Manager of School and Visits

Manager of School and Group Visits

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is at the beginning of a long path toward building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive (EDI) institution. We are looking for individuals, at all levels of the institution, who are interested in joining us on this journey of intentionality and public accountability. This path broadens our workforce (board, staff, volunteers), expands our artist selection and acquisition practice as well as strengthens our internal and external communication systems, networks and norms.

The Manager of School & Group Visits oversees Ground for Sculpture's (GFS) PreK-12 school programs, group visits and tours with goals of expanding access to, and understanding of, collections, exhibitions, wellness, and horticulture to increase museum attendance and regional familiarity. This person trains and supports Museum Educators, Docents and GFS staff for engaging school and private groups in accessible and inquiry-based learning.  Creates new STEAM curriculum for school engagement ensuring the common core standards for New Jersey are met. Builds, maintains and deepens relationships with local and regional schools for increased student visitation and faculty professional development training. School programs serve students and teachers in grades PreK through 12, and may include guided tours, hands-on workshops, and professional development programs and events. The ideal candidate must have a history of successful community engagement strategies, collaborative working practice, building systems for reporting staff, and strong communication skills. Priorities include budget management and experience creating revenue growth. Skills include a history of creating new projects, system management, evaluation, program analysis. This position reports to GFS’ Director of Education & Engagement and works collaboratively across the Education Department, and other departments throughout the museum, on planning, marketing, evaluation, grant reporting, and outreach. A history of working in partnership with, or within schools is required.  Education Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practice, strong written and communication skills, collaborative working style and a self-starter are needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develops and sustains relationships with local and regional schools to create long term partnerships and growth of school group visits, balancing financial growth, capacity and impact.
• Supervises, coordinates, and evaluates the work of GFS’ Group Visit Coordinator and works together with the Manager of Volunteer Services to train and evaluate docents and Museum Educators involved in the museum’s school programs, group visits and tours, both public and private.
• Serve as an ambassador for Grounds For Sculpture to help foster a culture of inclusion for all members, donors, volunteers, and guests.
• Working closely with colleagues across Education and Curatorial departments, designs, develops, and implements STEAM curriculums for school groups visiting GFS with an emphasis on accessible, inquiry-based, and discovery-oriented experiences that encourage close looking, personal connection, and collaborative meaning-making across audiences.

• Creates and leads, along with Museum Educators, professional development workshops for K-12 teachers and educators designed to deepen museum and classroom experiences in arts, wellness and horticulture.
• Works collaboratively with colleagues across GFS to develop, coordinate, and promote special tours and programs tied to temporary exhibitions, new institutional initiatives, and/or strategic goals.
• Recruits, supports, and creates systems for scheduling, and other everyday processes for part-time Museum Educators, fostering an atmosphere that values inquiry, exploration, experimentation, collaboration, and reflection.
• Provides school programs and group visit staff with professional development opportunities throughout the year to deepen their understanding of GFS’ collections and exhibitions and strengthen their practices as educators and volunteers.
• Ensures quality of program delivery and develops and routinely implements systems for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of group visits, school programs, and museum educators. These systems may include direct observations, documentation, individual conferences, monitoring attendance and participation data and trends and preparing and analyzing statistical reports.
• Creates and/or manages the development of educational materials specifically geared towards potential or existing participants in group visit or school programming, including and pre- and post-visit materials, educator guides for exhibitions, and gallery-based activity resources for use by volunteers, educators, and visiting groups.
• Serves on local advisory committees or councils relevant to the needs of the department. Represents and advocates for the museum’s mission and programming to stakeholders both public and

private maintains effective working relationships with colleagues, GFS supporters, and the public at large.

Works collaboratively across departments to analyze target audiences, and marketing and outreach strategies, to ensure effective promotion of programs through both print and electronic media.

• Actively contributes to, and collaborates on, programming reports to funders and the cultivation of new funders or funding opportunities.
• Manages payroll for school programs and group visit staff and creates and tracks group visit and school programs budget in conjunction with the Director of Education & Community Engagement and GFS’ Finance Department.
• All other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in related field  
• 3 or more years of relevant work experience
• Background in art education, museum education, horticulture education, or related discipline.
• Demonstrate respect and inclusiveness to all employees, embracing differences
• Understanding of K-12 school systems, STEAM curriculums and child development
• Knowledge of, and ongoing interest in, best practices in museum teaching and interpretation.
• Experience leading tours and teaching for diverse audiences in a museum, garden, or similar informal learning setting.
• Strong project management and evaluation skills.
• Experience hiring, training, and managing professional staff and/or volunteers.
• Ability to prioritize and work both collaboratively and independently.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational and written skills
• Outstanding customer service and people skills, centered on teamwork, humility, and humor.
• Creative thinker with strong organizational, communication and written skills.
• Experience budget management
• High degree of computer proficiency

GFS is stronger for the diverse ideas, lived experiences, passions and skill sets of our staff. To that end, we offer equal employment opportunities to all persons without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, parental status, housing status, source of income or military status, in accordance with applicable federal, state and local EEO laws.

Compensation & Benefits:

Annualized Salary: $60,000.00

Full Time (Exempt)

Benefits: We offer a comprehensive benefits package for full time employees that includes:

• Medical, Dental and vision benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Company paid long term disability insurance and life insurance
• Flexible savings account program
• Retirement savings plan with discretionary match + contribution
• Paid time off and holidays
• Complimentary tickets, discounts on merchandise from the Museum Shop and our onsite café and restaurant, etc.

About Grounds For Sculpture

https://www.groundsforsculpture.org/about/mission-strategic-vision/

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a 42-acre not-for-profit sculpture park, arboretum, and museum, founded by the late artist and philanthropist Seward Johnson. Featuring nearly 300 contemporary sculptures by renowned and emerging artists in a beckoning landscape, Grounds For Sculpture combines art and beckoning spaces to welcome, surprise and engage all visitors in the artist’s act of invention. In addition to its permanent collection, Grounds For Sculpture offers rotating special exhibitions in its six indoor galleries, rich educational programs, and dynamic family events. Located in Hamilton, New Jersey, Grounds For Sculpture.