EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY

Full-time position

Start date: June 2022

 

Stephen Petronio Company (SPC), an internationally acclaimed, non-profit contemporary dance company, seeks a creative, dynamic, hands-on, and multi-talented individual to serve in the role of Executive Director. This position will play a key role in shaping and maintaining the operational structure and strategic imperatives to support, sustain, and further the wide-ranging activities of the Company. The Executive Director works in close partnership with Choreographer/Artistic Director Stephen Petronio in all areas of Company planning and operations.

 

ABOUT STEPHEN PETRONIO AND STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY:

Stephen Petronio is a choreographer, dancer, and the founder of the Stephen Petronio Company. For 38 years, (founded in 1984) Petronio has honed a unique language of movement that speaks to the intuitive and complex possibilities of the body informed by its shifting cultural context. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists in many disciplines over his career and holds the integration of multiple forms as fundamental to his creative drive and vision. His vision and the organization have created a haven for dancers with a keen interest in the history of contemporary movement and an appetite for the unknown. Considered one of the leading choreographic talents of his generation, Petronio has produced over 80 works, and the Company has performed before tens of thousands of audience members around the world, including 24 seasons at The Joyce Theater in New York City. Known for its exuberant, visceral movement, the work thrills those who see it and has brought the Company international acclaim.

The mission of Stephen Petronio Company is to support the vision of choreographer Stephen Petronio. Specifically, the company provides for the creation and presentation of his existing and new works, provides for legacy initiatives meant to preserve the history of Petronio’s postmodern dance lineage, and advances its future through new works that honor and extend the history and offer a platform for a greater inclusivity of artistic voices.

The 25th anniversary of the Company in 2009 catalyzed Petronioto to explore how the company could expand from a single-choreographer dance company model. His desire to honor the past, present, and future in the field of dance resulted in new initiatives (residency programs, re-staging of important postmodern works, and commissioning of new works) designed to amplify and complement his original mission.

Bloodlines

In 2014 the Bloodlines initiative, which preserves a legacy of postmodern dance through restaging projects, was launched, which has so far seen the restaging and presentation of 12 postmodern dance projects and commissioned three new solo works from early-career choreographers as part of its recently launched Bloodlines(future) program. 

Petronio Residency Center

In 2017, the Petronio Residency Center (PRC), looking to the future of dance, opened to provide a safe haven for intensive developmental choreographic research. Located in the Hudson Valley, PRC supports future choreographic invention in the field with artist residencies and education initiatives. PRC sits on a site of breathtaking natural beauty, on a 172-acre plot adjacent to the 18,000-acre Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness, which is in the northeastern part of the Catskill Forest Preserve. Recently, with support from a longtime donor, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, PRC has established a permanent conservation easement for 77 acres of the 172-acre property in 2021. Designating this portion of the land as a preserve in perpetuity, forever wild, puts PRC at the forefront of regional conservation efforts. The property is itself between two adjacent protected areas, surrounded on two sides by the Catskill Reserve and the natural barrier of Blackhead Mountain. Much of this barrier acreage is untouched land, pristine land, with unexpected beauty and significant, diverse ecosystems. It is a truly majestic parcel, in the northern reaches of the mighty Catskill mountains, and filled with astonishing natural beauty, including a spectacular, three-level cool ravine.

PRC offers a holistic environment, consisting of a dance studio and house intertwined with the surrounding natural environment. Sheltered in and enlivened by the restorative and inspirational power of the natural world, artists are invited not simply to reproduce what they do elsewhere in a studio; at PRC they have the possibility to immerse themselves in a pristine natural environment that offers a possibility of transformation. This intersection of training the creative mind while connecting to nature was a key element from PRC’s inception, conceptually separating PRC from many other dance residencies. Artists benefit from a residency and a retreat with unconstrained time and resources to make new work, with no deliverables required, and unfettered access to an extraordinary natural landscape.

The Company’s Commitment

The Stephen Petronio Company and the Petronio Residency Center, cognizant of the field’s history of inequity and discrimination, are taking active steps to undo the effects of that history within the organization. The company believes that this commitment enriches the artistic experience for all members and audiences. Moving beyond representation, the company is building equity across its programs, policies, budgets, and culture. In deepening both its understanding of and commitment to equity, the company joined with other Hudson Valley/Catskill organizations in a People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s “Undoing Racism” organizing workshop in early 2021. Since then, staff, board, and performers have been meeting on a regular basis to sustain the learning. In this way the company is accountable to its multiple communities and continues to learn and change while taking immediate and long-term strategic action. Stephen Petronio Company aspires to cultivate a sustainable and just creative ecology regarding our infrastructure, company, and residency programs and activities.

