Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Studio Incamminati, School for Contemporary Realist Art, located in Philadelphia, PA is seeking an Executive Director to lead the school. Founded by renowned painters, Nelson and Leona Shanks, Studio Incamminati is dedicated to the study and practice of realist art, and trains professional artists by fusing the classical drawing and painting traditions of the Baroque and the luminous color of the Impressionists with a fresh, contemporary sensibility. The school has trained artists from throughout the world over its 20 years and recently inaugurated a new location to teach its acclaimed Advanced Fine Arts program. Studio Incamminati sponsors lectures, continuing artist workshops, instruction for emerging high school age artists as well as innovative educational programming.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for Studio Incamminati’s staff, programs, growth, and execution of its mission. In this role, the Executive Director will oversee business, finance, and operations and will work directly with the Board in fundraising and donor relations. In collaboration with the Dean of Fine Arts, the Executive Director will also develop new programs. An administrative staff of four, plus the Dean, report to the Executive Director. It is expected that the chosen individual will serve on an interim basis with the position becoming permanent upon an appropriate demonstration of skills.

The ideal candidate will possess an advanced degree in arts administration or a related field or have demonstrated professional and administrative experience, preferably in an educational setting or cultural arts organization. Candidates must have significant experience and demonstrated success with nonprofit fundraising and donor relations. Experience with nonprofit regulations and accounting as well as familiarity with legal and regulatory requirements peculiar to educational institutions is preferred.

Salary will be commensurate with experience with a target range of $100,000-$125,000. Start date TBD.

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About the school

Mission:

Studio Incamminati is a unique and singular four-year conservatory for visual arts that nurtures big ideas and concepts through a higher awareness of natural beauty. We believe that mastery of technique is the prelude to creative expression.

Guiding Principle:

We hold that the ability to visually manifest concepts into a poetic form is essential to humanity.

Studio Incamminati Highlights:

Founded by Nelson & Leona Shanks, SI was inspired by the Italian Baroque aesthetic, when drawing proficiency was fused with newer, luminous approaches to the artist’s palette.
Studio Incamminati, from the Italian for “those who are progressing,” was named after the celebrated 16th century academy founded by the Carracci family.
SI is, and will remain, accessible to all with the desire to learn
SI has a faculty of passionate and visionary artists dedicated to passing on their experience and exuberance for contemporary realist art.
SI has a unique pace of learning to support the individual progression of each student in a positive, dynamic, and demanding learning environment.
SI’s curriculum teaches students to see the human figure from direct observation.
Studio Incamminati is THE center for contemporary realist art that nurtures the extraordinary potential of realizing aesthetic Beauty through the study of representational painting in vivid color.

For more than two decades, Studio Incamminati has been in the forefront of the contemporary realist art movement. Founded by Nelson and Leona Shanks, it is now recognized nationally and internationally for its rigorous curriculum, accomplished instructors who are master artists in their own right, and diverse outreach efforts.

The school, modeled on the traditional Italian accademia and French atelier, is committed to the belief that mastery of technique is essential to creative expression. Its innovative curriculum fuses classical traditions of the Renaissance and Baroque era masters, luminous color of the Impressionists and a fresh, contemporary sensibility. Its goal is to produce highly skilled artists who call upon their training and abilities to create art with depth of purpose. Its artists, faculty and alumni have been featured in numerous museums and private collections which include the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, Spain; the World Art Museum in Beijing, China; the Butler Museum of American Art; the Bennett Collection; and the National Arts Club.

The school’s name is filled with symbolism, as “Incamminati” means “moving forward” and invokes the spirit of its namesake studio founded by the Renaissance artist, Annibale Carracci. Studio Incamminati, one of the few schools of its type accredited by the National Associations of Schools of Art and Design, fulfills its vision in several ways. In addition to its core Advanced Fine Art Program, the school offers workshops open to the public both in Philadelphia and with an expansive international audience via online instruction. Other programs serve younger artists and art educators.