With Who: International Festival of Arts & Ideas
Location: New Haven, CT
Type of Employment: Full-time
Position Summary: The Executive Director will provide imaginative leadership toward the development and realization of the Festival’s world-class artistic and intellectual programs. They will passionately articulate an organizational vision that weaves positive values of cultural diversity into the fabric of the Festival, where artistic inclusion and audience access are paramount. Interacting with a wide variety of constituencies, the Executive Director will engage those in the national and international arts and humanities sectors; community members in business, government, and local neighborhoods; regional tourism and economic planners; major arts organizations; donors; board, staff, and volunteers; the media; and multicultural and multigenerational audiences, among others.
Roles and Responsibilities:
Artistic and Intellectual Vision
- Produce an internationally diverse and distinctive program that energizes artistic innovation, inspires intellectual exploration, and creates an international cultural destination embedded in community collaborations.
- Spearhead a new strategic planning and community engagement process that will best lead to the organization’s artistic, social, educational, and economic outcomes.
- Respond to current issues, social trends, and global themes to ensure that the Festival remains timely and relevant.
- Commission and curate new works that receive national and international acclaim while keeping artistic and programmatic content at the outer edge of extraordinary.
- Expand and raise the profile of the Ideas program during the Festival and year-round.
- Develop effective partnerships focused on inquisitiveness, inspiration, and cultural exploration.
- Assess and engage a broad array of unique and traditional presentation venues and locations.
- Create incubator opportunities that foster and promote local artists and thinkers for shared learning and growth.
- Design a means for board and staff to evaluate results-oriented progress towards achievement of strategic goals and outcomes.
- Accept other artistic and intellectual vision responsibilities, as needed.
Audience Access and Inclusion
- Create a platform for dialogue and exchange among diverse people, communities, and multicultural neighborhoods throughout Connecticut.
- Advance the brand identity of the Festival and its host city based on core values, distinctiveness, and thought-provoking placemaking.
- Identify and seek the major financial support necessary to expand audience accessibility, include new voices, and highlight the overall footprint of the Festival.
- Expand the Festival’s Fellowship and other educational programs as an anchor for lifelong learning and career development initiatives.
- Celebrate the Visionary Leadership Award and continue to identify diverse honorees.
- Convey the public messages of the Festival in the media, with educational institutions, and among community members and strategic partners.
- Mobilize technological advances for podcasts, social media, and opportunities that signal a commitment to regional and international innovation.
- Inspire financial and technological investments that ensure the broadest and deepest audience experiences.
- Oversee communication plans that express the impacts of the Festival’s programs.
- Accept other audience access and inclusion responsibilities, as needed.
Governance and Administrative Infrastructure
- Cultivate board members and their connections to secure the Festival’s future vitality and community relevance.
- Listen to board and staff perspectives, consider futuristic ideas, and deliver on the Festival’s mission.
- Inspire and motivate a professional development team as the chief fundraiser and advocate for the Festival.
- Lead, mentor, and guide succession planning for an experienced team of staff, volunteers, and independent contractors that ensures ongoing diversity, inclusion, and equity.
- Invest in professional and community development that advances organizational effectiveness and community vibrancy.
- Actively ensure a healthy workplace and organizational policies that value experience and new ideas.
- Initiate dialogues where board and staff voices inspire innovation and long-term impacts.
- Delegate appropriate responsibilities and perform succession planning in keeping with a well-managed operation and infrastructure that supports the organization and the communities it serves.
- Perform other governance and administrative infrastructure responsibilities, as needed.
Traits and Characteristics:
The Executive Director will be an innovative strategist who is motivated by artistic ideas, intellectual endeavors, and practical results. They will be a courageous community leader, builder, and networker who understands the critical nature of local and regional partnerships while stimulating an international perspective on global issues. The Executive Director will be flexible and optimistic in their approach to challenges and opportunities as they seek out creative solutions. A visible and people-oriented professional, the Executive Director will value social, artistic, educational, and economic impacts that are embedded in thought leadership and artistic vibrancy. They will be inspired by and an inspirational force for local and international issues where societal impacts are grounded in the interconnectedness of the human spirit.
Other key competencies include:
- Planning, Organizing, and Prioritizing – The agility to collaboratively establish strategic goals while assessing risks, organizing activities, and operationalizing priorities.
- Leadership and Interpersonal Skills – The ingenuity to develop, set, and pursue strategic initiatives while adapting to societal changes and delivering external messages that resonate with diverse communities.
- Innovation and Accountability – The capacity to build diverse and innovative local and international partnerships, respond proactively to community needs, and embrace professional accountability standards.
- Diplomacy and Teamwork – The ability to be socially savvy, respectful of differing viewpoints, fair regardless of personal biases, and productive in reaching mutually beneficial outcomes.
Qualifications:
A bachelor’s degree and at least eight years of senior leadership experience in an entrepreneurial, cultural, higher education, and/or social action organization are required (advanced degree or equivalent experience preferred). A track record of results-oriented success in donor relations, including major gift solicitation, fiscal responsibility, and organizational vibrancy is necessary. Multiple language skills and nonprofit governance expertise are greatly appreciated.
Compensation and Benefits:
The Festival offers very competitive compensation with employee benefits that include an excellent individual health insurance plan, dental benefits, paid parental and bereavement leave, vacation, paid time off, tax deferred annuity, and flexible spending account plan, among others.
Apply (or request more job posting information):
To submit a cover letter and resume with a summary of demonstrable accomplishments, please click here or visit artsconsulting.com/employment. For questions or general inquiries about this job opportunity, please contact us at Festival@ArtsConsulting.com.
Dr. Bruce D. Thibodeau
President
292 Newbury Street, Suite 315
Boston, MA 02115-2801
Tel (888) 234.4236 Ext. 201
Email Festival@ArtsConsulting.com
