Job Description

The Whitney Museum seeks Freelance Educators to develop and lead tours of the Whitney’s collection and special exhibitions for our adult audiences.

Museum Educators welcome and engage visitors by giving extended introductory tours of current exhibitions and providing insights into the ideas behind the works of art on view. They help visitors make sense of often challenging art by offering interpretive content and providing a larger context for the work. Educators also have the opportunity to design specialized gallery-based or virtual tours that draw on their own fields of interest and highlight the Whitney’s collection’s relevance to contemporary social issues. 

Responsibilities include:

• Leading tours of the Whitney’s collection and special exhibitions, both in-person and virtual, for general audiences and groups. Adult tour educators use both lecture and dialogue methodologies to actively engage audiences in the interpretive content and social context of the artwork on view. 
• Developing tours based on training and materials provided by the museum and on further independent research. 
• Preparing and proposing different educational modalities, both in-person and virtual, for diverse audience groups including groups with specific access issues, college and university groups, patron groups, community groups, as well as general visitor groups
• Working collaboratively and communicating effectively with Education Department staff and Visitor and Member Experience staff, and working thoughtfully with other educators, docents, and teaching fellows.
• Attending training sessions and curator-led walkthroughs of exhibitions.
• Managing scheduling and invoicing in a timely manner.

Pay Structure:

Freelance Museum Educators are paid $150 per hour for tours and programs, with a minimum of one hour’s pay and pro-rated at 15 minute increments above that. Additional pay of $30 per hour is offered for attending trainings or meetings.

Requirements:          

B.A./M.A./M.F.A. in art history, contemporary art, American studies, or a related field, and/or museum education. We are seeking diverse perspectives on American art of the 20th and 21st Century, including Latinx and American indigenous perspectives, and including candidates who are able to offer tours in both Spanish and English. 

The Whitney seeks talented people of all backgrounds—we value diversity of cultures, races and ethnicities, gender expressions, and abilities. Candidates who are POC, LGBTQ+, bilingual or multilingual, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. 

About the Whitney:

The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for 86 years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.

EEO Statement:

The Whitney Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Museum does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, pregnancy, partnership status, caregiver status, veteran status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, genetic information, predisposition, or carrier status, arrest or conviction record to the extent required by applicable law, credit history, domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking victim status, or any other factor prohibited by law.  The Museum hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. The Museum encourages all qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions at all levels.

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