Performing Arts Workshop
San Francisco, CA

Performing Arts Workshop, a Bay-Area arts education organization with a budget size over $1 million, seeks an Executive Director who passionately believes that the creative process can be a tool for personal growth and academic success, which in turn leads to social and economic empowerment. The Workshop prioritizes working with schools that have less access to resources (economic, time, support structures) for the arts in order to reach students who might not otherwise receive arts education due to poverty/classism, documentation status, language, or other systematic disinvestment. The organization’s new Executive Director will provide vision and leadership in partnership and collaboration with its energetic, knowledgeable, and diverse Board of Directors and staff. The new Executive Director will have an opportunity to continue the organization’s historically strong leadership, financial sustainability, and clear strategic direction, while deepening its unquestionable impact and social change footprint that stems from a 50 year history working with Bay Area students, artists, and larger community.

ORGANIZATION AND POSITION OVERVIEW

Founded in 1965, Performing Arts Workshop (the Workshop) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is dedicated to helping young people develop critical thinking, creative expression, and basic learning skills in and through the arts. The Workshop was established to provide a creative outlet for inner-city teenagers in the San Francisco Bay Area. With schools and community centers as her laboratory, Workshop Founder Gloria Unti developed a teaching method based on the conviction that the creative process is a dynamic vehicle for learning, problem-solving, and communication. The organization currently partners with 20 regional schools and community centers as well as 70 preschool centers to deliver onsite arts education programming, taught by professional teaching artists on the Workshop’s staff. These artists have residencies at partner locations, typically 15-30 sessions in length.

This is an exciting time for the Workshop and for the organization’s new leader. The Executive Director will be walking into a strong organization in very solid financial health that has a clear strategy for program and fundraising laid out for the coming five years. This stability and credibility in combination with its strong history provides the flexibility and opportunity for the organization to continue to leverage and expand upon its deep impact.

Jessica Mele, the most recent Executive Director, had a nine-year tenure with the Workshop and is now joining the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation as a program officer for Performing Arts. Her predecessor, Tom DeCaigny, had an eleven-year tenure with the Workshop and became Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2012. As made evident by the incoming Executive Director’s predecessors, this position is meant for true leaders and advocates in the Bay Area arts and arts education ecosystem.

Two examples of current initiatives that demonstrate the Workshop’s leadership in the Bay Area and broader national arts education field are as follows:

Immersive Partnerships Program: In its recent strategic plan, the Workshop set three broad goals:

Align business model, earned income, messaging and deeper partnerships;
Develop a new model for the Workshop teaching artist relationship; and
Continue to foster committed individual donors because they feel deeply connected to our mission, as well as grow a major giving program to support this strategic transition.

This strategy aims to improve long-term educational outcomes and organizational sustainability. Based on several criteria, seven schools/community centers have been deemed Immersive Partners. With support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Workshop has developed an Immersive Partnerships Scorecard and supporting data collection and analysis protocols as a key part of program implementation. A successful transition will require the new Executive Director to lead a 5-year major gifts program to help fund the Immersive Partnerships Program strategy.

Administrative Consolidation: Utilizing support from the Clarence E. Heller Foundation, the Workshop, working with Leap, a partner and complementary Bay Area arts education organization, has developed an implementation plan that lays the foundation for successful administrative consolidation between the two partner organizations and potential additional partners in the future. The pilot began on April 1, 2015 and was completed once full implementation began on July 1, 2015. The central focus of the current consolidation is on shared finance and accounting functions. A central goal of this partnership is to demonstrate and share an innovative model to realize operational cost savings that could benefit arts education organizations regionally and nationally. The incoming Executive Director should be versed in collaborative partnerships and open to a potential expansion of this initiative, positioning the Workshop as a true innovator and leader in the field of nonprofit shared services.

Learn more about Performing Arts Workshop at www.performingartsworkshop.org.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership

Serve as a leader in the field of arts education, policy and advocacy.
Mentor and lead staff to ensure that the Workshop’s programs advance the organization’s mission and vision and achieve the desired impact set out in its strategic priorities.
Prioritize and oversee the organization’s long-term value of professional growth, team-building, collaborative leadership, and a culture of learning.
Establish and maintain positive relationships with the Board of Directors, current and potential funders, key stakeholders, artists, and broader San Francisco communities to effectively leverage and promote the Workshop’s impact, reach, and visibility.
Engage a variety of community partners from different sectors to advance the Workshop’s commitment to social justice and elevate transformational results in students.
Employ in a shared-leadership model for the organization, engaging staff in strategy development and decision-making, and enabling other Workshop representatives to build public visibility and credibility.
Work closely with the Board Chair and relevant Board committees to ensure a strong, diverse and active board that reflects the values and mission of the organization and meets the changing needs of the Workshop over time.
Support the Board in the development and maintenance of appropriate governance policies, goals and objectives.

