Entry level museum Jobs in USA

Museum Director

Founded in 1897, Piedmont University is a private, comprehensive liberal arts university with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students at campuses in Demorest and Athens, Georgia.

The Museum Director leads day-to-day operations of the Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art, ensuring the museum remains open, staffed, and functioning on a regular, consistent schedule. A major component of this role is building and sustaining the museum's K12 and homeschool art education outreach growing school partnerships, supporting standards-aligned Educator Guide development, and connecting the museum's exhibitions to classrooms across Habersham County. This position also executes the museum's exhibition program, including the multi-year exhibition plan established under Interwoven: A Habersham Arts Initiative, the museum's active IMLS Museums for America grant (September 2026 August 2029), and directs installation, de-installation, and day-to-day collections care. Curatorial direction and exhibition themes are set by the Associate Dean and the Department of Art; the Museum Director's role is to carry that direction into practice. This position supervises the part-time Program and Volunteer Coordinator and supports grant administration and project leadership functions in coordination with the Associate Dean, with responsibilities in this area expected to grow over the course of the grant period as the Director builds familiarity with the project. This position frequently requires on-site presence for exhibitions, workshops, and community events, including evenings and weekends as needed.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Museum Operations Keeping the Museum Open and Functioning

• Ensure the museum maintains regular, posted public operating hours, coordinating coverage among staff, student workers, and volunteers so the museum remains consistently open and functioning.
• Serve as key holder responsible for museum opening and closing procedures, security system arming/disarming, and basic incident reporting.
• Oversee the care, stewardship, and day-to-day management of the museum's collections, including maintaining accurate, up-to-date records in the museum's digital collections database.
• Prepare basic condition reports and coordinate loan paperwork for objects borrowed for or loaned to exhibitions (e.g., Mountain Laurel Quilters Guild pieces, visiting artist works), in coordination with insurance coverage maintained by the museum.
• Direct the installation and de-installation of each year's exhibitions, coordinating staff, student workers, and volunteers to execute exhibition design and layout.
• Supervise the Program and Volunteer Coordinator and coordinate volunteer/docent scheduling to support consistent gallery coverage.
• Serve as the museum's primary point of contact for daily visitor, donor, and community inquiries.
• Coordinate with Piedmont's marketing office on promotion of exhibitions, workshops, and events, including print, digital, and social media materials.
• Coordinate with the Project Evaluator on the development of assessment instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of exhibitions and workshops, for implementation by the Program and Volunteer Coordinator.

Art Education & Community Outreach (Major Component)

• Serve as the museum's primary point of contact for K12 and homeschool education partnerships, including Cornelia Elementary School, regional homeschool cooperatives, Classical Conversations groups, and other area schools.
• Collaborate closely with Dr. Jackie Ellett and Piedmont Art Education faculty and students on the development, review, and classroom integration of standards-aligned Educator Guides.
• Build and maintain relationships with regional K12 art educators including Piedmont's alumni network of art teachers to grow school and homeschool participation year over year.
• Coordinate scheduling and logistics for school and homeschool gallery visits, in partnership with the Program and Volunteer Coordinator.
• Support the accessibility of outreach materials for regional educators and students, including bilingual (English/Spanish) resources.
• Represent the museum's education programming to University leadership, regional school districts, and community stakeholders.
• Track and report on school and homeschool outreach participation and trends to inform ongoing program planning.

Grant Project Support (Interwoven: A Habersham Arts Initiative)

• Support grant administration functions, including budget tracking, cost-share documentation, and financial reporting coordination, in partnership with the Associate Dean and Piedmont's Grants and Sponsored Research office.
• Serve as the museum's day-to-day liaison to the ten-member Arts and Crafts Advisory Council.
• Track attendance and community-audience data day to day, and flag variances to the Associate Dean for review.
• Support development and maintenance of the project's Sustainability Playbook.
• Coordinate exhibition logistics with visiting/exhibiting artists as scheduled under the grant's exhibition plan.
• Note: Specific Project Director and Grant Administrator responsibilities for Interwoven will be assigned by the Associate Dean and may evolve over the course of the three-year grant period.
• Other relevant duties as assigned.
• Regular and predictable attendance is required.
• On-site work is required.

Typical Qualifications

Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree in museum studies, art education, art history, or a related field preferred. Experience in museum operations, K12 education or outreach, or nonprofit/grant-funded program administration. Experience building relationships with schools, educators, or community partners is strongly preferred.

Licenses and Certifications

Valid Georgia Driver's License (or obtained within 30 days of hire date) and satisfactory MVR. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to work productively and professionally with University administration, faculty, students, K12 educators, community partners, and volunteers.
• Strong understanding of museum collections stewardship, exhibition installation, and professional museum standards.
• Familiarity with or ability to learn the museum's digital collections database, and basic condition-reporting and loan documentation practices.
• Understanding of basic museum security practices, including opening/closing procedures and emergency/incident response.
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with regional schools, homeschool cooperatives, and educators to grow participation over time.
• Familiarity with or willingness to learn standards-aligned educational resource development (e.g., Georgia Standards of Excellence).
• Experience with or ability to learn grant compliance and financial reporting basics, including familiarity with federal award administration (e.g., IMLS, eGMS Reach).
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to boards, councils, or advisory bodies.
• Ability to supervise staff and coordinate volunteer-based programming.
• Comfort coordinating with a centralized marketing office on promotional materials and messaging.
• Proficient use of Microsoft Office products.
• Ability to collaboratively and effectively work in a diverse and inclusive environment.

Supplemental Information

Environmental, Physical, and Visual Acuity Factors

This position requires the incumbent to work in an office and museum/gallery environment where they are not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions (as in typical office or administrative work), with regular on-site presence for exhibitions, programs, school visits, and community events. In this position the incumbent will regularly be required to stand by remaining upright on the feet, particularly during exhibitions and events; walk by moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, including moving between galleries and event spaces; reach by extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction; climb a ladder or step stool to adjust museum lighting, prepare walls, and hang exhibitions; use fingering by picking, pinching, typing, or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with whole hand or arm; talk by expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word, including conveying instructions to staff, educators, volunteers, and stakeholders; and use hearing by perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. The incumbent will be required to perform light work: exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects (e.g., exhibition materials). This position requires the incumbent to have close visual acuity to perform activities such as preparing and reviewing program and collections materials, viewing a computer terminal, and extensive reading.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Piedmont University has a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of diversity within its faculty, staff, and students.

It is the policy of Piedmont University not to discriminate in its educational programs, activities, or employment on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability