Description

Communications Specialist at Kemper Art Museum at WashU

Position Summary

The Communications Specialist at the Kemper Art Museum in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at WashU helps lead the content development of marketing communications for the Museum. Contributing to overall promotional efforts, the successful candidate will be an excellent storyteller who can thoughtfully interpret the Museum’s mission, collection, and programs for broad audiences and across a wide range of content types. This position works closely with key stakeholders throughout the institution to help craft the tone, voice, and messaging for the Museum’s social media, e-newsletters, print and digital seasonal marketing materials, and advertising copy, among other assets. The Specialist ensures these communications—whether one-sentence social media captions or 300-word promotional brochure texts—are consistent, clear, and engaging across platforms. In support of this goal, the position also works closely with colleagues in the Sam Fox School’s Communications Office and the university’s offices of Advancement and Marketing & Communication on aligning the timing and tone of messaging and communications. Additionally, the Specialist will collaborate with the university’s News and Media Relations team on crafting Museum communications and maintaining relationships with local, regional, national, and international press outlets. It reports to the Head of Museum Publications.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Marketing and Communications Content (Print and Digital)

Lead development of written marketing and communications content, serving as the voice of the Museum by adhering to editorial guidelines and ensuring consistent tone and messaging across assets.
Write, edit, and proofread promotional assets for both the overall Museum and its seasonal exhibitions and programs across media platforms, including web texts, brochures, advertisements, calendars, and postcards.
Work closely with the Head of Publications and the Curatorial, Education, and Marketing teams on content strategy for current and future promotional materials.
Oversee the hiring and project management of external graphic designers. For print promotional materials such as FYI and exhibition announcements, coordinate and manage printers, incorporating color proofing and management of mailing lists to workflows.
Develop, update, and distribute content and production schedules among internal and external stakeholders.
 

Social Media

Lead the strategic development of content for the Kemper Art Museum’s primary social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube), consistent with brand narrative, tone, voice, messaging, and target audience for each channel. Responsible for day-to-day activities (e.g. designing compelling content, photographing events, posting on social media platforms, responding to posts, monitoring social media for news about the Museum).
Maintain the social media calendar and publishing posts
Coordinate with colleagues and student workers on content development and gathering.
Increase visibility of the Kemper Art Museum through social media platforms, supporting the Museum collection, exhibitions, and programs, research and creative activity, and opportunities for community engagement.
 

Website Management

Perform day-to-day content management of Museum website, including overseeing text and image updates to the homepage, events, learning, and exhibitions pages, securing approvals from stakeholders as appropriate.
Develop content calendar and maintain workflow document for all website updates.
Serve as a liaison, in coordination with Registrar, between the Museum and an external website developer on platform updates, service disruptions, and errors within content management system.
 

E-newsletters and Email Communications

Create an email content plan and overall calendar, coordinating with the Marketing Specialist on targeted campaigns and audience segmentation.
Write, edit, and publish the Museum’s weekly e-newsletters and email communications, working with Curatorial, Education, and Publications to align messaging.
Oversee and manage contact lists for email communications, performing regular updates of names and addresses.
 

Public Relations

Serve as the liaison between the Museum and University’s News and Media Relations team.
Coordinate seasonal outreach about upcoming exhibitions and programs, highlighting key messages developed in coordination with Curatorial and Education teams.
Help support efforts to place news stories about the Museum and exhibitions through the development and maintenance of press and media contacts.
 

Job Location/Working Conditions:

Must be available to work occasional evening and weekend hours.

Physical Effort

Normal office environment
Typically working at desk or table
Typically standing or walking
Repetitive wrist, hand or finger movement
Occasionally lifting 25 lbs or less
Ability to move to on and off-campus locations
 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by the personnel so classified. Management reserves the right to revise or amend duties at any time.

Grade:

G10

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

37.5

Salary Range:

$49,700.00 - $82,100.00 / Annually

The salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor’s degree or combination of education and/or experience may substitute for minimum education.

Certifications:

No specific certification is required for this position.

Work Experience:

Relevant Experience (3 Years)

Skills:

Not Applicable

Driver's License:

A driver's license is not required for this position.

More About This Job

Preferred Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in English, Creative Writing, Communications, Journalism, Marketing or related field.
Master’s degree in art history, English, communications, marketing, or equivalent.
Ability to create accessible communication experiences for all audiences and users.
Experience using social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn) for business purposes and email services such as Constant Contact and EMMA.
Proficiency with CMS platforms and proficiency or ability to become proficient with web analytics tools and reporting.
Familiarity with cultural institutions and higher education environments and interest in art and art museums.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree

Preferred Work Experience:

Museum Marketing, Advertising, Communications, And Public Relations (5 Years)

Skills:

Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe InDesign, Detail-Oriented, Digital Marketing, Graphic Design, Image Editing, Interpersonal Communication, Marketing, Microsoft Office, Proactive Thinking, Problem Solving, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Platform, Strategic Thinking, Technical Savvy, Typography, Video Content, Video Editing, Visual Aesthetics, Work Collaboratively, Working Independently, Writing