President/CEO

1/27/2012 3:20:51 PM

GENOVESE, VANDERHOOF & ASSOCIATES

Job Opportunity

President/CEO

 

 

The Position:

Reporting to the Chairman of the Board, the President & CEO oversees all aspects of the Center for the Performing Arts, ensuring an efficient, effective, and fiscally sound operation. The President & CEO is charged with sustaining the operation of this not for profit institution through excellent management, business accountability, and revenue generation, while serving the community as home for seven resident companies, and fostering creative and imaginative programming and education/outreach activities.

The Center’s annual budget is approximately $15 million with a staff complement of 33 full-time and 9 part-time, and a 28 member Board of Directors.

Background:

The multi-venue Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2011. Its state of the art concert hall, the Palladium, is a 1600 seat, 154,000 square foot venue designed by David M. Schwarz Architects in local consultation with CSO Architects and acoustics by Artec Consultants.

The Center’s other venues are the Tarkington, a 500-seat proscenium theater and home to the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, and the Studio Theater, a flexible 200 seat “black box.”

In addition to presenting an extensive schedule of concerts and events, the Palladium is the new home of the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, making the Initiative’s archive of American popular music available to both scholars and the general public.

Michael Feinstein serves as the Artistic Director of the Center. His insight and input help define the Center’s long term strategy. Each season, he assists with programming, as well as performs in several Songbook Series concerts.

In addition to the Civic Theatre, the Center’s other resident companies are: the Actors Theatre of Indiana, the Carmel Repertory Theatre, the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, the Indiana Dance Ensemble, the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, and the Indiana Wind Symphony. The Indianapolis Symphony also presents a series of Sunday Pops concerts.

The performing arts complex is the cornerstone of Carmel City Center, a $300 million mixed-use redevelopment championed by the long-time Mayor of Carmel, James Brainard. City Center is a pedestrian-oriented “city-within-a-city” that offers cultural and civic programs, a Center Green, residential apartments, office space, and numerous restaurant and retail venues, with plans for a boutique hotel.

“We have learned a lot about communities over the past half-century, since the early era of suburbanization and sprawl,” stated Mayor Brainard, “including the lesson that the two-car, one-family house tucked away from everything else is no longer a sustainable model on the large scale, either economically or environmentally. What’s more, it’s not really desirable. People want the convenience and conviviality that Carmel City Center offers—and the Center for the Performing Arts is an indispensable element of that experience.”

The inaugural season of the Center for the Performing Arts offered 24 concerts in five series: Classics, Great American Songbook, Jazz Roots, Country, and Dance.

The 2011/2012 season offered 81 concerts in 10 series: Classics, Songbook, Country, Jazz, Dance and Bluegrass; and special events, including Pop, Holiday and Emerging Artists.

The Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative

Permanently housed at The Palladium is the Great American Songbook Initiative. Given the origin in Indiana of such legendary songwriters as Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael, as well as Michael Feinstein’s own roots in the Midwest, the Initiative’s relocation to Carmel is somewhat of a homecoming for this treasure trove of American music.

The Great American Songbook Initiative sponsors many educational programs including the Great American Songbook Vocal Academy and Competition, the only such activities in the United States dedicated solely to the music of Broadway, Hollywood musicals and the Tin Pan Alley era.

The City:

Carmel is located in Hamilton County just 12 miles north of Indianapolis, Indiana’s state capital. With a population of approximately 85,000, Carmel is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest with excellent public schools, exceptional city services, a variety of on-going/annual events (a Farmers Market, summer concerts, and festivals), and well-managed parks and recreational activities. Carmel is consistently rated nationally as a top place to live in the United States, a “Bicycle-Friendly City” with an extensive trail and path system, an award-winning public library, an Arts and Design District, and other amenities.

Responsibilities:

In accordance with the mission and goals of the organization, the President & CEO provides full operational and financial oversight of The Center within the policies set by the Board of Directors. The President & CEO oversees daily operations and coordinates long-range strategic planning. Overall responsibilities include fund-raising, board development, financial stability, government relations, community engagement, programming oversight, and staff management.

As with all performing arts centers, there is the need to maximize overall revenue in order to generate sufficient funds to operate and maintain the facilities while balancing the needs of resident companies.

Key areas currently reporting directly to the President & CEO include: operations, finance/administration, marketing, advancement, external relations, the Michael Feinstein Initiative, production, and programming.

The President & CEO must lead the organization with a positive spirit of collaboration and transparency, maintaining on-going dialogues with The Center’s staff, resident companies, funders, external clients, audience members, the media, and other stakeholders.

Qualifications:

A minimum of seven (7) years as a chief executive officer (or senior leadership experience of increasing responsibility) in large, complex performing arts facilities or cultural organizations.

A track record of excellent relations with resident companies and the key stakeholders; the ability to build and nurture excellent management teams; and the personal leadership qualities, political acumen, tact and patience required to negotiate and manage successfully a complex operation.

Demonstrated leadership in annual fund drives and endowment building. Experience in working with senior level development staff and boards of directors to plan and implement fund-raising goals, objectives, and policies. Ability to cultivate, solicit and steward major gifts from high level individual donors, corporate sponsors, and foundation/government funders in conjunction with a development team and volunteers.

A graduate degree in arts, arts management, or not for profit administration is preferred. Contract negotiation skills, legal training, experience with working with municipal governments and urban planners, and/or knowledge of the region would be useful attributes.

Comprehensive knowledge of many performing arts forms and all aspects of arts venue management. An industry professional with existing networks within the cultural sector and a personal vision of how the arts play a role within the life of a community.

An articulate champion for the performing arts with advanced oral and written communications skills with the ability to represent The Center to a variety of audiences and in a myriad of settings.

Excellent analytical, financial and organizational skills.

Application Process:

Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. Excellent benefits package. Deadline for applications: Friday, March 2, 2012.

Interested candidates are invited to submit a cover letter and resume with a list of references and salary requirements in confidence to:

Margaret Genovese
Genovese, Vanderhoof & Associates
77 Carlton Street, Suite 1103
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5B 2J7
gvasearch@gmail.com
Fax: 416/273-3313

For additional information: www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.com, www.genovesevanderhoof.com