Director, Museum of Arts and Photography

Role Overview

The Director will be responsible for overseeing all ongoing and new projects, improving performance, supervising the current senior team and administering day-to-day activities of the organisation. They will report to the MAP Academy Steering Committee and the Museum of Art & Photography Board. A complete list of responsibilities is as follows:

Providing leadership to the team, with clear communication and a collaborative spirit
Ensuring a unified direction of the organisation, so that all team members are always aware of expectations, work across all departments, and are aligned on common goals
Ensuring all the organisational goals set for 2024-2025 are met, and help in establishing medium and long term plans and goals
Maintaining high standards, attention to detail and best practices in regards to all published materials and on-going research projects
Interfacing with the Museum of Art & Photography for shared resources such as HR, accounts, technology and development
Take executive decisions in terms of branding/public-facing materials/website related presence
Interfacing with and growing the MAP Academy’s Academic Review Panel (ARP)
Keeping the Art & Photography Foundation’s Founder Trustee updated on the project through regular calls and presentations
Maintaining relationships with current patrons and ensuring the long term sustainability of the organisation through planning long term fundraising goals
Creating and maintaining yearly budgets and overseeing accounts, expenses and fund utilisation
Being part of negotiations and relationships with major vendors and collaborators
Problem-solving, and ensuring dynamic, economical and best practices prevail
Ensuring smooth and sensitive conflict resolution either within the organisation, or with partners and collaborators
Overseeing recruitment, supported by MAP HR, and maintaining the organisational structure
Upholding the organisation’s culture and values and ensuring good team morale and psychological safety
Planning and presenting long-term vision in dialogue with the senior team and Steering Committee
Overseeing all policy documents, including intellectual property, copyright and privacy
Presenting at board meetings and speaking on behalf/ representing both MAP Academy and MAP whenever required
Relationship building and networking within the industry

Preferred Background, Skills and Abilities

We invite applications from candidates who:

Have a Master’s degree or a PhD in the humanities (ideally in art history)
Have an understanding of art history as a discipline within the South Asian context, and a knowledge of and interest in debates, discourses and pedagogy around the subject
Have three to five years of experience, in a leadership role within the cultural sector
Be able to take executive decisions in terms of branding/public-facing materials/website related presence
Are organised, systematic and capable of managing a team, redirecting resources and ensuring deliverables are met with a demonstrable experience of working towards the same
Are proactive, agile and can be responsible and accountable for their own decisions while working simultaneously on multiple projects
Have experience in, and are comfortable working and managing projects and teams remotely
Are familiar with budgeting, managing expenses and fund utilisation
Have research, writing and editing skills in the context of varied structures and formats

Overview

With a focus on the art of South Asia, our mission at the MAP Academy is to make art histories more accessible, based on the idea that doing so can have a positive social impact through broadening perspectives on humanity, heritage and culture. We are now looking for a new Director to build on the organisation’s foundations by providing strong leadership to deliver on our mission, and create long term strategies for continued impact. The ideal candidate will have experience in leadership and administration within the cultural sector, and demonstrate a strong background in art history and pedagogy.

About the MAP Academy

The MAP Academy is an open-access online platform—consisting of courses, an encyclopedia and a variety of resources currently in research and development—that encourages knowledge building and engagement with the histories of art. It is a project of the Art & Photography Foundation, which also runs the Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru (MAP). While we collaborate with MAP, our work and editorial choices are entirely independent.

Culture and Values

The MAP Academy’s Culture and Values underpin all our work, and can be summarised as 1) a respect for our audience, 2) a respect for the people and communities who we write and teach about, and, 3) a respect for ourselves — the team and our collaborators. These shared values of our team have allowed us to ensure the MAP Academy as a dynamic, safe and constructive place to work. It is essential that our new Director will commit to ensuring these values continue as they lead the organisation into its next phase.

Equal opportunities

The MAP Academy is an equal opportunities employer. It opposes all forms of discrimination and believes that all people, regardless of their identity or membership of any group deserve to be treated equally, consistently and fairly. It aims for recruiting processes to be transparent and open, giving everyone an opportunity to apply and for their application to be reviewed by the hiring team.

The MAP Academy is compliant with the PoSH Act (Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place [Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal], 2013.

Please write to nathaniel.gaskell@map-india.org for any questions.