The Reina Sofía is already looking for the successor of Borja-Villel

Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Reina Sofía for fifteen years, before ‘Guernica’ / CR

Selection in progress

A committee of experts will advise the Board of Trustees of the museum, which must decide on the five candidates that pass the screening

Those who aspire to direct the Museo Reina Sofía Sofía can now present their candidacies. The Official State Gazette (BOE) published this Friday the resolution with the phases of the process and the requirements that the candidates must meet to succeed Manuel Borja-Villel, who resigned from running for a new mandate after fifteen years at the helm of the public gallery.

The procedure “goes to guarantee publicity and concurrence according to the principles of merit and capacity and suitability criteria”, while ensuring the participation of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museum, “with the advice of a Committee of experts and professionals from the world of culture and its management”, as confirmed by the museum.

Thus, an International Committee of Experts and Professionals made up of five members will be created to advise on the selection of candidates. The composition of the committee will be announced in the coming days. For the election of these five ‘wise men’, the Management Commission will submit to the Permanent Commission of the Board of Trustees a designation proposal “of an international nature duly substantiated”. After this procedure, the composition of the committee will be announced in the coming days.

The BOE details the remuneration of the management position for the 2023 financial year, which is configured with a salary of 77,827 euros, a position complement of 46,696 and a variable complement: 12,277.

The BOE also details the requirements for candidates to be admitted to the process in terms of nationality, qualifications or professional experience of at least ten years. The deadline for submitting applications is also specified, which will be 30 business days from publication.

Among other merits, the ‘curriculum vitae’, letters of introduction, titles and official certificates of specialized training, publications, investigations, or official recognitions will be valued, as well as the project that each of the candidates proposes to develop from the direction of the Museum for the next five years.

The selection will take place in three stages. The first will be the verification of compliance with the requirements to participate in the process. The committee of experts will assess the merits and the project presented by each applicant in the second phase. The maximum score that can be awarded to each participant during this phase is 80 points; up to a maximum of 50 for the assessment of the curriculum (experience and training) and 30 for the assessment of the Museum management project. Each of the aspects to be evaluated and their score are described in detail. The five participants with the highest score who will be interviewed by the International Committee of Experts and Professionals will go on to the third phase.

At the end of this phase, the committee of experts will submit the list of scores obtained by the five candidates, ordered from highest to lowest, to the Management Committee of the Board of Trustees. This will transfer to the Plenary of the Royal Board of Trustees the name of the three participants with the highest score, the new person responsible by Royal Decree.