Visitor Engagement Associate

Industry:

Company: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

About Us

At The Huntington, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to support and promote the appreciation of the humanities, the arts, and botanical science. The Huntington is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal law.

The Huntington

Founded in 1919, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution open to the public, housing world-class library, art, and botanical collections. Its mission is to support research and promote education in the arts, humanities, and botanical science and to display and interpret its extraordinary resources for diverse audiences.

The Culture

Here we are committed to the highest of standards in all that we do – from preserving and protecting the collections, to exhibitions, educational and scholarly programming, visitor and reader services, and beyond. Achieving excellence across these pursuits requires a diversity of perspectives, expertise, experience, and methodologies. We are better together. We believe an explicit commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion directly impacts and improves staff and audience engagement and experience.

Job Description

About the Role

Under the supervision of the Senior Manager for Visitor Engagement, the Visitor Engagement Associate is responsible for assisting with the facilitation of multigenerational programs in garden and gallery spaces that contribute to the overall experience of The Huntington’s diverse audience, adding meaningful value to their visit, and aligning with the institution’s strategic plan goals. Additionally, the incumbent will share responsibility with other Visitor Engagement staff in the daily operation of several visitor-facing spaces and locations, and for supervising 250+ volunteers. Requires weekend, holiday, and some evening hours.

Essential Duties

• Provide shift coverage in public spaces such as The Japanese Heritage Shoya House, The Mapel Orientation Gallery, and Information Carts, etc.
• Perform administrative tasks related to the daily operation of public spaces, such as opening/closing, materials inventory, up-to-date volunteer and docent coverage knowledge, and daily generation of Today at The Huntington for these areas.
• Support security and other public-facing staff in ensuring visitor and collection safety.
• Provide staff supervision for 250+ assigned docents and volunteers, including daily and weekly communication, support, scheduling, and ensuring a positive experience.
• Support diversity initiatives across the organization by contributing to a museum environment that reflects and responds to the diverse needs and cultures of our community, both internally and externally.
• Assist in the creation and delivery of content-rich, engaging experiences for diverse audiences across The Huntington through talks and tours, presentations, drop-in programs, and informal interpretation in gardens, galleries and learning spaces, including multilingual offerings of select experiences.
• Assist with various administrative tasks related to program implementation, such as space and guest reservations, activity development, and sourcing materials.
• Assist with the development of tour content for The Huntington Digital Guide powered by Bloomberg Connects.
• Assist with an ongoing translation project for the digital guide, including script revisions and translation recordings.
• Stay current with Huntington collections, programs, policies, and procedures, and be able to communicate that information to visitors.
• Work closely with a dedicated cohort of teen volunteers recruited for Audience Engagement program support.

Additional Functions:

• Maintain an elevated level of content knowledge for each exhibit.

• Participate in interdepartmental and cross divisional teams in the development of collections-based programs, activity guides for exhibitions, and other visitor-centered experiences towards a unified goal.
• Attend monthly content meetings for volunteers and docents when time allows.
• Collaborate with other Education staff for various projects-such as volunteer training-as needed and when time allows.
• Remain up to date in knowledge of museum education theory, curriculum development, and current issues and practices in informal and formal education.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in education, art history, botany, art, design, museum studies, the humanities, or other areas related to The Huntington’s collections.
• 1-2 years customer service or visitor-related experience required, preferably in a museum or other cultural or similar not-for-profit institution.
• Prior experience delivering engaging in-person educational experiences preferred.
• Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds is a must.
• Ability to take initiative and work independently with minimal supervision in a structured environment.
• Demonstrable ability to speak in front of an audience and convey complex topics in an engaging and easy to understand manner.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to welcome challenges, make logical decisions independently, and problem solve.
• Ability to engage with visitors and team members in a variety of situations and in a sensitive manner.
• Ability to respond appropriately to visitor feedback, to varying pressures or difficult situations, and be able to follow complaints handling procedures.
• Excellent people skills and demonstrated ability to work in a team situation absolutely required; must interact effectively with Security and other Huntington staff, volunteers, and visitors.
• Must be comfortable with and willing to work with different digital formats, management systems, and platforms.
• Knowledge of one or more of The Huntington’s collecting areas.
• Knowledge of current trends in exhibition interpretation for visitors.
• Must be able to work under pressure in a sometimes fast-paced environment.
• Must be able to travel around our 135-acre campus without difficulty.
• Strong oral communication skills in English required; Bi-lingual preferred (especially Mandarin or Spanish); multi-lingual desirable.

Compensation & Benefits

We provide competitive compensation, generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees including:

• Pay Rate/ Range: $22.15/hr.
• 403(b) retirement plan and matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and holidays
• Discounts for staff in The Huntington Store and restaurants
• Free admission to various museums and cultural institutions
• Free passes each month to welcome family and friends to visit the grounds

The Application Process

Please submit a cover letter and CV/resume as a single PDF attachment.

You will have the opportunity to submit additional documents on the “My Experience” section of the application.

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