Cottonwood Mansion Museum Vacancy Posting

Posting Period: November 2023

Job Title: Interim Museum Manager

Position Status: Temporary Full-Time (Maternity Leave Cover), 37.5 hours per week

Wage: $25.00/hour

Number of Positions: 1

Length of Position: Flexible, February-March 2024 to March 2025

Location: Cottonwood Mansion Museum, 740 Haldimand Rd. 53, Selkirk ON, N0A1P0

Purpose of Position:
Reporting to the Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation and President, the Interim
Museum Manager will:

● Manage all activities related to the operations of Cottonwood Mansion Museum
● Comply with policies, procedures and regulations associated with museum operations
● Organize and execute all planned events, private bookings, weddings to expand community profile, increase visitors and assist with tourism development
● Manage volunteers who assist with events and bookings

Education & Experience:
● Minimum: B.A. degree relative to History, Museum Management or similar

PLUS
● 3 years or more in current/related experience in a Museum environment including project and volunteer management responsibilities and event planning and execution

Knowledge & Skills Required:
● Sounds understanding of regulations relative to heritage and culture responsibilities
● Demonstrated project and people management skills
● Experience in planning, executing, and managing large private and public events

● Experience in Museum Curation, exhibit research, planning and staging, and sound knowledge of collections handling and storage procedures

● Experience and knowledge of grants available to Museums; past success with grants considered a bonus

● Research, analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills to enable the assessment of problems and situations, and the ability to develop options and make recommendations for the effective and efficient operations of Cottonwood Mansion
Museum

● Leadership skills to provide guidance and direction to assigned staff and volunteers; ability to motivate staff and volunteers toward the achievement of defined objectives; encouragement of development of staff and volunteer skills, knowledge and abilities and in doing so, creating a constructive, goal-oriented work environment

● Communication skills (listening, writing, verbal) to provide clear direction to assigned staff and volunteers, and to report to the Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation; to ensure solid understanding of work requirements; to prepare written reports, correspondence, documentation with staff, trustees, partners, etc.

● Time management and organizational skills to identify priorities, re-arrange work if required to meet deadlines

● Ability to learn backend booking, design and website systems (FareHarbor, Canva,
Squarespace, Mailchimp, Meta Ads, WeddingWire, Indeed Employers etc.)

Accountabilities/Tasks:
Interim Museum Manager accountabilities and tasks include, but are not limited to the following:

● All administrative duties (email and phone correspondence, creating contracts for private bookings, digital banking responsibilities, updating website with current events, creating and maintaining by-monthly newsletters, correspondence and facilitation of service providers

● Research and report prepared information to President and Vice President, and
Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation trustees on a monthly basis

● Physical site operations
● Hiring and managing temporary staff; apply sound human resources management practices in accordance with approved policies; understanding and maintaining a safe work environment

● Maintain and improve public relations with visitors to sustain the positive image of
Cottonwood Mansion Museum

● Conduct interpretive tours for visitors on site and welcome guests to museum
● Management, recruitment, and communications with volunteers
● Planning and executing public events, while managing staff and volunteers
● Facilitating private events, bookings and rentals; creating social media ads within the budget parameters given
● Purchase goods and services within budget parameters
● Maintain Cottonwood Mansion Museum’s online social media presence, maintaining the design and look of our posts, following the style guide, and ensuring that all post text is grammatically and factually correct

● Operations of onsite Gift Shop and Square POS system
● Overseeing the execution of grants, including all capital work onsite, completion of all reporting, and communication with partners involved
● Thorough and consistent budget management and communications with accounting team
● Monitoring and Responding to environmental factors that will compromise the stability of artifacts within the collection
● Ensuring artifact and collections displays and storage are secured and properly maintained; controlling public access to collections; maintaining a detailed database of collections and donations received, completing all necessary processes to ensure proper Curation of the site; digitizing all collections records

● Respond to inquiries from community regarding research, requests, private bookings and weddings

● Represent Cottonwood Mansion Museum in the community to facilitate event awareness, donations, and all other museum business

● Some furniture movement and space set up; some outdoor set up for events and private bookings; some gardening tasks

● Maintain confidentiality for the site
● Undertake assignments as directed by the Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation
● Other duties as assigned

To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to cottonwoodmansion@gmail.com or apply through the listing on Indeed.

Accommodation is available for any applicant with a disability, as it relates to the recruitment process of the position. Upon request, Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation will consult with the applicant and provide, or arrange for the provision of a suitable accommodation in a manner that takes into account the applicant’s accessibility needs due to a disability.