Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director, Memorial Art Gallery
WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION.
About the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
MAG was founded in 1913 by Emily S. Watson as a memorial to her son James George Averell. She stipulated that the museum serve the entire Rochester community. Seeking a responsible agent, she appointed the University of Rochester as trustee and looked to the community to support the museum and build the collections – a unique relationship that extends to this day.
MAG’s original building, a Renaissance style “jewel box,” opened to the public in 1913. The museum expanded in 1926 with a basilica-style Fountain Court flanked by side galleries that now permanently houses, among many art historical treasures, the only vintage Italian baroque organ in the United States, which is played regularly by students and faculty of the University of Rochester’s renowned Eastman School of Music. There was a third addition in 1968 and, in 1986, the museum added a new entrance pavilion that connected to Cutler Union, the collegiate gothic building that anchored the University’s former women’s college, which now contains the museum’s administrative offices and several flexible event and meeting spaces. MAG includes a restaurant, retail shop, library, conference facilities, a 300-seat auditorium, and the Creative Workshop, a community art school, within 106,000 square feet of interior space.
In 2013, the ten-acre Centennial Sculpture Park opened with major sculptural commissions from Tom Otterness and Jackie Ferrara, and internationally recognized Rochester-based artists Albert Paley and Wendell Castle, as well as works by Deborah Butterfield, Beverly Pepper, George Rickey, and Tony Smith. In spring 2023, a major expansion of this Park will be unveiled to complete the museum’s frontage along University Avenue in the vibrant Neighborhood of the Arts. The expansion is anchored by renowned artist Rashid Johnson’s first permanent outdoor public work of art, a 90-foot-long, 10-foot-high curved wall featuring mosaics of his iconic “anxious crowd” and “broken men” motifs. Other new additions to the Sculpture Park include works by Sanford Biggers, Pia Camil, Tony Cragg, Jun Kaneko, and Nathan Mabry. The Park seamlessly connects MAG with its surrounding neighborhoods, including the adjacent School of the Arts, Rochester City School District’s magnet high school for the arts, and warmly welcomes visitors, free of charge, 365 days a year.
Exhibitions in earlier years consisted of loans from the private collections of George Eastman and other prominent Rochester families. Today the permanent collection includes more than 13,000 works of art, about half of which are works on paper. It is strong in European and American art, with outstanding works by Georges Braque, Gustave Courbet, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, El Greco, Angelica Kauffmann, Claude Monet, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, as well as Elizabeth Catlett, Stuart Davis, Winslow Homer, Yayoi Kusama, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Kehinde Wiley, and numerous others.
In the past eight years, the modern and contemporary program and art collection have grown dramatically, with a recent gift of $4 million, the largest gift in MAG’s history, to permanently endow the Curator of Contemporary Art position and to further support the contemporary art program. Recent acquisitions in this regard include important works by John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres, Gil Batle, Nick Cave, George Condo, Beauford Delaney, Mel Edwards, Jacob El Hanani, Wayne Higby, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Sky Hopinka, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Sol Lewitt, Hung Liu, Josiah McElheny, Grayson Perry, Wendy Red Star, and Mickalene Thomas.
MAG’s acquisitions have been accompanied by a robust exhibition program, including Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process, The Path to Paradise: Judith Schaechter‘s Stained Glass, which traveled nationally, and Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster, a collaboration with the UR’s River Campus Libraries, which featured 165 posters from the Libraries’ collection of more than 8,000 AIDS education posters, possibly the largest collection of its kind in the world. Moreover, numerous project-scale exhibitions, commissions, and installations have contributed to a lively program that engages a broad diversity of guests and audiences.
An evolving docent program provides tours for students that are tailored to fit specific class and curricula needs. The Creative Workshop serves 3,000 people annually and of all ages. MAG also offers a variety of lectures, concerts, and events during the day and on Thursday evenings.
The Gallery Council, a group of 300 committed and dedicated volunteers, sponsor several very popular programs, including the Art and Treasures sale and the fall Fine Craft Show and Sale. Funds raised from these ambitious events go toward a variety of initiatives, including acquisitions, art conservation, student scholarships, exhibition support, and capital and operating support.
The Opportunity
One hundred and ten years after its doors first opened, the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) of the University of Rochester (UR), which features a well-balanced and historic collection spanning 5,000 years, has been evolving into a 21st-century art museum. Over the past decade, MAG has become one of Rochester’s most dynamic and exciting cultural institutions, making important contributions to broader conversations regarding museum practice, specifically regarding the role art museums play in their communities, as well as how contemporary art and artists engage with those communities.
The Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director reports to the MAG’s Board of Managers and works closely with the Board and the staff to enhance and implement MAG’s mission, to manage and augment its financial resources, and to develop and implement short- and long-term strategic and business plans. The Director also collaborates closely with the University on all aspects of the MAG’s operations; the museum is a department of the University reporting through the Office of the Provost.
MAG’s culture of equity and inclusion is at the heart of its growth and success in advancing its mission. As the permanent collection has become more diverse and reflective of the community the museum serves, so too has MAG’s Board of Managers, its staff, and its audience. Nurturing a culture of inclusion and equity is a part of MAG’s overarching strategy and every aspect of its daily operations.
- The director will build on MAG’s past successes while providing vision, creativity, and innovation, fostering the team’s continuing development of transformational programs, projects, and exhibitions.
- The director will think creatively about entrepreneurial activities and initiatives to generate new sources and areas of contributed and earned revenue, with a strong sense of financial acumen to sustain museum operations.
- The director will have the opportunity to further refine MAG’s collections, programs, and exhibitions to keep its current audiences energized while attracting and engaging new, younger, and more diverse audiences, including UR students. Important to this effort will be recruiting, stewarding, and supporting MAG’s newly-endowed position of Curator of Contemporary Art, which comes with significant additional support for the contemporary art program.
- The director will continue to sustain and foster the partnership with the University of Rochester, which provides support for MAG financially as well in other ways. This includes working with UR administration and faculty to establish new vehicles for the generation and implementation of academic projects, programs, and “bridges” to the University of Rochester, whose campus is four miles from MAG.
In sum, the MAG’s next director will help define the future of this vibrant and growing organization.
Contact Information
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Naree W.S. Viner and Stephen Milbauer of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express interest in this role please fill out our Talent Profile, or email Naree or Stephen directly at smilbauer@koyapartners.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
The Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.