Newport Art Museum - Executive Director

Since its founding in 1912 as the Art Association of Newport, NAM has transformed into a museum that fosters artistic excellence and cultural enrichment through exhibitions, education, and public programs. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Museum maintains a strong foundation with an annual operating budget of approximately $1.8 million, a $7.8 million endowment, and a collection of over 3,000 works of art. The Museum is operated by a dedicated professional staff of eighteen and an eighteen-member Board of Trustees.

Founded by the artists and cultural leaders Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Maud Howe Elliott, and Helena Sturtevant, the Newport Art Museum has played a vital role in the region’s cultural landscape for over a century. NAM is housed in three buildings on a three-acre campus:

• The John N.A. Griswold House (1864) – A landmark example of Stick-Style architecture designed by Richard Morris Hunt and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• The Cushing Gallery (1920) – A stone Beaux-Arts building that serves as the Museum’s primary exhibition space, housing temporary exhibitions and collection storage.
• The Coleman Center for Creative Studies (1998) – A hub for art education, workshops, and community outreach programs.

NAM’s collection, spanning from the 18th century to the present, includes important paintings by American masters such as Gilbert Stuart, George Inness, John Frederick Kensett, William Trost Richards, and Fitz Henry Lane, as well as more modern works in several media by Howard Gardiner Cushing, George Bellows, Mark di Suvero, Ad Reinhardt, and Andy Warhol. Contemporary artists have always been a focus for the Museum, and collections reflect a growing list of important and diverse examples by Joseph Norman, Howard Ben Tré, Italo Scanga, Claudia Widdiss, Toots Zynsky, and Michael Mazur, to name only a few.

Serving over 1,500 members and approximately 18,000 annual visitors, NAM organizes nearly twenty small rotations of the permanent collection, which is always on view in a series of galleries, and several larger exhibitions a year, many of which focus on contemporary artists.

Community programming at NAM is also robust, both on-site and virtual, with an exciting Artist-in-Residence program and compelling public conversations, including a sold-out Winter Speaker Series. The Museum’s Coleman Center art school offers classes and workshops in a variety of media for all ages, and teaching artists bring activities to local hospitals, public schools, and community centers. Over 700 children with special needs are engaged in art activities each year through a local partnership with a specialty pediatric hospital. Additional programs focus on area seniors.

Opportunities and Challenges

The Newport Art Museum is poised for growth, with a new strategic plan emphasizing artist-driven programming, community engagement, and long-term sustainability. However, the new Executive Director will face several challenges as well.

Opportunities include:

• Articulate a Vision: Create a pathway for re-imagining the Museum and its aspirations, leading meaningful conversations with internal and external stakeholders and inspiring support for a cohesive vision of success. Honor the organization’s past as an art association while advancing its future as a leading-edge museum.
• Advance Strategic Initiatives: Refine and implement the Museum’s strategic frameworks, ensuring financial sustainability and continued relevance in Newport’s cultural scene.
• Enhance Community Engagement: Deepen relationships with local artists, residents, and visitors to make NAM an even more vital community hub. Cultivate greater synergy between the Museum and its art school.
• Branding and Destination Marketing: Leverage Newport’s status as an international visitor destination with two million annual visitors, along with community promotional efforts, to enhance the Museum’s profile, branding, and visitation.
• Guide a Campus Master Plan: Re-energize efforts to fund and implement an outdoor landscape master plan that enhances the Museum’s beauty and community access.
• Board Relations: Build a mutually supportive relationship with the Board and its committees.  Partner with the Board to ensure optimization of governance responsibilities to enable best practices in Board relations and committee management. Partner with the Board Chair and committee chairs to launch a board self-assessment process.

Challenges include:

• Staff Development and Retention:  In 2024 NAM leadership facilitated a reorganization to support the strategic plan to move to a Guest Curatorial model. This resulted is the elimination and reorganization of several staff positions, which precipitated additional staff departures and consequent negative publicity in 2024. The new ED will need to provide leadership to the current staff, many of whom are relatively new to their positions, and focus on staff retention.

• Strengthen Fundraising and Financial Health: Following several years of deficit spending, the Museum has taken steps including hiring a new chief financial officer and hiring a full-time advancement director to better manage budgets and re-commit itself to fundraising. The new ED will work with the Board to expand philanthropic support, grow NAM’s endowment, and explore new revenue streams, including a capital campaign to support the master plan.

Responsibilities, and Expectations

The Executive Director will have a background that includes proven effectiveness as an executive or senior-level professional in nonprofit organizations such as museums, art galleries, academic institutions, or other similar mission-driven organizations. The successful candidate will demonstrate passion for American art and accomplishments as a strategic thinker, team builder and consensus builder, fundraiser, communicator, networker, and leader adept at translating organizational vision into action. They will be expected to:

• Demonstrate strong, visionary leadership to advance NAM’s mission, strategic goals, and community impact.
• Provide overall organizational and financial oversight, accountability, and sustainability, both for the long-range future and for an uncertain economy in 2025/26; build entrepreneurship and manage revenue streams from earned income, philanthropy, and governmental sources.
• Strengthen donor relations and actively participate in fundraising efforts, including major gifts, grants, corporate sponsorships, and membership programs. Effectively engage multiple generations of supporters.
• Partner with the Artistic Director and other staff to shape collections and programming, ensure proper care and accessibility, foster relationships with regional artists and organizations and develop programs for NAM’s various audiences that are compelling and drive visitors and sponsorships.
• Serve as the primary spokesperson for the Museum, its mission, and programs. Lead an energetic outreach and marketing program that lifts the Museum’s profile. Participate in community organizations and serve on boards as appropriate.
• Cultivate relationships with local and national arts organizations, government entities, and community partners.
• Maintain positive and productive Board relations, ensuring transparency and best practices. 
• Support and develop the staff, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and professional growth.
• Establish data-driven performance metrics; assess programs and exhibits to ensure goals and objectives are met.

Experience, Skills, and Attributes

• A minimum of five years of senior executive or management experience in nonprofit environments, preferably at a museum, art gallery, academic institution, or other similar mission-driven organization.
• Success in fundraising, working with donors, foundations, sponsors, and governmental funding sources.
• Proficiency with sound business practices and financial management; ability to oversee the annual budget, interpret financial statements, and articulate performance to the Board and other stakeholders.
• Strategic planning acumen; ability to see the big picture and communicate a vision and to develop buy-in and consensus to enact the vision.
• Exemplary management and organizational skills in leading staff and volunteer teams.
• Emotional intelligence and people-oriented leadership skills that build a culture of trust and respect.
• Strong communication, advocacy, and interpersonal skills with the ability to network and connect with audiences.
• Experience working in collaboration with diverse constituents, partner entities, and stakeholders across a broad network.
• BA or equivalent life experience preferred, ideally in art history, management, museum studies, education, or humanities.

We recognize that it is highly unlikely that someone meets 100% of the qualifications for a role. If much of this job description describes you, then please apply for this position.