We are looking for a candidate that can take up the position of Programme Leader and who has a demonstrable affinity with a large variety of art and design disciplines. The position of the Practice Leader has two focus areas, leading the programme and forwarding Practice led research.

The candidate must be able to manage educational excellence, engage with partners, stimulate research and represent students, teachers and researchers. By nature, the candidate for programme leader is resourcefully collaborative, as Social Practices are relational by definition. An international perspective is key, as Social Practices curriculum engages with issues from both the local and global scale.

Social Practices

Social Practices is one of three interdisciplinary curriculum streams at Willem de Kooning Academy. In the context of Social Practice, students from all fine art and design majors work together in projects that investigate current socials practices in art.

In Social Practices students are introduced to the discourses that are relevant to this approach to art and design. They are introduced to notions of cultural production as a political act that might challenge and reshape dispositions of power. Students and teachers together investigate the commons as a new form of organisation and citizenship, including attitudes of care for the natural and social landscapes we inhabit. Within Social Practices students are challenged to consider the act of making public —publishing in its most expanded form— as inherent to socially engaged cultural practice. Students and teachers collaborate to building bodies of knowledge in common. Currently, it is comprised of four programs;

• Cultural Diversity explores notions of identity and how it can be embodied, influenced, sedimented, or experienced across cultural, economic, political, and social lines.
• New Earth questions sustainability paradigms like the circular economy and it researches equitable development in the wake of climate change.
• Collective/Assembly experiments with un/learning how to work, study, make, circulate, in solidarity.
• Powerplay focuses on understanding the norms that govern institutions, human behavior, and representations of power, searching for ways to subvert dominant (visual) narratives.

Position paper on Social Practices (currently under revision)

http://beyond-social.org/wiki/index.php/Social_Design_as_a_Political_Act

RESEARCH

Next to leading the curricular programmes the practice leader contributes to the further advancement the WdKA’s interdisciplinary Practices curriculum as a field of enquiry and knowledge. By chairing the practice research lecturers (temporary positions) and stimulating the collaboration between Research Professors (readers/‘lectoren’) a multi annual perspective is ensured. The output of the research activities enrich the curriculum and programmes.

Goals for 2021-2022 are the further development of research perspectives of Social Practices (embodied knowledge, collaboration, making public), to translate them to (extra)curricular activities, stimulate curricula change (to further ground future Bachelor and Master programs), to contribute to ‘cross-Practice’ (public) seminars and exchange.

POSITION

We warmly welcome applicants from underrepresented, minority, or non-conforming communities. Our staff is diverse, not just in terms of professional profiles but also in terms of culture, gender, and ethnicity. We are aware that you might not have experience and canonical qualifications in all domains below. If this is the case, do specify in which areas you would need to further develop through this position.

Tasks

• Represent and continuously contribute to WdKA’s core mission: to reinvent Art & Design Education
• Further develop and represent (internal and external) the Social Practices program & research focus
• Ensure pluriform notions of Social Practices relating to the diversity of the WdKA
• Collaborate with other practice leaders and course leaders to ensure integration/conversation of the Social Practices curriculum with other learning trajectories at WdKA
• Chair the research lecturers to implement a through-line between the curriculum and focus areas coming from multi-annual research projects, fomenting active cooperation between the lector Social Practices, the research lecturers and teaching team
• Leading, composing, inspiring and engaging the teaching team in institutional development
• Foster an accountable educational environment of study for and with students and staff
• Facilitate development of course content together with the teacher staff and curriculum committee, holding responsibility for the quality of the education within Social Practices
• Participate in improving, implementing and executing administrative and academic policies, in a collaborative process with course leaders, coordinators, supportive teams, and management
• Reporting to the WdKA's educational managers for quality assurance, reporting and further advancement

http://beyond-social.org/wiki/index.php/Education

Profile

• A engaging, caring and efficient leader
• A committed facilitator of education in Social Practices in Arts and Design with experience in teaching with a focus on transformative and experimental pedagogies
• A empathetic chair, collaborator and facilitator who is able to invite a wide variety of voices to speak and engage
• A relevant personal practice to bring to the table in the realm of socially and politically engaged cultural production
• Strong, inter/transdisciplinary understanding of cultural production from which to develop and supervise course content, building on and extending the current programs
• Familiar with relevant research methodologies, focus issues, and critical frameworks, for Social Practices (current examples within the curriculum of Social Practices are: (under)commoning, climate justice, gender studies, DEI - Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity -, transformative pedagogy, and making public, among others)
• Able to translate complex issues into language that is precise and also accessible for (HBO) bachelor level education
• A master-level degree in a relevant program in the creative/cultural fields or demonstrable work experience that provides equivalence
• An interest in project-based education and a willingness to participate in team teaching;
• Experience teaching post-secondary level education
• EU/ECC work authorization
• Fluency in verbal and written Dutch and English

Key features:

• Engaging leadership
• Efficient organiser
• Clear communicator
• Agile educator
• Caring collaborator

CONTRACT

The Willem de Kooning Academy/Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam) offers you a temporary contract as a principal lecturer. The salary range is HBO-CAO grade 11 or 12 (€ 3.658,64 minimum and €5717,25 maximum per month) for full-time employment, exclusive of 8% holiday pay and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. Perks include a Hogeschool Rotterdam discount on your healthcare via Achmea and a solid pension package.

The Willem de Kooning Academy is committed to learning and has an extensive professionalisation programme through her Education Station and the professionalisation opportunities at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

All staff members of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences must be able to submit a Certificate of Conduct (Verklaring Omtrent Gedrag, VOG) issued by the Dutch Minister of Justice and Security.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

• CV
• Brief motivation letter, stating your interest in the position, include a research perspective related to the research focus of Social Practices
• Portfolio with relevant work or link to your website

All documents should be written in English.

The selection procedure will take place in two phases. A short list of applicants will be drawn based on CV, letter of motivation and portfolio, followed by interviews.

INFORMATION

Please send your CV, portfolio of work, and brief motivation letter stating your interest in the Social Practices, your teaching philosophy, and how this relates to your practice.

For brief information you can contact Roger Teeuwen, Educational Manager Research in Art & Design (r.teeuwen@hr.nl).

Closing date: June 28, 2021. Apply here.