MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS FOR THE ARTS, INC.

Gregory Kandel – David Mallette – Linda Sweet – Louise Kane – Christy Wall – Len Alexander
Stephen Richard – Bill Appleton – Diane Frankel –Jason Palmquist – Jonathan West

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR POSITION PROFILE
DANCE/NYC
NEW YORK, NY
 

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

Founded in 2002, Dance/NYC is the voice for New York City’s dance community.  Originally a project of Dance/USA, the national service organization for dance, Dance/NYC separately incorporated as a New York State non-profit in 2013. Since that time, Dance/NYC has pursued the following mission:

Dance/NYC's mission is to promote the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of dance in the metropolitan New York City area. It embeds values of justice, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization. It works in alliance with Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance.

Dance/NYC’s programs are focused on four fundamental areas: 

1. Action-oriented research;
2. Technology and visibility;
3. Leadership training, networking, and convening; and
4. Grant making

The full breadth and depth of Dance/NYC’s activities in service of the NYC dance community can be best appreciated by exploring the organization’s website: www.dance.nyc.

Action-oriented Research

Research is fundamental to all advocacy and initiatives of Dance/NYC.  The organization has conducted research and subsequently published reports on topics ranging from emergency preparedness and the impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York City dance to dance workforce demographics to the intersection of dance and disability.  A comprehensive archive of all Dance/NYC’s published research is available here.

Technology and Visibility

Dance/NYC maintains an extensive web presence, most significantly through the organization’s website:  Dance.NYC, which documents all Dance/NYC programs.  It includes a user-generated community calendar as well as user-generated job and audition listings.  Ad sales on the website provide an important source of earned revenue for the organization.

Leadership Training, Networking, and Convening

Dance/NYC is a regular convener of the New York metropolitan area’s dance community.  The largest, a Symposium with over 600 attendees, is the only full-day, annual gathering of the dance field in and around New York City.  The organization also conducts regular Town Halls and roundtable discussions focused on emerging field developments and has formed a Junior Committee of dance workers under 30, which is designed to build field leaders.

Grant making

A relatively new addition to the organization’s programmatic portfolio is a focus on regranting which began with the NYC Dance Response Fund, established to meet needs in dance following Hurricane Sandy. 

Disability. Dance. Artistry., resulting from the organization’s research, is an ongoing program which has funded integrated dance productions as well as a new residency program in the New York metropolitan area.  The initiative has also provided leadership training, networking, and convening as well as a directory of online resources for dance artists.  Adapting the disability rights philosophy of “nothing without us,” Dance/NYC has also created a task force of leaders and advocates to advise and assist the organization in implementation of the initiative. 

Dance/NYC has brought the same perspectives on research, technology and convening to Immigrants. Dance. Arts., a new initiative aiming to extend the role of dance artistry in fostering the inclusion, integration and human rights of the more than three million immigrants in the New York metropolitan area.

The organization has also established the Dance Advancement Fund, which supports innovative dance makers operating with budgets between $25,000 and $1 million.  Most recently announced is the establishment of the New York City Dance Rehearsal Space Subsidy program, which will provide access to discounted rehearsal space to dance artists across the New York metropolitan area.

JUSTICE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

At the core of Dance/NYC is a belief that nurturing a just, equitable, and inclusive dance ecology is an essential mission that can make a meaningful contribution to social progress.  The organization envisions a vibrant, sustainable dance ecology wherein power, funding, opportunities, conduct, and impacts are fair for all artists, cultural workers, and audiences.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The next Executive Director will join an organization with an impassioned, mission-driven staff and a dynamic board/committee/task force structure.  Dance/NYC is financially stable and well-positioned as the representative of the dance field with regard to key stakeholders, government agencies, and the New York metropolitan area funding community.

Opportunities and Challenges for Dance/NYC, and by extension for the next Executive Director, include the following:

• Provide strategic direction in the creation of a future vision for Dance/NYC that reflects the organization’s core values and the needs of the dance field, supporting all dance makers across all dance disciplines, in the New York metropolitan area.
• Be responsive to the varied and changing needs of the dance field in the New York metropolitan area to provide services that are both broad in scope and meaningful in effect.
• Fundamental to Dance/NYC’s service role is its commitment to advance racial justice as well as equity, inclusion, and access for others such as the immigrant and disabled communities.  The organization seeks to implement enduring ways to address the dominance of white culture in dance and to amplify the voices and autonomy of the African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) community.  A comprehensive overview may be found here.
• Continue to connect the organization (and by this, the field) with decision-makers in both the public and private sectors with regard to policy and funding initiatives that affect dance artists.
• Further establish operational procedures and systems to ensure effective work flow and create a learning organization which engages, supports, and retains employees.
• Strive to expand Dance/NYC’s network of partners to create new inroads into dance communities not currently served (or currently underserved) by the organization.

POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Executive Director is the chief strategist, spokesperson, fundraiser, and financial and operations officer for Dance/NYC.  The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors.  Primary roles include:

• Strategy: work with the Board of Directors and advisory committees of industry professionals and staff; create organizational strategy and policy; and set direction and ensure adherence to the organization’s mission.
• Spokesperson/Public Engagement: represent Dance/NYC to its constituency, to City and State government, to the media, and to the nonprofit sector; create and present policy testimony as needed; build and maintain organizational partnerships and collaborations; participate in mission-related committees; and provide editorial leadership for all organizational communications.
• Program: establish direction and provide oversight for core organizational programs, including advocacy, research, convening, and information technology; initiate new programs as appropriate; and implement research agenda.
• Fundraising: lead fundraising (government, institutional, individual), personally soliciting various sources and utilizing the contacts and collaboration of the Board of Directors.
• Fiscal Management: develop short and long-term financial strategies including managing earned income strategies (via website, Symposium), manage budget processes, and supervise all financial systems and internal controls.
• Human Resources: manage staff; spearhead and implement human resource systems for the organization, including hiring employees and conducting personnel performance reviews; and ultimate staff authority over independent contractors.
• Collaboration with Dance/USA:  cultivate a strong working relationship with Dance/USA, the national service organization for dance.

QUALIFICATIONS

Ideally, the successful candidate for this role will possess these skills and experience:

• Deep commitment to the dance world broadly and well prepared to lead within the New York metropolitan area dance community with an open-mindedness and curiosity to more deeply understand all of Dance/NYC’s constituents.
• Credibility to serve as an authoritative voice for dance to the field at large, civic leaders, public officials, and dance funders, among others.
• A demonstrable commitment to advancing justice, equity, and inclusion and a track-record of integrating a sophisticated justice analysis into programmatic and operational aspects of an organization.
• Exceptional communication skills, both speaking and writing, allowing the incumbent to be a credible representative for the dance field and the art form.
• A successful track-record in staff leadership and management including both establishing policies and procedures, and managing staff with a transparent, collaborative, and confident leadership style.
• Skills in developing and executing effective budgets aligned with strategic objectives.
• Leadership skills to work effectively with the Board to engage and develop directors individually and collectively.

The following personal attributes will also be considered important:

• High emotional intelligence and an ability to build relationships of trust.
• A strong desire to play an active role in the dance community of the New York metropolitan area, embracing its complexity, diversity, and opinions.
• Strategic, positive, energetic, and forward-looking.
• Innovative problem-solver.
• Disciplined, effective leadership and management of people and resources.

DANCE/NYC RECRUITMENT STATEMENT

Dance/NYC values justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity at all levels of its organization, including its Board, committees, task forces, and staff. Diversity in this context refers to groups and individuals identified by, for instance, race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, status, religion, national origin, marital or partnership status, ancestry, political belief or activity, or status as a veteran. To foster the values of justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity, Dance/NYC seeks participation on its Board, committees, task forces, and staff from individuals who share and hold these values and reflect the diversity of the metropolitan New York City area, with a focus on African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) participation and disability and immigrant representation.

COMPENSATION AND START DATE

The search for the Executive Director is headed by a committee consisting of trustees and other members of the New York metropolitan area dance community, chaired by Martha Newton and Linda Shelton.  Dance/NYC hopes to make its decision in early 2019 with the successful candidate onsite soon after.  The salary and benefit package for this position will be competitive with other non-profit service organizations of comparable stature and size.  

HOW TO APPLY

David Mallette and Jason Palmquist are the MCA consultants leading this search. To be considered for this position, you must submit pertinent information and attach a current résumé, a cover letter (no more than 1 ½ pages), and four professional references using the online application system. Once all materials have been submitted online, the applicant will receive a confirmation of their submission via the email address provided in the application. For clarification on any of this information, please contact Christy Wall at cwall@mcaonline.com.

Management Consultants for the Arts, Inc.
www.MCAonline.com
203-353-0722