Interpretive Planner

Interpretive Planner

Full-time, Permanent

Engagement

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is an agency of the Government of Ontario. ROM acknowledges that its museum is situated on what has been the ancestral lands of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Anishinabek Nation, including the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation since time immemorial to today.

Founded in 1914, the ROM showcases art, culture, and nature from around the world and across the ages. Ranked among the top 10 cultural institutions in North America, ROM is Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum, housing a world-class collection of 13 million artworks, cultural objects, and natural history specimens featured in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces. The museum aims to transform lives by helping people understand the past, make sense of the present, and come together to shape a shared future in which people flourish in concert with the natural world.

Situated in a truly 21^st century context—in one of the most diverse major cities in the world, and within a country known for pluralism, openness, and embracing global perspectives—the ROM is poised to take a dramatic leap forward as it focuses on building greater engagement through inclusion, transdisciplinary thinking, digital practices, and innovation. For years, the organization has been a space for embedding and showcasing Indigenous lifeways, ways of knowing, and cultural expressions, and has engaged with Indigenous advisors, artists, knowledge holders, and an Indigenous Advisory Circle (established in 2014, with a membership that includes elders, knowledge carriers, educators, artists, French speakers, youth, and allies with cross-disciplinary knowledges and interests in the arts, sciences, and technology) to share with the wider world the vast stories, learnings, practices, and traditions of First Peoples.

It is within this context that ROM invites nominations and applications for the role of Interpretive Planner (IP), a position that will give a passionate individual the opportunity to further elevate and expand upon the work being carried out at the ROM.

As the key proponent of a comprehensive and visitor-centric encounter, the IP will take centre-stage in exhibition and gallery development teams. In close collaboration with curators, exhibition designers, and media developers, the IP will engage in every aspect of exhibition conception, development, implementation, and evaluation. They will prepare interpretive plans, being in line with cutting-edge museum practices and the overarching vision of the ROM. They will bring plans to life. In addition to these core responsibilities, the IP will also foster a culture of openness and inclusivity by facilitating ongoing conversations with museum visitors, community groups, and advisors. This collaborative approach will allow the IP to integrate diverse perspectives and co-creation into the exhibition development process, creating an exceptional visitor experience that inspires, educates, and delights.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create and develop the interpretive plan for an exhibition or gallery by organizing and structuring information into a creative narrative-based inn close consultation with curators and, when appropriate, community stakeholders.  Select interpretive techniques that are appropriate to the exhibition/gallery goals, outcomes, and its intended audiences.  Initiate and lead numerous working sessions with other team members to achieve the content goals of the interpretive plan.  In collaboration with curatorial staff, research and propose the inclusion of two-dimensional, three-dimensional, audio-visual and digital content.  In collaboration with team members, identify and document exhibition or gallery elements to facilitate the development process.  
• Collaborate with multimedia and audio-visual producers, graphic designers and three-dimensional designers to produce diverse vehicles of communication and coordinate them into a coherent whole.  Participate as a member of exhibition teams throughout the design and production phases and ensure that the interpretive plan is expressed, and audience needs are represented. 
• Structure, write and edit text. Create outlines for media storyboards, and writing and editing scripts.  Review text and other content to ensure a satisfactory level of readability, cultural sensitivity, respect for visitors, and accessibility.  Proof-read all text and manage the process of proof-reading, in order to achieve correct text and visuals prior to production. 
• Conduct the following research and evaluation: research interpretive techniques and contextualizing content, design and conduct tests of visitors’ needs, behaviour patterns and expectations which have a direct bearing on the development of an exhibition.  Facilitate conversations with community groups and experts outside of the ROM to incorporate multiple perspectives and co-creation.  Using this information, select and apply interpretive techniques to shape relevant and useful engagements during development and experience of exhibitions. 
• Provide input to interpretive planning procedures, standards, and professional development; assist in briefing ROM team members and outside contracted team members on exhibition development procedures; as needed, assist with training of IP interns/students. 
• Perform other related duties, as assigned.