Art and Program Supervisor

The Art and Program Supervisor assists the Visitor Experience Manager and Program and Education Manager in delivery of the Wonder Works Children’s Museum (“Wonder Works” or “Museum”) programming, art room activities, and special events. The mission of Wonder Works is to spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive play-based learning experiences. The Art and Program Supervisor actualizes this mission through playful engagement, helpful guidance, respect for all visitors, giving 100% while at work, and ensuring a safe and clean space.

The Art and Program Supervisor works closely with the Program and Education Manager to plan and deliver programming that reflects best practices in play-based learning as well as meeting the museum’s mission. They are also a member of the manager-on-duty team for the museum and will oversee daily operations when the Visitor Experience Manager and Visitor Experience Assistant Manager are not present.

Essential Job Functions

• Art Room and Programming
• Support the Program and Education Manager to develop engaging daily and monthly programs, within the main museum exhibits, the art studio, the outdoor nature play/garden exhibits and with community outreach programming.
• Support the Visitor Experience Manager in the gathering, scheduling, organization and maintenance of programmatic materials and instructions for daily use by the visitor experience team (pop-up programming, toddler time, etc).
• Oversee the implementation of art room programming including the design, setup and restock of program materials as well as general art room organization, with the support of the Visitor Experience Manager and the Program and Education Manager.
• Organizing and implementing Wonder Works’ ‘celebration days’ and other recognized holidays, heritage months, and events.
• Support the Program & Education Manager to organize and execute special events and large-scale programs.
• Assist in the facilitation of indoor and outdoor program activities and museum events, such as story time, toddler time, STEAM programs and nature play.
• Manager on Duty / Museum Day-to-Day Oversight
• With the support of the Visitor Experience Manager, actively oversee, schedule, and supervise daily in-museum operations, programs, events, and staff during scheduled shifts, unexpected rushes, breaks and call-in coverage when assigned to Manager on Duty shifts.
• Lead museum opening and closing procedures, including quality checks before museum opening and dismissal from shift.
• Initiate joyful interactions with all visitors to the museum, making them feel invited and welcome in our space.
• Welcome and orient volunteers and guest performers, and ensure they are supported and appreciated during their time at the museum.
• Oversee front desk transactions and register, and assist with troubleshooting operational resources (Veevart, PA system, etc.).
• With the support of the Visitor Experience Manager, respond to and resolve external messages within 24 hours, including in-person, over the phone, answering voicemail daily, checking mail daily, and answering emails sent to the general inbox.
• Cleanliness and Safety
• Lead staff and fully participate in cleaning processes and procedures, including bathrooms, vacuuming, mopping, trash removal, windows, sanitation, laundry, outdoor maintenance, and bodily fluid clean-up.
• Ensure safety practices are followed with cleaning chemicals and tools.
• Responsible for art room, program supply, and exhibit supply storage spaces are maintained in a clean and organized manner.
• Assist with set up and break down of special events indoors and outdoors, including tables, chairs, tents, and other equipment.
• Lead staff, volunteers, and visitors in emergency situations, provide first aid as needed. Ensure incident reports and other documentation takes place.
• Training, Administrative Tasks, Special Projects
• Assist with leading and attending required meetings, including morning stand-ups, monthly meetings, quarterly training meetings, and any other required meetings as determined.
• Assist with training new staff and volunteers on program, education, and art room expectations, delivery, and tasks.
• Stay up to date with museum exhibits, events, programs, promotions, policies, and procedures.
• Assist with museum projects, such as exhibit maintenance, opening and closing seasonal outdoor exhibits, and event set up and take down.
• Take a lead role in set up and implementation of museum special events and projects.
• Step in to cover the museum as a Museum Guide as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Must have an interest in working with young children and their adult caregivers from a variety of ages, backgrounds, abilities, and experiences.
• Must have friendly and respectful communication while engaging with visitors. Comfortable speaking with children and adults individually, in small groups, and in large groups. Use of PA systems and walkie-talkies for communication.
• Must be reliable and maintain a solid attendance record.
• Proactive, takes initiative to resolve problems and anticipates tasks that need completion.
• Ability to manage time and work independently as well as a team player.
• Working knowledge of PCs, tablets, phones, and digital communication platforms. Willingness to learn how to use new software and tools, including Veevart and Google Suite.
• Bilingual is a plus, but not required.

Experience and Education Considerations

• Must pass background and reference checks.
• Must have reliable transportation.
• One or more years of customer service experience, ideally with families and young children. Experience in hospitality, leisure, non-profit, or educational sectors preferred.
• One or more years of supervisory experience is preferred.
• Degree in education, museum studies, arts, hospitality, communications, or commensurate professional experience preferred.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Must have open and flexible availability being able to work a variety of shifts, including evenings, weekends, and special events. The museum is open to visitors and groups seven days a week, hours vary between 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
• Stamina and physical endurance to stand on the museum floor 6-8 hours, maintaining quality interactions with museum visitors and staff.
• This job is primarily performed in a visitor-facing environment. The employee must be able to focus on assigned tasks where the activity and interruptions are constant and demanding.
• The noise level in the museum is typically moderate but ongoing, noise level may be overstimulating at times.
• Bending, stooping, kneeling, crawling, pushing, pulling, reaching above the shoulders, reaching in all directions, grasping and handling motions throughout the work period.
• Lifting of moderately heavy objects, possibly up to 50 pounds.
• Maintain a fun and professional appearance and demeanor, and adheres to the provided dress code.

This job description will be updated if duties and responsibilities change significantly. Job functions are subject to modification based on business necessity.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $17.50 - $19.00 per hour

Expected hours: 20 – 25 per week

Benefits:

• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Free parking
• Professional development assistance

Physical Setting:

• Office

Schedule:

• 4 hour shift
• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Evenings as needed
• Evening shift
• Every weekend
• Morning shift

Application Question(s):

• Describe a time when you planned an activity for young children and how it went.

Experience:

• Customer service: 1 year (Preferred)
• Event marketing: 1 year (Preferred)

Shift availability:

• Day Shift (Required)
• Night Shift (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• Oak Park, IL 60302 (Required)

Work Location: In person