GENOVESE, VANDERHOOF
& ASSOCIATES
Job Opportunity
Executive Director
FLYNN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Burlington, Vermont
The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts invites applications and referrals for the position of Executive Director.
The Position:
Reporting to the Board of Trustees, the Executive Director serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Flynn and is charged with external and community relations, fund-raising, strategic planning, and artistic and programming policy, as well as operational, financial, and administrative management.
Senior staff who report to the Executive Director include the Artistic Director, Chief Financial Officer, the Directors of Education, Development, Human Resources, IT, Production, Marketing, and Facilities, and the Managing Director of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.
With an annual budget of $7.7 million, the Flynn has 35 FTE staff members, as well as box office and front of house staff, production crew, and teaching artists. Each year it employs over 270 people, including full and part-time employees. It receives broad support from its community with a pool of nearly 400 volunteers and a dedicated Board of Trustees of 27.
The Flynn is known nationally for its breadth of exciting, innovative, and significant programming. As well, it is the proud home of many thriving Vermont arts groups including Lyric Theatre, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Stage, the Vermont Youth Orchestra, and the UVM Lane Series. Additionally the Flynn produces and provides artistic direction for the ten-day Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, in association with Burlington City Arts.
Its public spaces include a 1,411-seat proscenium original auditorium (restored to its Art Deco splendor), the 180-seat intimate black box/cabaret space (Flynn Space), a gallery with rotating exhibits of area artists, two education studios, and adjoining lobbies. The Flynn has Tessitura as its CRM software.
Background on The Flynn and the City of Burlington:
The Flynn, at the center of Vermont’s cultural landscape for more than 85 years, is a vibrant and thriving organization recognized internationally and nationally for the caliber of its presentations, its significant artistic, educational, and community outreach activities; its superb technical capacity, its beautiful ambiance, and its sound fiscal management.
From its earliest days as a vaudeville house through five decades as a premier movie theatre to its present incarnation as an acclaimed center for innovative programming and arts education, the Flynn has strived to provide diverse and engaging experiences for its community.
Recognized as a leader in the mid-sized arts center field, the Flynn is the recipient of many honors including the League of Historic American Theatres’ Outstanding Historic Theatre Award, on-going support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Vermont Arts Council, and major support from the Ford, Surdna, Kresge, and Hearst Foundations.
The Flynn is located in the heart of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city. Positioned along Lake Champlain with the Green Mountains to the east and Montreal ninety minutes north, Burlington is a vibrant college town, home to the University of Vermont, Champlain College, Saint Michael’s College, and a Community College of Vermont campus. The city has a growing number of tech companies and creative industries moving to the region to enjoy the increasingly diverse culture, recreational opportunities, natural beauty, and authentic spirit of Vermont.
The Flynn’s current Executive Director, John Killacky, will be retiring in June of 2018. John came to the Flynn in June 2010, succeeding Founding Executive Director & CEO Andrea Rogers, and bringing a new emphasis on access and inclusion. The arts center now works with 81 social service agencies to provide discounted tickets for their clients, as well as scholarships for participation in the Flynn’s classes and camps. John also led a three-year $2.3 million renovation campaign for the Flynn.
The Flynn believes that the arts touch people’s lives in profound ways: in their understanding of themselves, their connections to local and world communities and cultures, and in their understanding of their own creativity. The arts provide these qualities to the greater public for the social and economic benefits that the shared performance experience provides.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have seven to ten years senior management experience in the cultural sector, preferably in a performing arts venue, and a proven track record of collaboration, innovation, and forward thinking. A degree in arts and/or business administration or equivalent experience in the field would be desirable.
The new Executive Director will have demonstrated leadership in inspiring a positive and highly engaged work force, as well as fund-raising experience and superior analytical, financial, and organizational credentials.
Other necessary characteristics include a passion for the performing arts and arts education, political savvy and diplomacy, exceptional oral and written communication skills, a record of accomplishment in building community participation and cross-cultural partnerships, and the ability to work respectfully with a broad spectrum of differing lifestyles and backgrounds.
The Executive Director must be a strategic thinker and relationship builder: someone who maintains a high professional profile, secures financial resources, exhibits a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and develops unique collaborative relationships with other organizations.
The ideal candidate will show evidence of:
A track record in building and nurturing 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.
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.
Application Process:
Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Comprehensive benefits package. Deadline for applications: Friday, March 2, 2018.
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
For additional information:
www.flynncenter.org, www.genovesevanderhoof.com .
