Museum Educator

Description:

Job Description:

The Fairfield University Art Museum seeks a per-diem educator to assist the Curator of Education with the design and implementation of K-12 field trips. The Museum has an established relationship with six Turnaround Arts schools in Bridgeport, CT working primarily with 5th- and 6th-grade students to ensure that they have the opportunity to visit the Museum for half-day arts education programs designed together with classroom teachers to complement and support the curriculum in English Language Arts/Literacy, Social Studies, and Arts.

Additional duties include designing and implementing the once monthly Family Day program (September – June) and twice per semester evening Art Workshops (Drawing Parties, Craft Collectives, De-Stress with Art) for university and community audiences. Additional duties may involve creating in gallery art activities to complement exhibitions and annually creating coloring book pages from works in the Museum’s permanent collection.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a passion for art and education, the ability to work collaboratively, and excellent communication skills with both children and adults. The position is on an as-needed basis during the academic year, averaging 10 hours per week. Priority will be given to those who can work mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturdays once per month, and occasional evenings, and can be available more than two days a week.

The Fairfield University Art Museum encompasses galleries for the permanent collection and rotating exhibitions in Bellarmine Hall, and the Walsh Gallery for larger special exhibitions in the Quick Center for the Arts. The small but choice permanent collection features European and American paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs — including a core group of 10 Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection — as well as a group of Asian, African, and Pre-Columbian objects. This is augmented by antiquities and medieval works on long-term loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Worcester Art Museum, and the American Numismatic Society, as well as Asian art on loan from the Columbia University Collection and European paintings and objects borrowed from private collections.

Responsibilities:

• Attend curator and educator-led trainings throughout the year

• Work with Curator of Education and Turnaround Arts teachers to design field trip activities

• Implement the Field Trips by engaging students in discussion, inquiry, and hands-on activities for groups in grades K - 12

• Set up before and clean up after field trips

• Work with staff to re-order supplies and materials, address concerns about programs, and evaluate certain program aspects (as needed).

Qualifications:

• BA, BFA, or BS required (art history, education, history, museum studies, or studio art preferred), MA in Art Education preferred.

• Excellent communication skills

• Demonstrated enthusiasm for working with K-12 students

• Creativity and imagination

• Previous teaching experience preferred

• Spanish language skills preferred