Job Description

Gallery Guide

The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.

Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), the newest center within the Institute, is catalyzing this work by building a new type of cultural center in the heart of Washington, DC. At MCAAD we celebrate the ideal of the American Dream and explore the ongoing challenges people face in pursuing opportunity, through exhibitions and programs. To accomplish this, we focus on four pillars of the American Dream: education, health, finance, and entrepreneurship. MCAAD's physical home is a remarkable renovation of several 120-year-old historic bank buildings, including Riggs Bank, known as the "Bank of Presidents." The Center's main halls are in the National Register of Historic Places, and our stewardship of the property—along with adjacent buildings on 15th St NW—showcase and honor the history of these buildings while adapting them for use as a modern cultural center with immersive exhibition galleries. There is a state-of-the-art theater, events and lecture spaces, a Holodeck Experience, and a store. The six-building complex featuring nearly 300,000 square feet of space also includes a conference center, recording and broadcast studios, and the Washington, D.C., headquarters of five centers of the Milken Institute.

WE are a dynamic, collaborative, and motivated team operating and invigorating the soaring halls of the Riggs Bank buildings as a place to imagine, explore, and expand the American Dream.

YOU are a friendly professional with a knack for providing stellar visitor service. You like talking to all kinds of people and sharing what you know. You can follow a plan but are also flexible when circumstances shift. You're communicative and like working on a team.

Gallery Guides are the face of our visitor center, working directly with our visitors on the exhibition floor. From greeting guests upon arrival to sharing compelling stories on tours, Gallery Guides ensure that all visitors have a welcoming, safe, and fun experience. This role not only works with our visitors, but also with staff across departments to ensure smooth daily operations.

Gallery Guides will receive comprehensive training that includes exhibition content, operational processes, visitor experience best practices, and more. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with some experience in visitor services or someone who is just beginning their visitor experience career.

Responsibilities

Welcome and Entry Flow

• Provide a welcoming, engaging, and excellent visitor experience from entry to exit for all visitors.
• Actively greet visitors and provide an orientation to the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream and help plan their visit through the American Dream Experience.
• Distribute, sell, and validate tickets for general admission, special experiences, and public programs through a ticketing system.
• Support visitors through security screening and support the security team as needed and appropriate to keep our spaces safe.
• Monitor and manage visitor flow through main entrances and exits, as well as galleries and exhibition spaces.
• Welcoming group visits, including student groups, with an orientation to the Center.

Tour and Activity Facilitation

• Facilitate a variety of visitor engagements including tours, pop up activities, and object talks.
• Engage visitors in informal conversation about the exhibition and its content throughout visiting hours.
• Help lead hands-on activities for public programs.
• Support facilitated group visits with the education team.

Gallery and Exhibition Support

• Communicate MCAAD visitor guidelines with visitors as necessary.
• Support security staff in ensuring the safety and security of all visitors and staff throughout public spaces.
• Report any issues (exhibit repair, facility maintenance, other concerns) within galleries to team manager.
• Connect visitors with accessibility features and offerings.

Daily Operations

• Attend daily morning meeting to receive notes, schedule, and other happenings that require visitor experience attention.
• Report key notes and metrics from the day including tour and talk attendance numbers, memorable visitor quotes, and operational successes or challenges.
• Follow daily rotation schedule closely, perform all duties specific to assigned posts, and follow operational protocols.
• Support the day-to-day operations of the Center, including opening and closing duties and collaboration with other departments and gallery or interactive care.
• Support check in and visitor flow for public programs and special events.
• Troubleshoot routine visitor-related issues and escalate challenging situations to a manager.
• Adhere to uniform guidelines.
• Stay up to date with communications from colleagues.
• Conduct operational support activities such as visitor feedback card inventory and routine disinfecting of high touch surfaces.
• Duties as assigned.

Holodeck Experience Facilitation

The Holodeck Experience is generally facilitated by Holodeck Hosts, specific team members with a flair for performance and specialized technical training by MCAAD staff. On occasion, Gallery Guides may be called to play a supporting role in its operation. These duties may include:

• Describe the experience and answer visitor inquiries
• Engage with visitors in a lively, friendly, and welcoming manner.
• Facilitate ticket sales and check in.
• Enter the Holodeck Experience in support of the "Lead Engineer".
• Adhere to safety and security guidelines for staff and visitors.
• Work with and clearly communicate with colleagues also supporting the Holodeck Experience, as well as the team at large including Visitor Experience, Exhibition AV, and more.
• Support requests from MCAAD staff for special visitors.

Requirements

• The ideal candidate has a healthy sense of humor, a passion for engaging with others and thrives in a highly collaborative environment while taking ownership of own duties.
• You will thrive in this role if you are an enthusiastic communicator committed to providing outstanding customer service and passionate about offering best-in-class experiences.
• Ideal candidates have experience in visitor service at a museum, history center, science center, or public-facing cultural organization. Customer service experience in other fields is also welcome. Bonus if one has experience leading tours or facilitating experiences for visitors or guests. Internship experience will be considered.
• Gallery Guides adhere to a detailed schedule of rotating posts throughout the workday, requiring a high level of punctuality.
• A high level of adaptability to support the changing needs of visitors, groups, and the organization.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills are required.
• MCAAD's topical focus means a background and special interest in its mission and pillars is beneficial: health and science, education and learning, finance, entrepreneurship, plus unique aspects of the American journey (U.S. history, immigration, aspiration and inspiration, advocacy, democracy, civic engagement, community development, and more).
• The ability to quickly develop positive working relationships, support colleagues, be flexible, and thrive in a fast-paced, fun and creative environment is a must.

Working Conditions

All work will take place on-site in our public visitor center. Availability on weekends, occasional evenings, and holidays is required. The working schedule for this role will be Thursday–Monday, 9:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Physical aspects of the role include the ability to stand or be on one's feet for extended periods of time and move equipment, such as signage, chairs, or stanchions on a cart. All Gallery Guides must adhere to a team dress code. This role may require occasional work outdoors during busy seasons.

Note

The statements herein are intended to describe the overall nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities

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