Vacancy: Head of Collections and Exhibitions
Department: Collections and Exhibitions
Location: Harewood House Trust, Leeds
Term: Permanent, 40 hours per week
Salary: c.£40,000 per annum depending on skills and experience
Deadline to apply: 26 May 2017, 1pm
Harewood House
Harewood House is one of England’s finest country houses, lived in by the Lascelles family since its creation. It is a house and collection of national importance and one of Yorkshire’s leading visitor attractions, attracting between 150-200,000 visitors a year.
The House and Gardens have been open to the public since the 1950’s and in 1985 the educational charitable trust, the Harewood House Trust (HHT) was established to maintain and develop Harewood, its collections and grounds, for the public benefit. Since then there have been many successful exhibitions hosted at the House and the creation of Harewood’s first contemporary space, the Terrace Gallery, by the current Lady Harewood in 1989. This was first dedicated contemporary space of its kind in a historic house.
The Role
Reporting directly to the Trust Director, the Head of Collections and Exhibitions will develop, deliver and lead outstanding curatorship based on a real understanding of the importance and significance of our Collection, House and Grounds.
The successful applicant will have at least 3 years of senior management experience and will work closely with the Director and the Earl and Countess of Harewood in devising and implementing a holistic programming approach, based on audience research and a strategic vision, including significant contribution to public programming, audience development and collaboration.
The post holder will have responsibility for the care, protection, development and interpretation of the Collection. The role will be responsible for developing inspiring and exciting experiences for our visitors to engage with and encourage more people to explore and enjoy our cultural riches.
The successful candidate will operate at both a strategic and operational level and must be a confident public speaker and able to act as an ambassador for the Harewood House Trust. They must be able to demonstrate previous experience managing collections to an accredited museum standard and will also have significant budget management experience, whilst being adept at fundraising in areas such as conservation, acquisition and exhibition sponsorship.
Ideally, the successful applicant will have an academic distinction in one or more of the subject collection areas covered by Harewood House Trust and will be well connected in the art world, accustomed to networking and giving press interviews.
This is an excellent opportunity to play a vital role in a small and dynamic organisation at an exciting time in its development. If you feel you have the required skills and experience to meet the needs of the role and want to contribute to the future successful development of Harewood House, we would like to hear from you.
For further details and job description/specification, please see the attached job description and person specification or visit our website at http://harewood.org/about/join-us/jobs/
To apply for this role, please send a CV and cover letter identifying how you meet the job description/person specification and include references, current salary and notice period. Please email this to Jo.McLachlan@cbs.capsticks.com by 1.00pm on 26 May 2017.
The first round of interviews will take place in London mid June, with a second interview taking place at Harewood house a week later.
Harewood House Trust is committed to providing equal opportunities for all and to encouraging diversity through recruitment. Applications are welcome from all sections of the community and decisions to progress will be made with reference to entirely objective criteria only.