Manager of Education and Public Interpretation

Overview

About Central Park and the Central Park Conservancy

Central Park is one of the world's most famous and beloved public spaces. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1858, the 843-acre Park was the country's first purpose-built public park and is a National Historic Landmark and a New York Scenic Landmark. The Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization, was founded in 1980 to rescue the Park, which had fallen into serious disrepair.

Since then, the Conservancy has overseen the investment of over $1.6 billion in the restoration of the Park, which now hosts over 40 million visitors a year.

The Conservancy’s mission is to preserve and celebrate Central Park as a sanctuary from urban life. The City of New York has formally entrusted the management of the Park to the Conservancy, which is responsible for every aspect of its care, including landscape maintenance, capital improvements, and the visitor experience. The Conservancy employs roughly 400 people and has an annual operating budget of over $120 million.

The Conservancy is one of the City’s largest and most successful public private partnerships and is considered a major civic institution given its impact on the health of the Park and the vibrancy of the City.

The Position

The Manager of Education and Public Interpretation is responsible for overseeing the creation, development, and implementation of interpretive programming that tells the story of Central Park and the Conservancy’s past, present, and future in a compelling, relevant, and publicly accessible way.

Working under the direction of the Director of Public History, the Manager of Education and Public Interpretation oversees an initial team of three Central Park Guides to provide a range of programmatic offerings, including walking tours, school field trips, digital experiences (i.e., audio and web), exhibitions, public and member talks and programming, as well as internal programming and content development. This individual will design and implement comprehensive interpretive strategies, manage multiple projects simultaneously, nurture external partnerships, and form productive and collaborative relationships across the Conservancy’s departments and staff, particularly the Philanthropy and Communications teams.