Director of Community Engagement

Title: Director of Community Engagement
Classification: Full-Time, Exempt
Compensation: $70,000 – $80,000 annually DOE, plus employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, paid vacation, holidays, and sick time, and option to contribute to a retirement account. Free parking.
Reports to: Artistic Director
Supervises: Community Engagement Coordinator (Part-Time, Regular), Teaching Artists (Part-Time, Seasonal)
Work Format: Hybrid – Primarily in person at SCLA’s offices in downtown Los Angeles with some flexibility for remote work.

OVERVIEW OF THE SHAKESPEARE CENTER
The mission of The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles (SCLA) is to ignite personal and community transformation.

SCLA accomplishes this mission by producing world-class Shakespeare and classic theatrical productions linked to best practice, high-quality arts education experiences that integrates national award-winning, arts-based workforce development opportunities. SCLA’s theatrical productions, produced on a contract with Actors’ Equity Association, interweave arts education and arts-based workforce development that address the needs of in-service teachers and under-engaged students and youth; incarcerated and formerly incarcerated adults; as well as homeless and formerly homeless underemployed veterans.

Since 1986, SCLA has demonstrated that excellent, accessible, inclusive, and immersive arts engagement can shift personal perspectives and trajectories while building unexpected community connections and changing lives.

SCLA brings a history of offering exemplary year-round programming including critically acclaimed populist interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays with leading actors, directors, and theater arts professionals. As far back as January of 2003, Actors’ Equity Association recognized SCLA as a “trailblazer” at its First Annual Multicultural/Diversity in Casting Celebration. In April of 2011, Actors’ Equity Association presented SCLA with the prestigious Rosetta LeNoire Award, recognizing “outstanding artistic contributions to the universality of the human experience in American Theater.”
In December of 2023, the Los Angeles Times named SCLA’s immersive production of The Tempest as one of the “top nine” in the greater Los Angeles area, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nominated it for four awards.

Whether reaching out to inner-city youth, teachers, theatergoers, artists, or the public at large, all of SCLA’s programming is grounded in the core beliefs that live theater is a birthright and that theater harnesses life-changing potential.

SCLA’s vision is to be seen as a company that governs, operates, and creates art to hold a mirror up to nature and reflect the landscape, history and people of Los Angeles, in ways that serve as a nexus for the community and strengthen connections among Angelenos of all backgrounds.
We create great art that does great things. We see ourselves as building and strengthening communities, play by play.

SCLA resides in its own 22,000 square foot space in downtown Los Angeles, which includes a 7,000 square foot clear span black box. Capital improvements are planned for the facility beginning in 2024, which will transform it into a 299-seat flexible black box theater that can convert into a revenue-generating rental sound stage.

POSITION OVERVIEW
SCLA is seeking an experienced and entrepreneurial educator and partnership-builder with a strong belief in the power of art to create community, and enrich and transform trajectories to serve as Director of Community Engagement, reporting to the Artistic Director. This position is critical to advancing the company ethos through practices and engagement activities that reflect our mission, vision, and values. The Director of Community Engagement takes the lead in planning and implementing high-quality arts education and arts-based workforce development programs, forming partnerships with cultural/social organizations and schools/educational institutions, local businesses and community leaders, and working to ensure that the wide swath of Los Angeles communities are aware of and feel they are a welcome member of the SCLA family. SCLA is currently beginning a process of refreshing and re-designing its arts education and arts-based workforce and community arts-engagement practices, and the new Director of Community Engagement must be a critical partner in this endeavor.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS include, but are not limited to, the following. Other duties may be assigned:

Arts Education
• Develop and implement an arts education practice that is rooted in the company’s mission, vision, values, goals and objectives, desired impact, and outcomes.
• Recruit, select, train, and evaluate teaching artists and staff members. Provide overall supervision, guidance, and support for community engagement staff.

Arts-Based Youth, Adult, & Veterans Workforce Development Practices
• Design, develop, and implement creative arts-based workforce development programs for under-engaged youth, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated adults, and unemployed veterans.
• Establish, develop, and maintain relationships with partner schools (high schools, vocational schools, post-secondary schools, and in some instances, middle schools), community-based and veteran service organizations.

Community Engagement & Partnerships: Develop partnerships and relationships with stakeholders, community leaders, and like-minded organizations to build institutional affiliations, increase community awareness and the SCLA profile, broaden impact – numbers of participants served; expand outcomes – personal, organizational, community and social changes; build sustainability through sharing resources and expertise; enhance efficiencies, eliminate redundancies and further position SCLA as a community asset.

Management
● Budgeting: Project and manage the Community Engagement department budget.
● Contract Compliance & Reporting: Work closely with SCLA Director of Finance and development team members to gather necessary data to document program impact and outcomes for required reporting to appropriate contractual partners, government agencies, foundations, and interested parties.
● Professional Development: Stay abreast of and lead trends and best practices in the fields of arts education and arts-based workforce development, and community engagement.
● Supervise staff and contractors: oversee, provide direction to, and evaluate a part-time (20 hours/week) Community Engagement Coordinator and contracted Teaching Artists, as well as other contractors or staff that may be necessary from time-to-time.

QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS
The ideal candidate will be a personable and dynamic self-starter with the following qualifications:
● Three to five years of experience in theatre education, community engagement, workforce development, or community organizing. Strong preference for candidates with three to five years of experience as a teaching artist or arts educator.
● Strong verbal and written communication skills, including professional experience writing letters, campaign copy, and donor communications, as well as the ability to communicate with a wide variety of audiences.
● Ability to work collaboratively, to motivate, and to interact effectively with Board members, volunteers, Shakespeare Center staff, and a wide variety of community members.
● Strong leadership skills – must be able to conceive, plan, and lead the execution of the community engagement strategy.
● Ability to develop and manage budgets, and analyze and summarize financial documents.
● Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
● Entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to adapt to change quickly and with a robust sense of humor.
● Sensitivity and commitment to welcoming diverse perspectives and life-experiences. An unquenchable enthusiasm for art as an essential, and sincere belief in the life-changing possibilities of theatrical engagement.
● Preferred: Knowledge of Southern California theater, arts education landscape, and workforce development communities.
● Preferred: Knowledge of the Shakespearean canon.

Special Requirements
● Must be able to work occasional evenings and weekends.
● Must have a reliable automobile for use on the job (non-commute mileage to be reimbursed), valid California Driver License, and State required insurance coverage.

SALARY
$70,000 – $80,000 annually

TO APPLY
Send a cover letter and resume to jobs@shakespearecenter.org with “Director of Community Engagement application” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed as they are received.