exempt, and 35 hours per week.
  • This position is part of the AFSCME Local 397 bargaining unit.
  • This position reports to the Director of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art.
  • Physical requirements:
    • Able to remain stationary for extended periods of time, to utilize computers and other office equipment required of this job, to perform physically administrative duties in a typical interior office environment, gallery, or exhibit space, and to access most public and staff areas of the museum campus
  • Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.


Institutional Requirements
 
  • Upholds the professional standards of the field, always acts in a manner that is consistent with the best interests of the museum and protects and enhances its reputation and standing within the community of museums.
  • Adheres to the museum’s code of ethics and Employee Handbook and avoids any real or perceived conflicts of interest.
  • Shows respect for co-workers and visitors and an understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of the museum’s staff, volunteers, and audiences.
  • Maintains confidentiality.
  • Adheres to all museum protocols, procedures, rules, and policies.


Application Timeline

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.  We encourage candidates to apply early as the position will close once we have a robust applicant pool or a candidate has been selected.


What We Offer

Our employees are at the center of the museum. As an employee, you will have access to numerous museum perks including, but not limited to:
 
  • Free general admission to the museum for you and your immediate family
  • Discounted guest tickets for admission
  • Discounts on gift memberships
  • Special staff tours and presentations from our curatorial and conservation teams
  • Discounts at the museum restaurant, museum cafés, and museum retail and online stores

We offer a comprehensive benefits package for employees including:
 
  • Medical, dental, and vision benefits
  • Fully paid short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, and life insurance
  • Health savings or flexible spending account program
  • Retirement savings program with museum match
  • Paid vacation, personal days, sick days, and holidays

*Eligibility for certain benefits is based on a variety of factors including the employee’s regular schedule and tenure.

 
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