VISITOR EXPERIENCE ASSOCIATE
FLSA status: Part-time, Non-exempt
Hours: Wednesday 10:45AM-6PM and Thursday-Sunday 10:AM-6PM, as needed. Estimated 20-28 hr/wk.
Hourly rate: $15.00
Reports to: Visitor Experience Manager
About Mattress Factory
Mattress Factory is a contemporary art museum and international residency program in Pittsburgh, PA, dedicated to supporting artists in creating site-specific art and connecting audiences with contemporary art. Since 1977, the museum has showcased the work of over 750 artists from around the world, reflecting diverse cultural perspectives and exploring groundbreaking ideas. As an artist-centered institution, Mattress Factory provides artists with the resources and freedom to take creative risks and engage the community.
Position Overview
As a Visitor Experience Associate (VEA), you play a key role in providing a positive and insightful visitor experience by providing excellent customer service and facilitating a deeper understanding of the installations. You will also perform light housekeeping to ensure all public areas are ready to welcome visitors. While maintaining an approachable, enthusiastic demeanor, you monitor gallery spaces, welcome guests, sell tickets at the front desk and perform basic retail functions in the MF Shop. Depending on where you are staffed, you may manage engagement with a work and monitor for inappropriate interaction to protect an artwork. You report to the Visitor Experience Manager and interface regularly with all museum employees.
Key Responsibilities
· Be a positive, enthusiastic representative of the Mattress Factory
· Enhance the guest experience
· Promote a guest-centric culture
· Welcome each guest to the museum and assist them with purchasing tickets, memberships and merchandise
· Ensure that the Front Desk, Lobby, Galleries and MF Shop are presentable to guests. This includes performing regular, basic housekeeping tasks such as sweeping and wiping down glass and mirrors.
· Stay attuned to visitor experience; actively engage with visitors to answer questions and provide additional information
· Answer incoming calls to the museum on a multi-line phone system, providing correct and current information in a helpful manner and routing calls to the proper departments as needed
· Stay informed on museum happenings and offerings and act as a resource of museum information, policies and procedures
· Monitor galleries and museum annex buildings, making note of any necessary exhibition maintenance
· Maintain public facing areas of the museum including stocking supplies and printed materials
· Close and secure gallery spaces
· Work cooperatively with managers and co-workers to provide the best possible guest experience
Qualifications
· Experience working as part of a guest service team, preferably in a museum or cultural setting
· Excellent verbal and interpersonal communications skills
· Professional, personable demeanor
· Consistent availability and dedication to punctuality
· Collaborative attitude and a love of teamwork
· Ability to seek clarification, assistance or direction if uncertain of priorities
· Must be able to traverse all areas of campus, including building which require the use of stairs.
MATTRESS FACTORY IS A LEADING CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM AND INTERNATIONAL RESIDENCY.
Mattress Factory has pioneered the development of alternative art forms through site-specific installations, video, and performance art.
Our commitment to supporting artists’ vision and creative growth is at the heart of the Mattress Factory. We were founded in 1977 by the tenacious sculptor, designer, and visionary Barbara Luderowski, as a “for artists by artists” community. Barbara emphasized the need to provide artists with resources, space, and time to experiment and take risks.
We define quality through the process of making, not just the product. We value and actively invest in the creative journey. Artists live in residence at Mattress Factory for weeks or months while they create something completely new. This approach promotes experimentation, creative growth, and spontaneity.
The unparalleled support that artists receive from Mattress Factory, while working in residence, often results in the production of extraordinary artwork that propels the artist’s career and significantly impacts the field of contemporary art. Mattress Factory exhibitions present new works by critically-acclaimed regional, national and international artists and the museum’s exhibitions appear in publications like The New York Times, Art in America, Art Asian/Pacific, and the Wall Street Journal, among many others.
MISSION
Mattress Factory is an artist-centered museum, international residency program and renowned producer and presenter of installation art. We say “yes” to artists, offering time and space to dream and realize projects in our hometown, Pittsburgh, PA. We invite audiences from around the world and around the corner to step inside, immerse and connect with the artistic process.
We are forward-thinking, ambitious and flexible. Through open-ended collaborations, we work with artists at all stages of their careers to develop, produce and present site-specific installations, events and education programs. Responsive to the changing needs of artists and our communities, we facilitate opportunities for artists and audiences to challenge themselves and assume the risk that comes with making and encountering art.
We believe making art is an essential part of civic and cultural life. Leading by example, we set new standards for supporting artists, engaging audiences and mentoring the next generation of arts professionals. Together, we take a leap into the unknown, rallying to the artist’s vision and going the extra mile to make art happen.