Support for Programs

Partner with the Program Director and Program Staff (2 additional) to ensure the viability and continued success of current programs, elevating the importance of the teaching artists, their voices and their relationship with/work within the schools. Additional key focus here will be on the Immersive Partnership Program (discussed above).
Partner in setting the programmatic budget and earned revenue goals.
Initiate, cultivate, and maintain partnerships critical to the Workshop’s programs.
Participate in associations, advisory committees, joint initiatives, and conferences to further the public profile and strategic success of the Workshop.

Fundraising

Lead efforts in continuing to build and innovate the organization’s stable funder makeup and base.
Work with the Directors of Institutional and Individual Giving to develop, oversee, and manage a comprehensive annual fundraising program including major gifts, annual support, institutional, corporate and public funding, and special events.
Focus concerted efforts on growing a major giving program and individual donor base in order to support the shift to Immersive Partnerships.
Partner with the Board and Development staff to support their participation in cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors.
Be a passionate spokesperson and advocate for arts education and the Workshop to all relevant constituencies and stakeholders, internally and externally.
Recognition of and potential involvement in organization’s 50 year anniversary event to be held in November 2015.
Collaborate with staff on the preparation, content, and timing of all marketing and communications strategies to raise the Workshop’s public profile, engage the public, and encourage donations.

Organizational and Financial Management

Present accurate, effective, and timely management reporting to the Board; manage Board communications with the goal of supporting the highest standards of governance and transparency.
Recruit, hire, train, supervise and mentor an outstanding team to achieve the Workshop’s strategic goals, and foster an organization that has at its core a culture of collaboration and professional excellence while nurturing and supporting all members of the team.
Develop and manage an efficient and effective organizational infrastructure; ensure that the work of staff is aligned with the strategic goals, and that all staff is provided with proper guidance and support, and its work is evaluated at regular intervals.
Work with the Board to maintain and continue building financial reserves and engage in long-term financial planning.
Lead staff and support the Board in facility planning, development and management, leveraging external resources as necessary.
Seek, cultivate, and manage external partnerships and their associated contracts and Memorandums of Understanding.

EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS AND PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

The successful candidate will have:

Commitment to the Workshop’s core values of: collaboration and commitment; impact; social justice and equity; creative approach and process; operational excellence; and a culture of learning.
Proven experience with or passion for the arts and/or arts education, preferably in a leadership position within a nonprofit.
Demonstrated commitment to social justice.
Knowledge of or ability to navigate local and national arts education, funding, and political communities.
Big-picture and critical thinker; creative mind/agent of social change.
Experience working with a large, urban, educational system.
Experience navigating bureaucracies (such as those present in local government).
Demonstrated success planning, executing, and raising significant funding, particularly from individuals and high-capacity major donors.
Ability to think innovatively about strategic partnerships, alliances, and engagement with different types of agencies – nonprofit, corporate, public – within the arts and beyond.
Demonstrated operational and financial management skills appropriate to the Workshop’s activities, including non-profit financial literacy in budgeting, cash flow analysis and investing.
An energetic, entrepreneurial background that combines systems thinking with a socially progressive mindset.
A true advocate for the Workshop’s students, their families and communities.
Ability to articulate a vision that motivates internal and external stakeholders from multiple communities and in diverse settings.
An inclusive, transparent leadership style both in and out of the public spotlight.
Enthusiasm for shared leadership, collaboration, and consensus based decision-making.
Excellent written and oral skills, as well as strong listening skills.
High integrity and a commitment to personal and professional excellence.
Past experience in effectively leading and mentoring a small team.
Political astuteness, and the ability to navigate multiple networks.

Performing Arts Workshop is open to considering qualified candidates outside of Northern California.

The Workshop is an equal opportunity employer that embraces a diverse, multicultural work environment. People of color, people with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are encouraged to apply.

For additional information please contact: Jean K. Ries, 650.515.4399 or jean@theolivegrove.com. If you are interested in applying or would like to nominate someone for this position, please send a letter explaining your interest along with your current resume and salary history to search@theolivegrove.com, and be sure to include “The Workshop” in the subject line. All nominations and expressions of interest will be held in the strictest confidence.

Contact:Jean K. Ries
Email:search@theolivegrove.com
Phone:650.515.4399