Gallery Assistant, International Contemporary Gallery

Our client is seeking a Gallery Assistant who will provide support to the gallery’s team in a variety of activities. The Gallery Assistant’s primary aim is to offer support to team members to ensure smooth daily running of their activities and an effective link with the wider team. This position will provide a vital professional front of house experience for all gallery visitors and a range of administrative support across the gallery. This role will provide the Gallery Assistant with exposure to the daily working life of the gallery’s team on the whole.

Key Front of House tasks include:

• Being the lead person for reception duties for the gallery’s NY location
• Acting as “front of house”, greeting all clients and visitors
• Answering phones in an efficient and friendly manner, providing a high quality message service
• Deputizing for sales staff with visitors as appropriate
• Ensuring reception and gallery areas are presentable and informative well in advance of Private Views, notifying appropriate staff if action needs to be taken to rectify issues
• Upkeep of checklists and tidiness of viewing rooms
• Updating Artbinder in conjunction with the gallery’s London front of house
• Tracking and recording visitor numbers
• Ensuring press releases and exhibition lists are available for visitors
• Organizing couriers/FedEx/taxis where required, coding and reporting to finance
• Ordering office supplies & canteen, coding and reporting to finance
• Updating mailing list from reception/exhibition books
• Updating the gallery’s internal contact database in conjunction with the gallery’s London front of house
• Updating the inventory database with regard to sales and reserves
• Other general ad hoc project support work as required (i.e. maintaining records of cold calls/walk ins, updating face recognition documents, important client documents, etc.)
• Reception cover at gallery Private Views and support for/attendance at other gallery events as and when required
• Assisting with general gallery and event duties, when required
• Attendance at key gallery events, when required
• Manage the gallery’s museum memberships and upkeep calendar of NY exhibition openings
• Arranging for general gallery upkeep ahead of installation/exhibition prep

Documentation Services & Running Gallery Bookshop tasks include:

• Ordering catalogues to ensure appropriate stock levels, including for upcoming gallery exhibitions
• Ensure that the gallery is stocked with relevant sales catalogues and publications
• Introduce and monitor allocation of complimentary catalogues
• Ensure that new publications are regularly sent to major international museums/libraries
• Work on project to make best use of catalogue archive/stored catalogues
• Manage the sale of catalogues in conjunction with Marketing Communications
• Manage offsite storage inventory of catalogues
• Manage front desk bookshop via Square and online gallery bookshop via Work alongside London front desk team to manage international shipments
• Manage bookshop email account ensuring a high level of friendly and professional customer service
• Upkeep of inventory of packing and shipping supplies, coordinating with members of Marketing Communications and Sales Team to ensure that proper packaging is ordered for scheduled mail-outs

Key Candidate Skills/Attributes include:

• Passion for and strong knowledge of contemporary art
• Previous gallery, museum or visual arts experience
• Articulate and well presented
• Positive, can-do attitude
• Excellent interpersonal skills balanced with professionalism and diplomacy; willingness to interact with visitors and clients, answering any questions and speaking about the gallery’s current exhibition program
• Good knowledge of the contemporary art market
• Highly organized & efficient with excellent prioritization skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Ability to manage a busy workload, working both independently and as part of the wider gallery’s team
• A calm and friendly manner, especially when under pressure
• High level of IT skills: Microsoft Office, working knowledge of art Database(s), Mac literate
• Any e-commerce experience, specifically experience with Square, Shopify, WordPress, and packing/shipping orders both locally and internationally (desirable but not required)