Te Papa’s mission is to understand the past, enrich the present and meet the challenges of the future. Te Papa is more than just the national museum that houses New Zealand’s treasures. It is a meeting place, a place for lifelong learning, and a place that inspires a sense of wonder and connection.
The Audience & Insight directorate has been established to lead an integrated approach to how Te Papa’s visitor-facing activities connect people, taonga and stories. Audience-centric and strongly collaborative, the directorate brings together the activities of programme development, audience research and evaluation, marketing and communications, digital strategy, learning, public programmes, and content and exhibition design.
We have an exciting opportunity to join this mahi in the new role of Head of Programming and Evaluation within the A&I directorate. In this role, you’ll draw on experience designing, planning and delivering significant exhibition/events programming to bring a dynamic, coherent and exciting rolling five-year programme to Te Papa.
This is a senior Tier 3 role at Te Papa. Supported by our Programme Coordinator and working closely with the Director Audience & Insight, the Head of Programming and Evaluation:
- Ensures the programme delivers our vision of connecting people, taonga and stories in order to achieve a sense of wonder, belonging and purpose
- Champions audience development goals, and identifies strategies to achieve these
- Ensures the expression of Te Papa’s collections and research through the programme’s content
- Ensures Te Papa’s commitment to biculturalism and serving the many diverse communities of Aotearoa New Zealand shape the programme
- Maintains a holistic view of Te Papa’s operations, onsite and online, to inform the planning and prioritisation of the programme
- Ensures healthy planning and decision-making timelines are maintained, meaning Te Papa delivers on our ambitions in a sustainable way
- Oversees continuous evaluation of the delivery and impact of the programme to improve future planning and delivery
On a day to day basis, the role involves:
- Ensuring everyone in Te Papa is clear on our programming and audience development priorities
- Connecting people across Te Papa around programming opportunities to create the most value from all our activities
- Cultivating a culture across Te Papa staff that is audience-centric and focused on impact
- Providing support and expert advice into our Programme Governance Group, which reviews and approves all programming proposals and sets annual priorities and budgets
- Assisting in the development of our annual priorities and strategic decision-making around programming
- Working across the organisation to lead the development of programming proposals, scoping and business case development
- Monitoring planning timelines to ensure we have the time and resource needed to develop exhibitions, events and other activities
- Monitoring our long-term exhibitions to ensure they are delivering the highest level of visitor satistfaction
- Coordinating our approach to future permanent exhibition renewals
To be successful in the role, you’ll bring:
- The skills and insight required to lead programme planning and prioritisation in a museum or similar creative environment
- Experience creating and implementing audience-centric strategies and programmes
- An understanding of how activities such as exhibitions and sizable event programmes need to be planned and project-managed for successful delivery
- Commitment to Te Papa’s bicultural kaupapa
- A strongly collaborative approach to your work
- Highly effective planning, communication, negotiation and influencing skills
The position requires strong analytical, creative, motivational and problem-solving skills. It combines pragmatic understanding of the museum’s spaces, channels, processes and resources with creative and imaginative leadership. There is significant scope for the person in this role to show organisation-wide leadership, and a rich and rewarding environment in which to work.
For more information or to apply visit: Museums Aotearoa.
