Assistant Director

Background

cARTie was founded in 2019 to address two needs: limited art museum-based learning opportunities for elementary and pre- school students; and interest in exhibition and internship opportunities for emerging middle/high -school student-artists. Then through now, cARTie is on a mission to ensure that young people with limited access to the arts develop critical, collaborative, and creative thinking skills through our art museum-based learning approach. We bring this to life with our mobile museum using research-backed strategies to engage children’s perspectives, leverage student artists’ contributions, nurture emotional intelligence, and partner with local communities.

Position

cARTie seeks to hire a full-time, year-round, dynamic, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and committed Assistant Director to help advance the mission and agenda of the organization.

Responsibilities

The Assistant Director will report to the Executive Director and take on responsibilities that move the organization forward. They should be prepared to work in and across Connecticut with the cARTie art museum bus, conducting all business at the highest standard of integrity ensuring all activities are legal and ethical. The Assistant Director is especially involved in:

• Efficiently coordinating scheduling and staffing;
• Developing captivating content and communications material;
• Effectively supporting grant writing efforts, fundraising, and special events;
• Collaborating with the Executive Director to maintain and establish strong community relationships; and
• Contributing meaningfully to curriculum and lesson development, as well as teacher trainings and other professional development offerings.

Knowledge

cARTie’s Assistant Director will draw from rich experience in early childhood, museum, and/or art educational settings. Given cARTie’s roots in the overlap of principles undergirding the Reggio Emilia Approach, Project Zero’s Artful Thinking Framework and Studio Habits of Mind, the Visual Thinking Strategies Approach, mindfulness-based museum education, and other inclusive early childhood education practices, it is also important for the Assistant Director to be well-versed in these foundations and the early education landscape in CT.

Experience and Qualifications

• Degree with a focus on art, education, administration, and/or museum studies
• Minimum 3 years of experience (including work experience while attending school) delivering and/or leading early childhood and/or museum educational programs
• Capacity to contribute meaningfully to key fundraising and event planning
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; persuasiveness, passion, and excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills
• Strong organizational skills, follow-through, initiative, and problem-solving capabilities
• Growth mindset and commitment to ongoing professional learning
• Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people
• Willingness and demonstrated capacity to drive the cARTie art museum bus (candidate is required to possess a valid driver’s license)
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Zoom, Canva, and Social Media
• Able to adapt to work evenings, early mornings, and weekends, as needed to accommodate activities such as special events, community programs, Board meetings, school visits, and representing cARTie at public events

Compensation

Pay Range: $52,000-$55,000 / Year, reflecting the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. Please note this advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors.

Benefits

cARTie provides 2-weeks paid time off and 13 holidays. 

Starting Date

July 1, 2026

Working Conditions

The Assistant Director will work from the cARTie office space in Shelton, Connecticut, as well as aboard the museum bus for visits across the state, and in a home office environment on occasion. The mission of cARTie may sometimes also take the Assistant Director to nonstandard workplaces. The Assistant Director should be prepared for frequent moving, standing for extended periods of time, bending, lifting, and carrying material weighing up to 50 pounds. They should also be prepared to take a course on driving a school bus and practice effectively and safely driving the cARTie art museum bus.

Procedure for Applying

Qualified candidates should indicate their interest with a current resume and cover letter addressed to cARTie’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Clare Murray. They should submit both via the application form linked online at: www.cartie.org/open-roles/assistant-director. Qualified candidates will be contacted for follow-up interview proceedings. For more information about cARTie, visit www.cARTie.org. cARTie is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Review of applications will begin on May 31, 2026 and continue until the position is filled.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We celebrate and embrace the diversity of everyone who walks through our doors and strive to be an inclusive organization and museum that cultivates compassion, expands perspectives, and grows the future stewards of our collective community. In our hiring and in our work, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law. As an organization working directly with children and youth, we require all staff to successfully pass a background check as a condition of their hire. They also must have valid driver’s license, a clean driving record (including no DUIs/DWIs within the past four years) and pass a bus driving course as a condition of their hire.