 

THE POSITION

As the company looks ahead, it is clear that to advance in the post-COVID world, it will need to invent new ways of working, extending and enhancing the mission, thinking of new models for programming, and offering a service that will be a vital platform and resource in a new era. Stephen Petronio Company is at a pivotal and defining moment, after a period of significant growth and disruption. The Executive Director will provide the strong leadership and strategy needed to capitalize on this threshold moment and play a key role in shaping a new operational structure to support, sustain, and further the wide-ranging activities of the company.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Executive Director works in partnership with the Artistic Director, with both positions reporting to the Board of Directors. The position also requires collaborative relationships with the PRC Director and the PRC Director of Education and Community Engagement. The Executive Director will oversee all aspects of SPC’s operations, with the following as central roles of the position:

-  All aspects of development and fundraising (cultivation and stewardship of individual donors; grant writing, in tandem with consultant; development of institutional relationships; annual gala and other special events)

-  Provide significant leadership in expanding annual earned revenue in addition to contributed income

-  Board development; cultivation and stewardship of new relationships to increase and diversify Board membership and strengthen capacity, provide leadership and support on good governance, policy creation and adoption

-  Strategic financial planning, with an eye towards fiscal discipline and accumulation of working capital supervision of finance consultant and bookkeeper to ensure clean accounting, preparation for annual audit and tax filings

-  Oversee all performance, touring, commissioning, and educational engagements

-  Manage and coordinate business and operating responsibilities such as renewal of permits, insurance, vendor contracts, staff policies and procedure

-  Coordination of collaborative and support teams, including small administrative staff, finance and grant-writing consultants, booking agent, and press representative 

REQUIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS:

The successful candidate will establish strong and productive working relationships with the Artistic Director, Board, and staff, while taking direction from the guiding vision and drive of a Choreographer/Artistic Director with a significant profile in the field. 

-  Candidates should have experience in a management role or senior-level position within a performing arts organization, and a working knowledge of artistic production and residencies

-  Possess excellent leadership, organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills

-  Clear understanding of the ramifications of artistic and budgetary decisions and the need to align them strategically in partnership with the Artistic Director

-  Have strong business skills and experience in budgeting, creating long-term budgets and goals, and non-profit financial management, and the ability to successfully develop and implement long-term strategic and annual tactical plans

-  Track-record of securing philanthropic support in a not-for-profit arts environment, and an interest and appetite for identifying new sources and increased levels of contributed income

-  Experience and knowledge of marketing, advertising, and public relations activities, particularly as they relate to brand recognition that will impact revenue streams

-  Demonstrated ability with project management, overseeing multiple projects, setting goals, and planning long-term while maintaining day-to-day activities 

-  Strong writing skills, diplomacy under pressure, and conflict resolution management

-  Detail-oriented, with ability to keep eye on the larger picture

-  Ability to interact comfortably with colleagues in the art world, presenting field, and with funders and major donors; speak persuasively and serve as spokesperson for the Company in public

-  Collaborative style and strong work ethic, sense of humor, and positive and motivational attitude to engage staff, Board, and consultants when faced with challenges and pressure

ADDITIONAL KEY COMPETENCIES INCLUDE: 

-  Creative Problem-Solving, and Time/Priority Management

-  Stamina, Flexibility, and Resiliency—the agility to adapt to change and quickly recover from adversity

-  Commitment to facilitate and support the professional growth of others

-  Commitment to creating a diverse audience and company culture; promoting core values of equity and inclusion in all efforts toward Board recruitment, hiring practices, and programming decisions

-  Advanced knowledge/skill with Microsoft Office suite (Excel in particular), Quickbooks, database management/querying (Salesforce), and comfort with cloud computing and operating in a Mac-based environment

-  Entrepreneurial spirit a plus

 

COMPENSATION:

Compensation will be equitable and commensurate with experience within an anticipated base salary range of $90,000 to $110,000 per year, which is competitive for a small non-profit performing arts company. Full-time, 40 hours per week. Paid vacation and holidays. Non-matching 401(k). Mostly remote work, with a monthly $50 stipend for home office expenses. Occasionally required to be in person at different locations in NYC. Occasional need to commute to upstate NY. Occasional weekends and nights will be required.

Stephen Petronio Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to complying with all federal, state and local equal employment opportunity ("EEO") laws. SPC prohibits discrimination against applicants for employment because of the individual's race or color, religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, domestic partnership status, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record or any other characteristic protected by law.

 

TO APPLY:

Please send a cover letter and resume, including salary requirements and contact information for at least three references, in a single PDF attachment via email, with subject line “Executive Director”, to: admin@petron.io.  No phone calls please.