Job Title: Executive Director
Organization: New Urban Arts
Location: Providence, RI
Salary Range: Mid $50s, Excellent Benefits
Application Due: Begin review of credentials on November 2
Start Date: Open Until Filled
Full Time/Permanent

About the organization:

Founded in 1997 with seed funding from the Echoing Green Foundation and Brown University’s Swearer Center, New Urban Arts is a nationally recognized arts studio and gallery for high school students and emerging artists in Providence, Rhode Island. Our mission is to build a vital community that empowers young people as artists and leaders to develop a creative practice they can sustain throughout their lives. We have been recognized as a national model for engaging underserved teenagers through the arts.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities has named New Urban Arts a Coming up Taller Award winner, the nation’s highest honor for youth arts and humanities programs. We were one of only nine organizations selected to participate in ARTOGRAPHY, a multi-year national Ford Foundation-initiative documenting and disseminating the artistic and organizational practices of exemplary diverse community-responsive arts organizations. Each year we serve 300 high school students, 20 emerging artists and 2,000 visitors through free youth programs, professional development, artist residencies, public performances, workshops and exhibitions. We have a permanent staff of six and an annual operating budget of over $400,000. Visit www.newurbanarts.org for more information.

New Urban Arts is at a unique moment in its history, having recently bought, renovated, moved in, and paid for a building on a street we helped revitalize. Our new studio is near the four high schools which send us most of our student participants and has been financed by a nearly complete one million dollar Capital Campaign. We seek a new Executive Director to lead the organization in the next phase of our development. We need to participate in national conversations around education and creative practices, in order to continue to contribute to national reform efforts, while keeping our commitment to our local Providence community. New Urban Arts must deepen its relationships with current supporters, attract new funding sources, and further diversify its revenue streams. We want to propel New Urban Arts into its next stage of development and ultimately increase national and international impact.

The Position and Ideal Candidate Profile:

New Urban Arts seeks an inspiring leader who believes in the power of creative practice and lifelong learning. The Executive Director should have a strong understanding of creative practice within an individual’s life and participate in dialogues about community and cultural production on a local and national scale. The Executive Director understands the value of relationships in building a self-sustaining organization. An ideal candidate is a strong strategic thinker with excellent non-profit management skills. The Executive Director must be flexible and adaptive, resourceful and values-driven (and will also have a good sense of humor). S/he fosters a rewarding workplace that is stimulating, respectful, collaborative, relationship-driven, and results-oriented, and where the mission of New Urban Arts will thrive. The best candidates will have experience in the non-profit sector, particularly with the arts and young people in community based settings; a record of success partnering with, developing, and engaging nonprofit boards; knowledge of fundraising and non-profit financial management; proven ability to work collaboratively; and leadership skills.

Job Responsibilities:

• Ensure the ongoing growth and success of New Urban Arts while keeping the organization’s work consistent with its mission, values, and strategic plan and relevant to the needs of the community
• Support the New Urban Arts Board of Directors in fulfilling their legal and fiduciary responsibilities as stewards of the organization; develop annual budget
• Oversee New Urban Arts’ building and programs in accordance with the organization’s mission and in collaboration with staff, mentors and students
• Supervise and support staff in their programmatic and administrative duties
• Conceive and carry out fundraising activities at the corporate, foundation, government and individual levels, through grant writing, donor cultivation and stewardship, and work to increase the amount and diversity of revenue streams
• Engage New Urban Arts in national conversations, collaborations, and best practices in education, community arts, and non-profit and youth development
• Serve as the public face of New Urban Arts, telling our story and making connections to current and potential partners, both locally and nationally

To apply, please email cover letter and resume to: alyssa {at} newurbanarts(.)org

New Urban Arts
705 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
For more information, visit www.newurbanarts.org
No phone calls please