DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

Western Spirit Museum | Scottsdale, Arizona

Full-Time | Reports to the CEO

Salary Range: $90,000–$110,000

Position Summary

Western Spirit Museum seeks a creative, collaborative Director of Education to lead its educational vision and create accessible, meaningful experiences that connect students, educators, families, and lifelong learners with the art, history, cultures, and stories of the North American West. Storytelling is central to this work—sparking curiosity, touching hearts and minds, and helping visitors connect with what they encounter in the Museum.

The Director leads an education department organized around two primary areas: School & Family Learning and Public Programs & Docent Engagement. The Director establishes priorities, develops staff, manages resources, and evaluates impact while empowering managers to lead planning, coordination, and delivery within their portfolios.

Working closely with Collections & Exhibitions from the earliest stages of exhibition planning, the Director contributes expertise in audiences, learning, and interpretation. Educational and public programming complements exhibitions while also exploring the broader stories encompassed by the Museum’s mission.

Central to this work is the Museum’s volunteer docent corps. The Director ensures these essential storytellers and ambassadors are prepared, supported, and valued as they bring the galleries to life and create meaningful connections with visitors.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Team Leadership

• Develop and lead the Museum’s education strategy in alignment with its mission, collections, exhibitions, and institutional priorities.
• Supervise, mentor, and evaluate Education staff.
• Establish annual departmental goals, priorities, work plans, and measures of success.
• Develop and manage the Education budget and allocate resources according to institutional priorities.
• Represent Education in Museum-wide planning and foster productive collaboration across departments.

Learning, Storytelling and Interpretation

• Partner with Collections & Exhibitions from the early stages of exhibition development to identify audiences, learning goals, interpretive approaches, and related programming.
• Champion storytelling that connects visitors with the Museum’s art, objects, histories, cultures, and perspectives.
• Establish educational and interpretive standards that combine accuracy and scholarship with creativity, accessibility, and meaningful audience engagement.
• Guide learning experiences and resources for varied ages, backgrounds, and abilities, both within exhibitions and across the Museum’s broader educational work.

Programs, Docents and Community Engagement

• Set direction and quality standards for school and family learning, educator engagement, public programs, and lifelong learning, including alignment with relevant academic standards for school programming.
• Shape a varied programming calendar that complements exhibitions and explores the broader stories of the North American West.
• Lead the direction and development of a vibrant volunteer docent program, ensuring docents are prepared, supported, and valued as essential Museum storytellers.
• Ensure docent learning combines subject expertise from Collections & Exhibitions with effective teaching, interpretation, and visitor engagement practices.
• Cultivate strategic educational and community partnerships that broaden participation and strengthen the Museum’s reach.

Evaluation and Department Operations

• Use attendance, audience feedback, learning outcomes, and other measures to evaluate impact and guide continuous improvement.
• Ensure effective departmental planning, calendars, procedures, documentation, and reporting through clearly assigned staff responsibilities.
• Support educational funding opportunities, grant proposals, and reporting in partnership with Development.
• Ensure Education staff and volunteers understand and follow Museum policies, safeguarding requirements, and safety procedures.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in education, museum studies, art history, history, public history, humanities, or a related field.
• Significant, progressively responsible experience in education, interpretation, informal learning, public programming, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to create engaging learning experiences and communicate complex subjects clearly and creatively to varied audiences.
• Experience supervising and developing staff, delegating effectively, managing budgets, and evaluating programs.
• Strong communication, organizational, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to collaborate across departments and work effectively with volunteers and community partners.
• A commitment to storytelling, accessible learning, and welcoming visitor experiences.

Preferred

• Experience in a museum or cultural organization.
• Master’s degree in education, museum studies, art history, history, public history, or a related field.
• Experience with exhibition interpretation, docent or volunteer development, and adult learning.
• Experience building school, university, cultural, or community partnerships.
• Familiarity with current practices in museum learning, interpretation, accessibility, and audience engagement.
• Knowledge of or demonstrated interest in the art, history, cultures, and contemporary stories of the North American West.

Work Schedule and Physical Requirements

This position generally works a five-day schedule, with flexibility for occasional evening and weekend programs and activities.

Work takes place in Museum galleries, offices, program spaces, and occasional outdoor areas. Duties include moving throughout the Museum, standing or sitting during programs, and occasionally moving program materials weighing up to 30 pounds. Essential functions may be performed with or without reasonable accommodation.

About Western Spirit Museum

Located in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale, Western Spirit Museum is a nonprofit art museum that tells the stories of the North American West through exhibitions, collections, educational experiences, and public programs.

The Museum brings together art, history, culture, and storytelling to explore the people, places, events, and ideas that have shaped—and continue to shape—the West.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary Range: $90,000–$110,000, commensurate with experience.

Benefits include paid time off and holidays; medical, dental, and vision insurance; short-term and long-term disability insurance; and a retirement plan.

To Apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter addressed to Shannon Barrett, Director of Finance & Human Resources, at sbarrett@westernspirit.org. Applications will be reviewed and considered as received.

Western Spirit Museum welcomes applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences and is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic or status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Applicants who need a reasonable accommodation during the application process may contact Shannon Barrett at the email address above.