Exploring the Arts (ETA) believes in the transformative power of the arts. Founded by Tony Bennett and Susan Benedetto in 1999, our mission is to transform the lives of young people through arts education. By collaborating with Title 1 public schools, teaching artists, and arts and cultural organizational partners, ETA strives to achieve creative equity for today’s youth by working within an ecosystem of creative, nurturing adults to provide equitable access to high quality, sequential arts programs and opportunities to middle and high school students and alumni in New York City and LA County.

ETA intentionally seeks out school communities in both cities where there is an opportunity to support growth in their arts offerings, and where there is vision and commitment to the arts even in the face of historic under-resourcing. Student programs forge college and career pathways for youth who have traditionally faced structural barriers to opportunities in the arts. 

Using a holistic approach, ETA aims to help schools attain their vision for sustainable, rigorous, and sequential in-school arts programs while offering critical out-of-school-time arts opportunities for select students that build their social emotional competencies through the arts. Through the entry-point program, our 4-Year Plan, ETA staff coaches school leadership to create an individualized road map to build, refine or enhance their arts programs. Students at each Partner High School are eligible to apply for the Arts Internship Program, providing 1:1 mentorship opportunities in all art forms and, in New York City, the Lang Arts Scholars Program, which provides three years of arts training, college preparedness, and career readiness to talented students who demonstrate need. ETA is the local program partner of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Turnaround Arts initiative. Through this partnership, TA: NYC, ETA works with four Bronx middle schools to strengthen their music programs, establish sustainable arts integration initiatives, and build a viable pipeline to arts-focused high schools throughout the City, with special focus on neighboring ETA Partner High Schools.

With founding support from the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, ETA’s Arts Scholars provides teens selected from ETA’s network of NYC Partner Schools with fully-funded, intensive training in the performing arts, coupled with a wrap-around college and career preparatory curriculum. Students participate during after-school, weekend, and summer hours for three consecutive years (10th-12th grades).

For an annual class of 15, ETA chooses five students per performing arts discipline (music, theatre, and dance) to receive weekly training in their craft from trusted arts partners across their 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years. During that period, they also convene for ETA’s monthly Scholar Saturday sessions, which provide grade-appropriate, post-secondary readiness activities, such as college visits, career panels, college financing workshops, and writing intensives. Students spend the summer before 11th grade taking class on a local college campus as part of a two-week arts intensive, and the summer before 12th grade in a four-week project based internship.

Strongly aligned with ETA’s mission, expertise and professional network, the initiative is also deliberately well-aligned with New York City’s comprehensive Cultural Plan, “CreateNYC,” working toward a more diverse, inclusive and equitable arts and culture sector.

Additional information about the program may be found under the Student Programs section of ETA’s website: https://www.exploringthearts.org/our-work

The PROGRAM COORDINATOR will work closely with the Program Manager, Lang Arts Scholars on all aspects of the program. This is a newly created position, designed to increase the program’s capacity and support continued strong student outcomes. 

Primary duties include:

• Design, plan and share the facilitation/staffing responsibilities for monthly Scholar Saturday programs. Each of these programs is designed to address one or more of the program’s objectives in arts training and exposure; college and career preparation; and personal growth through a social-emotional learning lens. 
• Coordinate and support annual student recruitment cycles and help select the new cohort of scholars from the existing network of Partner Schools. This will include administration, coordination and shared facilitation/staffing of school and family information sessions, auditions, and interviews.
• Support the planning and coordination for larger cohort-wide student and family events (i.e. Fall kick-off, Spring graduation)
• Lead the administration of assessment practices for students and arts partners, including issuing pre- and post-program surveys, documenting site visits, and capturing testimonials.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for program administration with scholars, families, and arts partners (i.e. attendance, arts training enrollment, troubleshooting as needed). 
• Manage relationships so that all stakeholders are well-supported, the cohort develops a strong affinity and vibrant culture, and students and families see each other and ETA as valuable resources.
• Foster external partnerships with arts organizations so that the program develops a roster of possible collaborators for arts training, Scholar Saturdays and other program opportunities.
• Manage program data in Salesforce, ETA’s cloud-based database system.
• Assist with the collection of program information, pictures and documentation to support ETA social media and grant writing efforts.
• Collaborate on refining systems and protocols for ongoing program management (incl. attendance, inventory, site visits, etc.).
• Participate in staff-wide strategy discussions on all student programs and identifying opportunities for continued programmatic improvements.

Important: The start date for this position is Monday, January 9. Candidates should have reasonably flexible schedules during the school year (September-June), including availability on some Saturdays to staff Scholar Saturdays. Recruitment activities may happen in the evenings and/or on weekends to accommodate students and their families, and program staff may be asked to support other ETA programs’ events in addition to LAS. Exempt staff may use flex/discretionary time during standard business hours, to balance these extra hours worked in the evening and/or on weekends. 

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree preferred or equivalent work, personal and/or volunteer experience. 
• Demonstrated work, personal and/or volunteer experience working with teenagers. 
• Demonstrated experience with the performing arts, whether as a practitioner, student and/or teacher. Familiarity with the New York City arts education landscape a plus but not required.
• Championing the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion as they apply to youth development settings and striving to ensure that programming embodies these values.
• Understands, values, and reciprocates effective, clear, and timely communication.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills, with utmost attention to detail and ability to develop and follow calendars and benchmarks for deliverables. 
• Demonstrated effectiveness at working collaboratively.
• Ease with managing competing demands, calendars, and determining priorities.
• Fluent in Google Suite (especially Docs, Sheets and Slides); familiarity with Salesforce, Jotform, Canva and/or Form Assembly a plus but not required.
• Fluency in Spanish a plus.
• ETA requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. Being fully vaccinated means that an individual is at least two weeks past their final dose of an FDA or WHO authorized COVID-19 vaccine regimen. As a condition of employment, newly hired employees will be required to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination. 

Note: Because programming takes place both online and in-person, candidates for this position must live in or within commuting distance of NYC by the January start date.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Belief that high quality arts instruction should be an integral part of every student’s high school education, and that all students deserve equitable access to college and conservatory.
• Desire to hold oneself accountable for results and be transparent about successes and challenges. 
• Humility and respect for the hard work of school professionals, artists, partners, parents and students.  
• Highest integrity. Sense of responsibility and stewardship for all funds provided to operate Exploring the Arts. 

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Compensation for ETA Coordinators is in the range of $48,000 – $58,000/year. The candidate’s starting salary will be within this range and is commensurate with their experience.

ETA’s benefits package includes:

• Generous PTO: ten vacation days (which increases with longevity at the organization), six sick days per year and four additional floating days for personal use. In addition, ETA observes 12 national holidays, closes between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and observes summer Fridays.
• Comprehensive Coverage: Employer-paid health and dental insurance, long-term disability plan, life insurance, subsidized transportation, and an employee-contributory 401k savings plan. 
• Work-Life Balance: ETA is currently a hybrid work-place. The NYC Programs team currently reports to the office in Astoria once each week (Tuesdays) and attends in-person school and partner visits as needed. Scholar Saturdays are currently held in-person both at ETA’s Astoria office as well as at partner sites across the city.

Send resume and cover letter to careers@exploringthearts.org with the subject line “Program Coordinator, Lang Arts Scholars.”  No phone calls, please.