Senior Director, Collections and Exhibitions

🏢 Lucas Museum of Narrative Art · 📍 Los Angeles · 💼 onsite · ⏰ Full-time 💰 $176,000 - $210,000 / yr

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Position Summary & Responsibilities

ABOUT THE LUCAS MUSEUM OF NARRATIVE ART

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is dedicated to illustrated storytelling. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum’s collection features works by artists including Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, N. C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Judith F. Baca, Frida Kahlo, and Maxfield Parrish; as well as comic art legends such as Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware, and R. Crumb; and photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange. The Museum also houses the Lucas Archives, containing models, props, concept art, and costumes from Lucas’s filmmaking career.

Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with a landscape by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, the Museum is in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, on an 11-acre campus that includes new green space and a 300,000-square-foot building with galleries, two theaters, a library, restaurant, café, retail store, and community spaces. 

POSITION SUMMARY

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art seeks a Senior Director of Collections and Exhibitions to join its senior administration team. This role oversees the museum's collections program, including policies and procedures for preventive care, preservation, storage, conservation, and documentation, across three departments: Registration, Collections Management, and Art Prep & Install. The Senior Director works closely with Curatorial and manages the collection across Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The role also leads the Exhibitions and Planning department, overseeing schedules, budgets, and coordination for all exhibitions, rotating permanent-collection installations, and special and touring shows.

The museum is looking for a strategic thinker and empathetic leader who can manage multiple complex, concurrent projects that shape the museum's long-term direction; build and motivate large, dynamic teams; and own division, department, and project budgets. Significant experience in a highly complex environment and a track record of systems leadership and cross-team collaboration are essential. Regular travel between Northern and Southern California teams is required.

🎯 Candidate Preparation Guide For Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Applicants

Key Role Competencies & Evaluation Highlights

Key Role Focus:

They evaluate your profound respect for narrative art, cultural stewardship, and your ability to operate at the intersection of world-class visitor experience and institutional operations.

📋 Preparation Priorities (Key Areas to Clarify):

1. Treating the museum strictly as a corporate entertainment venue rather than a cultural institution
2. Lacking cultural literacy regarding narrative art history and visual storytelling
3. Displaying a rigid, bureaucratic approach to creative operations and stakeholder management

✨ Recommended Role Alignment Hook:

I protect and amplify creative vision by translating world-class artistic storytelling into seamless, unforgettable institutional experiences.

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