25 Aug 2010

HISK is recruiting a new artistic director

HISK / Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten / Higher Institute for Fine Arts is recruiting a new artistic director

HISK organizes postgraduate education in Flanders in the field of the audiovisual and visual arts. It provides approximately twenty-five young artists from Belgium and abroad with a studio of their own for the duration of two years along with specific, tailor-made guidance.

At the HISK, emphasis lies mainly on individual practice with an international focus. The visiting lecturers are crucial. Artists, curators, critics and theoreticians pay individual studio visits at regular intervals. There are also frequent visits to significant art events and lectures, seminars and workshops are provided. The HISK also offers technical facilities and production opportunities.

Thanks to the unique HISK concept, the participants are given every opportunity to invest in critical research of their work in order to situate it within a broader artistic, cultural and societal context.

At the end of the two-year working period, the participant receives a certificate of 'Laureate of the HISK'.

The HISK is officially recognized as Higher Institute and is financed by the Flemish Community - Ministry of Education and supported by the City of Ghent.

HISK Artistic Director – job description and person specification

Qualifications and experience
The artistic director should have a MA degree and at least five years’ relevant experience in the art world.

Knowledge
Is familiar with contemporary visual art and the art world and has a genuinely international horizon.
Has broad socio-cultural interests from which to develop a programme for the candidate laureates.

Qualities and skills
The successful applicant will be able to:
* Organise
* Communicate
* Coach artistic development and inspire enthusiasm
* Develop concepts
* Work in a team, particularly in collaboration with the business director to ensure the carefully-considered expenditure of resources within the framework of the HISK’s vision and objectives
* Develop systematically structured networks to position the HISK within the international art world.

Tasks
* To develop an effective teaching programme.
* Within the framework of HISK policy, to compose an inspiring programme of visiting lecturers (visual artists, curators, theoreticians, art critics, etc.), implement it practically (selecting, inviting and introducing lecturers, organising debates and writing a final report), and promote it externally.
* To individually supervise and support the candidate laureates in their artistic process.
* To position the HISK within the principally international networks of the art world and art education.
* To supervise and support PhD students

Understanding
The successful applicant should have an understanding of:
* Recent developments in higher education in relation to visual art in Flanders.
* Cultural policy (in relation to visual art) in both Flanders and the European Union.

Technical competencies
* The language of communication at the HISK is English; a knowledge of English is therefore strictly required. Applicants who do not speak Dutch should be prepared to learn the language within a short space of time (the trial period). A knowledge or French is an advantage.
* Applicants should have a knowledge of commonly-used computer software and be familiar with modern forms of electronic communication.

Date and term of appointment
The post may be part-time or full-time, depending on the applicant’s profile and possibilities. The applicant should be able to take up the post as soon as possible, and no later than the start of the next academic year (10 January 2011). The appointment is for a period of five years, with a trial period of one year. The appointment is renewable once only for a second five-year term, on condition that the artistic director is reselected subsequent to the post being advertised externally.

Application
A letter of application and curriculum vitae should be sent by registered post no later than Wednesday 15 September 2010 to Willem Elias, Chairman, Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK), Charles de Kerchovelaan 187A, 9000 Gent, Belgium.

Information:
http://www.hisk.edu/
info@hisk.edu