| The Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education will be responsible for the ways in which the Arts and Education Complex (AEC) at Oregon State University presents arts content (events, exhibitions, residencies, and all other elements of the AEC’s portfolio) to the public. This role includes print and digital communications; audience research and audience development; and education, didactive, and interactive content related to exhibitions, performances, K-12 visitation, and additional areas. As an enterprise committed to education and outreach as a component of all of its programming goals, the AEC seeks an Associate Director who will creatively pursue a diverse portfolio of audience engagement strategies, educational materials, and opportunities, ranging from interactive displays and gallery experiences to videos, web materials, symposia or conferences, and events. The position requires the ability and willingness to work hands-on in all of these areas while also supervising staff.
Scheduled to open in Spring 2024, the AEC is a new $70M building currently under construction. The facility features a 500-seat recital hall, a black box theater, a 3000 square foot gallery, and additional art presentation spaces, classrooms, and programming locations. In addition, the AEC will act as a convener for a variety of arts activities throughout the OSU network, which includes units on the Corvallis campus, the Cascades campus, and beyond. The Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education will be expected, as part of the broader mission of the AEC, to work across the University.
The AEC seeks to build particular strengths in content related to art and science as well as art and technology, and the Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education will be expected to have an interest in, and commitment to, those areas. The Arts and Education Complex is mindful that traditional arts education and engagement approaches may create barriers to access that are socioeconomic, racialized, or otherwise reflective of systemic forms of bias, and has committed to using its artistic platforms to lower those barriers and advance Oregon State University’s goals in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Alongside all the staff of the AEC, the Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education will be responsible to that mission.
The Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education reports to, and will work closely with, the Director of the Arts and Education Complex. The Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education will engage closely with curatorial teams in the preparation of content associated with exhibition and performance, and will work with staff that may include Oregon State University faculty in relevant disciplinary areas, student interns, student workers, graduate fellows, and additional positions.
The Associate Director of Audience Engagement is an in-person position that will be expected to work as part of a team during regular business hours, with the additional willingness to be flexible in relation to exhibition preparation, installation, visitation, AEC events, and other work. Some in- and out-of-state travel will be expected. As a start-up organization, the Arts and Education Complex seeks an enterprising and energetic individual who is comfortable working in the context of a developing organization in which organizational and operational decisions are still being made. |
