Program Director, Native American Fellowship Program

The Program Director, Native American Fellowship (Program Director) will play a pivotal, non-curatorial role within the Curatorial Affairs Team, driving the vision, strategy, and execution of the Native American Fellowship Program. This dynamic position will lead the day-to-day operations of the fellowship program, overseeing all aspects of its administration while ensuring alignment with PEM’s mission and values.

Reporting to the Stuart W. and Elizabeth F. Pratt Curator of Native American and Oceanic Art and Culture, and Principal Advisor to the Native American Fellowship Program, the Program Director will encourage and advance the next generation of cultural leaders through sustained training of new fellows and expanded opportunities for alumni as they take on leadership roles in museums, cultural programs, and academia.

As a key ambassador for the program, the Program Director will serve as the central liaison between fellows, PEM staff, external partners, and Native communities and organizations across the U.S. and Canada. This role is essential in growing and sustaining meaningful relationships, promoting collaboration, removing barriers, and celebrating the artistic traditions, culture, history, and voices of Indigenous peoples within PEM’s fellowship program framework.

By overseeing the fellowship program’s objectives, timelines, and resources, the Program Director ensures that program goals, initiatives, and grant obligations are achieved with excellence, while upholding the program’s core values and advancing the museum’s broader priorities. This role is central to shaping the long-term impact and success of the fellowship program.

Strategic Vision

• Develop and lead the strategy for the Native American Fellowship Program, including setting priorities, recruiting candidates through networking and outreach, designing and implementing program activities, and evaluating outcomes, while maintaining strong collaboration within the Curatorial and other PEM departments.

• Inspire transformative, dynamic, and culturally sensitive leadership experiences for participants in the program.

• Serve as the primary point of logistics contact for program fellows and provide emotional support to fellows while at PEM, helping to build a strong sense of community before, during, and after the fellowship at PEM.

• Foster, nurture, and manage connections among fellows, PEM staff, and external museum professionals.

• Embrace other strategic vision responsibilities as needed. 

Team Leadership and Operations

• Plan and execute the scheduling and logistics of the residential program, ensuring seamless housing arrangements, travel, seminars, enrichment activities, supplies, and social events.

• Orchestrate the scheduling, recruitment, and selection of summer fellowship and long-term (12 to 24 months) appointments, while identifying strong mentors, projects, and leadership opportunities throughout the museum.

• Deliver presentations to the public and professional organizations on the fellowship program and represent PEM at social and professional events to help advance institutional objectives.

• Facilitate and identify networking opportunities on behalf of the program and alumni.

• Network and collaborate with colleague institutions and related training programs.

• Design and implement recruitment strategies, seeking highly visible avenues for program recruitment and advocacy.

• Cultivate and nurture alumni relationships, keep track of their professional developments, and provide support for career development when relevant.

• Execute and oversee the annual evaluation process, tabulate data, and reporting; collaborate as appropriate with other colleagues and departments on the development of longitudinal program evaluation.

• Elevate the fellowship program’s visibility and brand through dynamic marketing, PR, and educational content, leveraging traditional, non-traditional, and social media outlets while delivering compelling presentations to PEM staff, leadership, advisors, and the board.

• Build program brand and public communication with a variety of audiences using traditional, non-traditional, and social media outlets.

• Guide educational content for the website.

• Prepare and oversee an annual budget, providing detailed financial oversight to budgets and activities, including tracking and internal PEM reports and external reports to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, working closely with the Principal Advisor.

• Mentor and coach Summer and Long-term fellows, and program alumni as called upon.

• Attend conferences and/or symposia held in various locations in the U.S. and Canada.

• Embrace other leadership and operations responsibilities as needed.

The ideal Program Director is deeply people-oriented and passionately committed to the growth and success of the fellows and the fellowship program. They excel at building strong relationships and communicating effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, from fellows to museum leadership and external partners. Visionary and strategic, they are adept at planning, organizing, and prioritizing multiple initiatives while exercising empathy, diplomacy, and consistency. As a skilled mentor and coach, they inspire and support fellows’ and alumni development while keeping program operations, timelines, and goals on track with sharp time-management and organizational skills.

Other key competencies include:

• Project Management – The capability to identify and manage concurrent tasks and systems while leveraging resources and people’s talents, to obtain results.

• Diplomacy and Teamwork – The dexterity to effectively and tactfully handle difficult issues in a manner that demonstrates sensitivity and respects differences while modeling and cultivating a culture of collaboration, accountability, joy, and excellence.

• Personal Accountability and Planning/Organization – The potential to establish courses of action, to ensure that work is completed effectively while remaining answerable for one’s own actions.

• Interpersonal Skills – The ability to effectively communicate, build rapport, and relate to all kinds of people.

• Employee Development and Coaching – The capacity to inspire, mentor, and guide others, fostering their professional growth through supportive and impactful coaching.