Engagement & Advancement Manager

The BorderLight Festival seeks a communications professional to play an integral role in the growth of an ambitous young arts nonprofit. This role covers three overlapping areas: marketing communications, engagement, and development.

• In the area of marketing, the Engagement & Advancement Manager will be the primary staff contact supervising marketing, website, and social media subcontractors for the festival. During the off-season, the Engagement & Advancement Manager will serve as the communications/marketing lead for the organization, including press/media relations, content creation and brand promotion.
• In the area of engagement, the Engagement & Advancement Manager will work with the BorderLight team to identify and develop new audiences for the festival, while actively supporting and reporting on the organization’s audience development and community engagement goals as we aim to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive festival.
• In the area of advancement they will take a secondary role, assisting with sponsorships, donor/patron database management, development communications, sponsor/donor recognition, benefits tracking, and board engagement efforts as needed.

In sum, the Engagement & Advancement Manager will take a leading role in developing and executing strategic communications with patrons, artists, institutions and funders, including analysis and reporting. They will work closely with the other year-round staff members, who are the two co-directors and founders of the festival, as well as with sub-contractors, vendors and seasonal staff according to the festival cycle.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Communications strategy:
  • Work with the co-Directors to identify challenges and emerging issues faced by the organization
  • Develop a brand/marketing/PR strategy that will allow the organization to cultivate meaningful relationships with funders, stakeholders, media, and audiences
• Communications tasks:
  • Manage marketing content calendar
  • Generate marketing and social media content
  • As needed, oversee social media marketing efforts by sub-contractor
  • Work with website developer to create and maintain website content
  • Manage and liaise with external marketing and design sub-contractors during festival season
  • Support box office management to ensure a high standard of patron communications
  • Manage patron database and mailing list
  • Work with local partners to develop joint marketing efforts
  • Assist in development communication efforts (sponsorship pitches, reporting, fundraising communications, etc.)
  • Maintain press kit
• Engagement/Audience Development:
  • Develop and help execute strategies to advance the organization’s goals for diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Create and help execute a mission and programming-driven audience development strategy
  • Community/partner/patron/sponsor engagement and outreach
  • Engagement tracking, analysis and reporting
• General production support for events and festivals
  • Take lead role in assessing signage needs
  • Take lead role in developing the festival guide/program
  • Serve as media contact for the organization

 Skills (Required):

• Strategic planning
• Organized, thorough and deadline-oriented
• Excellent written (including copywriting and proofreading) and verbal communication skills
• Experienced in arts marketing for diverse audiences
• Detail oriented and accurate
• Self-directed and resourceful approach to problem-solving
• Vendor and subcontractor management
• Able to manage own workflow
• Able to work calmly under pressure
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and representation
• Technical:
  • Fluency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
  • Google Drive (file sharing, document privacy, Google Sheets, Google Docs)
  • Proficiency with MailChimp or comparable digital newsletter experience
  • Proficiency with patron database management; Virtual Box Office (VBO) or similar CRM for strategic communications and reporting

Skills (Desirable):

• Image editing (Adobe Creative Suite or similar, e.g. Canva, Adobe Spark, etc.)
• Document design (Adobe InDesign or similar, e.g. MS Word, Pages, etc.)
• Cleveland media contacts (particularly the arts/theatre)
• Public speaking

Terms: Part-time position from October 1, 2021, with longer hours and pro-rated pay during biannual festival season. Must be flexible with variable hours and available for occasional evening and weekend work. Job is often remote. Part time base pay is $19,000 per year, averaging approximately 80 hours/month.

How to apply: Qualified candidates may submit a cover letter and resume via email to: info@borderlightcle.org (Attn: HR) No phone calls please. Suitable candidates will be contacted by email for an interview. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 10, 2021.

BorderLight provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Individuals from equity-seeking groups are encouraged to apply.