Associate Director of Projects at Monument Lab – Museum Studies

Monument Lab is a public art and history studio based in Philadelphia. Monument Lab works with artists, students, activists, municipal agencies, and cultural institutions on participatory approaches to public engagement and collective memory. Founded by Paul Farber and Ken Lum in 2012, Monument Lab cultivates and facilitates critical conversations around the past, present, and future of monuments. Through exhibitions, research programs, and fellowships, Monument Lab critically engages our inherited symbols in order to unearth the next generation of monuments that elevate stories of resistance and hope.

Monument Lab is a fiscally sponsored project of Culture Trust Greater Philadelphia (CTGP), a charitable 501(c)(3) trust supporting diverse cultural practices in the Philadelphia region. CTGP is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Position Description:
The Associate Director of Projects will work to support Monument Lab’s curatorial and
research projects by leading, planning, coordinating, and managing comprehensive efforts that support organizational growth for Monument Lab’s work at the intersection of art and justice. The Associate Director’s project management responsibilities include project intake, development, and implementation. This role requires interaction with a range of internal and external stakeholders, and managing several stages of projects simultaneously. The Associate Director of Projects will oversee Monument Lab’s Fellows and Internship program. This position will also be responsible for managing up to one dozen project-managers (part-time).

The position is open to candidates with a variety of training paths and professional expertise. The ideal candidate will have a diversified background in project and program management, working with multi-disciplinary teams, administration, but also broad intellectual interests crossing fields and disciplines; expertise in curatorial practices; and wide-ranging knowledge in the arts and humanities.

Reporting to the Chief Operation Officer, the Associate Director of Projects will work in close coordination with the Director, Director of Research, and Director of Partnerships.

Principal Responsibilities:

Project Intake Manage Monument Lab’s robust prospective project review and intake process in order to drive the project development process forward. Prospective projects include curatorial and/or artistic commissions, research projects, planning process, workshops, consulting, education programs, as well as media projects.
Attend preliminary prospect meetings to assess project goals, parameters, and reputation risk. Follow up for clarity and additional information with potential partners, including on costs and project scopes. Summarize and share key findings with Monument Lab leadership to review for further development and evaluate its alignment to Monument Lab’s key strategic focus areas. Coordinate supplemental information gathering meetings with external stakeholders and respective Monument Lab team members as needed.
Regularly communicate with external stakeholders during the project review process to ensure all relationships are responsibly and thoughtfully managed.

Project Development, Implementation and Oversight

Lead the new project planning process in coordination with multiple Monument Lab team members. This includes supporting the creative concept development phase and outlining a scope of work that includes project goals, activities, deliverables, timeline and budget.
Identify personnel and expertise needed for each project in an effort to assemble the best project team. Project teams are built with a hybrid of full-time staff, half-time staff, and project-based independent contractors. Recruit and on-board new personnel as needed.
Draft contracts and shepherd them through the negotiation and execution process. Coordinate with Monument Lab’s executive leadership and liaise with legal and insurance representatives to ensure compliance.
Set-up new project kick-off meetings and outline the project framework to include goals, activities, deliverables, timeline and budget.
Develop and maintain a suite of proposal templates for all of Monument Lab’s program areas.
Track project progress and ensure that project milestones, key deadlines, public events, and related dates are listed on Monument Lab’s internal calendars.
Create and maintain comprehensive project documentation.

Project Manager Oversight

Manage Monument Lab’s team of project-based personnel, including project
managers, research associates, and related content-area specialists.
On-board and train all project managers. Draft, review, and distribute independent contractor agreements. Review Monument Lab’s project management tools, resources and processes. Regularly communicate with and liaise with project managers; connect them to internal resources as needed and identify potential operational and reputational risks for the organization to address.
Develop and maintain project-management templates, checklists, tools, processes, and best-practices.

Administrative & Editorial

Ensure that all project information is added to Monument Lab’s website to include title, description, lead images and credits.
Write and edit public facing project descriptions as needed for publications, website, educational, and other platforms.

Fellows

Serve as the Project Lead for the Monument Lab Fellows Program, which supports independent local, ongoing projects that address long term inequities in monument building and propose new creative approaches to public art and history.
Serve as the primary point of contact for all Fellows (notification of award, deliverables, exceptions, deadlines, etc.).
Serve as Fellows mentor in order to connect them with relevant resources that will help shape and improve their projects, enhancing and strengthening relationship to Monument Lab.
Connect Fellows with respective members of the Monument Lab team as needed and coordinate with Fellows to help facilitate activities.
Coordinate future Fellows calls, outreach, application processes, jury reviews, and selection processes.
Collaborate with team to design fellowship activities, schedule, and deliverables.

Interns

Serve as the Project Lead for Monument Lab’s internship program, which operates in three cycles throughout the year both virtually and in-person opportunities. Monument Lab’s internship program hosts approximately 20 students per year, to include undergraduate and graduate students.

Qualifications:

Three to six years of project-management experience. Bachelor’s degree required.
Candidates must be highly organized, analytical, and detail oriented.
Candidates must be able to work at a fast-pace, efficient with their use of time and be flexible to change & opportunity.
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, are required.
The ability to work independently and manage multiple short-term and long-term projects and deadlines simultaneously.
Strong interpersonal and organizational skills that cultivate creativity, collaboration, and transparency. An active listener who is empathetic, respectful, and confident.
Experience managing budgets processes.
Experience managing multiple direct reports.
Familiar with a variety of the field’s concepts, practices and procedures
A high level of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Proficiency in project management software and digital resources (i.e. Monday, Slack, Canva). Proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite preferred.
Experience in arts administration, higher education, museum studies, and/or non-profit management.

Location: Monument Lab is based out of Philadelphia. Due to Covid-19, we are currently operating in a remote environment, and are open to all candidate able to work EST business hours. Upon return to in-person operations, this position will need to be based in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Position Type: Full-Time; 40 hours a week exempt; salaried with benefits. Compensation is $70,000.

Application Requirements: Cover letter; resume/CV; a list of three professional references (name, contact information, relationship) to include at least one direct supervisor; and one project sample. Applications will be accepted through Friday, April 16th 2021.