Job Opportunity: MALI is in search of a new Director

31 January 2019

Deadline to apply is 15th March, 2019 (18:00 hours, Lima time).

The Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) is in search of a new Director to build on the basis of the achievements of the last twenty years, which allowed MALI to become one of the most important panoramic museums in Latin America. MALI seeks to incorporate a visionary leader to further the museum’s mission and to contribute to its organizational culture, attracting new and diverse audiences. With the support of the General Manager and the Assistant Director, the Director will be responsible for the everyday running of the institution, and will lead and develop the museum’s vision and strategy, reporting directly to the Board of Trustees.

The Director will also be responsible for directing the curatorial areas of the museum, as well as overseeing the development of collections, acquisitions, publications and public programs, efficiently managing an attractive program. The Director must establish a network of contacts and demonstrate commercial and fundraising skills, as well as management of human potential and skills development. Finally, the Director must have experience developing communication strategies and establishing successful inter-institutional partnerships.

Main responsibilities

Lead the museum’s curatorial departments. To develop the museum’s contents, ensuring quality, high academic standards and their relevance for society.
Expand the museum’s local and international audiences: Lima is a diverse and multicultural metropolis with a population of 9 million and an annual flow of 3.8 millions tourists.
Lead and execute the new architectural project for the new building, which will house the contemporary art galleries, new educational classrooms and new storage/preservation facilities.
Look after the museum’s collections and archives, ensuring their preservation, research, exhibition, and promotion to foster and develop the museum’s wide educational mission.
Oversee and promote the relation with diverse groups the MALI serves, both locally and internationally.
Propose innovative initiatives that enable MALI’s projects to reach an international level, making them relevant for new generations.
Co-lead, together with the General Manager, the MALI’s fundraising initiatives, representing the museum with sponsors, Patrons and authorities.
To legally and formally represent the museum, including public relations, press, media and agreements with corporate sponsors, funding bodies (both local and international), politicians, State officials and authorities. Take the overall responsibility for regular review and monitoring of outcomes and impacts and align it to business plans and audience research.
Maintain the highest possible profile amongst international peers and develop a consistent touring program of exhibitions.
Work with the General Manager ensuring ambitious but realistic income targets, effective finance and monitoring.
Contribute to and participate in conferences and publications nationally and internationally ensuring to maintain the good position of the Museum among cultural institutions in the region.

Requirements

Full-time availability.
Minimum of five-year experience in museum management or the management of similar cultural institutions.
Master or PhD in Humanities is preferred.
Willingness to work with multidisciplinary teams.
Experience in art publishing, particularly in the production of academic publications.
Ability to involve to stakeholders, including donors and members of specialized committees, to the museum’s mission.
Soft skills for team management.
Availability for travel on behalf of the museum.
Proficiency in Spanish and English, spoken and written.

Opportunities

To lead the main art institution in Peru through actions that allow the institution to reach new and diverse audiences.
To develop a curatorial program with high academic standards, working with a team of experienced curators in the development and production of temporary and permanent exhibitions organized or managed by the museum.
To be the liaison between the museum and the specialized academic community, incorporating an array of diverse external professionals to the museum life and activities.
To lead MALI’s acquisition policies in a responsible and orderly manner that will allow to consolidate the existing collections, develop new lines for the collections, while contributing to their conservation, research and enhancement.
To sustain and strengthen MALI’s professional relations with academic institutions (i.e. universities, archaeological projects, among others).

International applications will be considered.

Application Process

Candidates that comply with the requirements should submit the following information which will be reviewed by the selection committee:

- Cover letter

- Resumé or CV

- Expected salary

- Three references with contact information.

The information should be submitted to: seleccion@mali.pe by 15th March, 2019, at the end of working day (18:00 hours, Lima time).

About MALI

History and building

Founded in 1954, the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) is a private, non-profit cultural organization devoted to the promotion of the visual arts in Peru. Since its beginnings the museum has been lead autonomously by a Board of Trustees, which is comprised of more than one hundred members. Every four years, the Board designates an Executive Council which is responsable for leading the museum’s operation.

MALI houses the only representative survey collection of Peruvian art, consisting of over twenty thousand art works. This vast permanent collection, witness to several centuries of cultural transformations, includes Pre-Columbian and colonial objects as well as modern and contemporary objects. The museum has directed its efforts to opening up new perspectives in Peruvian art history, through academic and cultural research, and its dissemination through exhibitions, publications and public programs. Its education department contributes to the formation of thousands of pupils.

The building that houses the museum and its collections, known as the Palacio de la Exposición, one is one of the outstanding examples of nineteenth century iron architecture in Latin America. Set in a public park located at the entrance to Lima’s historic downtown area, it was originally built to house Peru’s National Exhibition in 1872. The MALI’s permanent exhibition galleries were officially inaugurated on 10th March 1961. The building encompasses, on its two floors, about 6,000 m2 of exhibition space. Currently MALI counts with a staff of over one hundred people and an annual budget of USD 5,000 000.

MALI’s activities are made possible through funds generated by the institution’s programs, generous contributions from the public and private sectors as well as donations by individuals committed to the development of art and culture in Peru. The museum has culminated the second stage of an ambitious renovation project, the first stage of which was concluded by April 2010. Thanks to the contribution of the Plan Copesco Nacional of the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism, the museum opened its newly renovated permanent galleries in September 2015.

Guided by both local concerns and an international vision, the collection has been developing consistently over the past decades making substantial contributions to the understanding of art in Peru, while broadening and questioning the many meanings of the term art. Within the last decade MALI has produced academic contents resulting in a diverse range of ambitious exhibitions –from Nasca and José Gil de Castro to Matta-Clark– that have been shown internationally in countries like Chile, Argentina, México, Brazil, United States, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. (2019).

Future expansion

In 2018 the MALI organized an international competition for the design of the new public plaza and an underground extension of 6,000m2 exhibition space for the museum. The project was awarded to Spanish-Peruvian architects Burgos & Garrido + LLAMA Urban Design, being selected by a distinguished international jury through a competitive process from among 387 proposals from 56 countries. The building is aimed at being completed for 2021, as part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of Peru’s independence countries. The building is aimed at being completed for 2021, as part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of Peru's independence, this will allow the new exhibition spaces to present our collections from the XXth and XXIst centuries, and count with areas to conservation and storage, and for the public use in the museum.