The University of Alabama at Birmingham Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts (AEIVA)

Birmingham, AL

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

The University seeks a dynamic, entrepreneurial Founding Director to position the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts as a distinguished contemporary art museum dedicated to outstanding exhibitions, public programs and creation of new art.

Scheduled to be completed in January 2014, the 26,000-square-foot AEIVA building will house Institute, Art and Art History faculty offices; 16,000 square-foot interior gallery space and 10,000 square-foot exterior exhibition space in a sculpture garden; associated space for public programs, storage of art (the collection currently comprises fewer than 1,000 diverse works) and special events.  AEIVA is responsible for administering the process of selecting, registering, cataloguing, installing and conserving all College of Arts and Sciences owned art.

AEIVA represents the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s strong conviction that there is an immutable relationship between art and creation across all fields.  The Founding Director of the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts is expected to play a key role in setting the tone for the visual arts on campus, and is being asked to establish the Institute as a university arts exhibition and programming leader.  The ideal leader for this position will have the qualities of an impresario, diplomat, and contemporary arts curator, along with a practical, roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic.

Reporting to the Dean of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, the Founding Director will lead and set the tone for AEIVA, and will also organize on-campus visual arts exhibitions and non-academic visual arts programming.  Additionally, the Founding Director will ensure that AEIVA functions as UAB’s gateway between the campus and the contemporary and classical visual art world.  This will involve close cooperation between AEIVA and arts organizations like the Birmingham Museum of Art and other museums across Alabama, nationally and internationally, including its role as founding member of The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru).

For additional information, please visit www.uab.edu/cas/aeiva or see the complete Position Description. To apply, please contact Matthew Holgerson or Mark Oppenheim at info@moppenheim.com.

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