Job Posting: Project Manager, BAU x Whippersnapper project

Job Posting: Project Manager, BAU x Whippersnapper project

12 hours / week (part-time), 10 month contract
$15,000 (renewal of contract and increase pending approval of budget)

Deadline for Applications: considering applicants until filled

Whippersnapper Gallery is hiring a Project Manager on a part-time basis (12 hours/week). This position provides a unique opportunity to participate in supporting a revisioning of the role of Whippersnapper in the arts community. As a responsive gallery committed to artistic excellence, community learning, and experimentation, Whippersnapper is experimenting with an autonomous programming model inviting a young and emerging artist collective to ¨take over¨ the gallery’s programming. As a small yet well-established gallery, we are in an ideal position to reflect to the Toronto art world what it could look like to think of the artist-run centre as a lab where artists can creatively respond to the local environment by creating new work, exhibitions, and programming born exclusively of their collective visioning. We are experimenting with this shift to imagine what the possibilities are when power – and in this instance the resource of physical gallery space- are redistributed and put squarely in the hands of artists. Whippersnapper acknowledges structural barriers to accessing arts spaces and practices, and aims to work towards widening access amongst Black, Indigenous, racialized, and LGBT2SQ people, people with disabilities, and those without access to arts education.

During the 2018-2019 year, Whippersnapper will partner with the Black Artists Union (BAU), a collective of 10 Toronto-based emerging Black artists formed in 2016 to assist in the exhibition of artists and creators of the African Diaspora. BAU will take over the gallery space and develop all programming and exhibitions for the year. This Project Manager position is designed to support the transition of BAU taking over Whippersnapper, including administrative, financial, communicative, and organizational logistics of running a gallery space. This one-year partnership with BAU will act as an incubator for new possibilities of Whippersnapper. Based in the learning from this BAU project, the project manager will participate in planning the 2019-2020 year for Whippersnapper in conjunction with the Whippersnapper Board of Directors.

Responsibilities:

Coordination:

  • Liaising between the Whippersnapper Board of Directors, BAU, and key funders
  • Communicating with BAU to ascertain the collective’s needs
  • Supporting BAU in administrative, financial, and communicative logistics of running a gallery (including event planning and installation, developing contracts, policies, social media and website maintenance, and basic accounting to deepen their collective capacity).

Finance and Funding:

  • Assist in managing yearly project budget, CADAC spreadsheets, financial statements, in conversation with the finance committee & accountants of Whippersnapper and BAU
  • Monthly reconciliation of finances in collaboration with BAU
  • Annual presentation of financial statements & operating budget
  • Initiate and coordinate a yearly review engagement
  • Research funding opportunities, create grant timelines, and lead writing all organizational grants
  • Oversee open grants, reporting, and communication with funding bodies
  • Identify opportunities for sponsorship and maintain sponsor relations

Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated financial management and funding skills (grant writing, bookkeeping, CADAC spreadsheets, invoicing, etc.)
  • Demonstrated experience with multi-year or project grants
  • Lived and/or extensive work experience with Black, