SEARCH COMMITTEE RELEASES
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR POSITION DESCRIPTION
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The Fine Arts Work Center Search Committee has released the position description for the Executive Director. Chaired by Board of Trustees co-chair Hatty Walker Fitts, the committee consists of Board members Barbara Kapp, Lynne Kortenhaus, Wayne Lawson, and Roger Skillings, as well as Marty Michelson, husband of Board member Anne Taylor. Also serving on the Committee are Visual Arts Coordinator Maryalice Johnston and Summer Program Director, Dorothy Antczak. The Board plans to have a new Executive Director in place by spring 2007.
The Committee is seeking a permanent replacement for Hunter O'Hanian, who has served as the Work Center's Director for ten years. O'Hanian announced in October that he would be leaving in January to accept the position as President of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Former FAWC Fellow John Skoyles has been serving as Interim Director since his departure.
Skoyles, a FAWC Poetry Fellow in 1974-'75 and 1975-'76, served as FAWC Executive Director from 1992-'94 and is a former member of the Board of Trustees. He is the former Director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and teaches in the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department of Emerson College. Skoyles, who lives in Truro, has taught writing workshops in FAWC's Summer Workshop Program, and will serve as an ex-officio member of the Search Committee.
O'Hanian was appointed Executive Director of FAWC in December 1996 and assumed his responsibilities in April 1997. "FAWC has been blessed to have Hunter serve as its Director for so long, but we knew it would not last forever," said Board Co-Chair Hatty Walker Fitts. "We wish him well in his new position and thank him for his years of service to FAWC."
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1968 by a group of eminent artists, writers and patrons who recognized the need to support talented individuals at the outset of their careers. It has become a national model for artists' residencies and is the first and only long-term residency program in the country designed specifically for emerging artists. Over the span of nearly 40 years, the Center has provided housing and stipends to approximately 700 visual artists and writers from the United States and abroad. Besides the Center's seven-month Fellowship residency program, other programs include the Summer and Fall Workshop Programs, Returning, Collaborative and Long-Term Residency Programs, the Visiting Artist and Writers Series, and the MFA in Visual Art in Collaboration with Massachusetts College of Art.
The Work Center's annual budget is $1.1 million, and it operates with a staff of 11 full- and part-time employees as well as numerous summer interns. Each year, between 80 and 100 faculty members, all working artists and writers, teach the workshops. The FAWC Board of Trustees currently has 23 members and includes artists, collectors and supporters.
The FAWC juries are composed of internationally recognized artists and writers. Fellows are accepted entirely on the basis of work submitted. Past jurors include Luis Cruz Azaceta, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober and Martin Puryear for visual arts and Grace Paley, Ann Patchett and Susan Choi for writing. Some recent visual jurors are Brian Tolle and Julie Mehretu; recent writing jurors have included Robert Pinsky and Mary Oliver.
FAWC owns nine separate buildings, containing 19 studios, 29 living units, auditorium, print shop, woodshop, Fellows' lounge, gallery, dark room and offices. FAWC is currently conducting a $2 million Capital Campaign (of which $1.4 million has been raised) to fund the renovation of a 25,000 square foot facility and to contribute to its endowment.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Executive Director serves as chief executive officer and has responsibility for providing leadership to FAWC, guided by its mission and values. The scope of responsibilities includes:
- Fundraising and budgeting
- Communications, public relations and marketing
- Strategic planning and implementation
- Operations and administration
- Strengthening all programs
- Managing the ongoing capital campaign
The Executive Director will be a visible public spokesperson for FAWC locally, regionally and nationally. She/he will serve as chief staff advisor to the Board in all FAWC related matters and oversee the Board’s own growth and development.
REQUIREMENTS
The candidate will have at least ten years professional experience gained in progressively senior positions, preferably at a not-for-profit cultural or educational institution, with budget responsibility and complexity similar to that of FAWC. Individuals from the for-profit sector with the qualities and experience needed to work within a non-profit organization will also be considered. The successful candidate will display excellent communication skills; have prior success leading people, raising money, managing finances, and working with artists and Boards of Directors; and possess a talent for building trust and confidence in a broad range of constituencies. In addition she/he will have:
- Appreciation of the creative process and familiarity with the contemporary art and literary communities
- Demonstrated ability to think strategically
- Successful track record in marketing and fundraising
- Ability to oversee the day-to-day operations while dealing with overall strategic issues affecting FAWC
- Experience with capital and endowment campaigns
- Ability to relate to the physical environment
- Proficiency with technology
Please Send
resume with letters of interest (by email, please) to: Opportunity Resources Inc., 196 East 75th St., Suite 14H, New York, NY 10021: Attention: Freda Mindlin or Ruth Loomis.
search@opportunityresources.net
Please do not send supporting material unless requested.
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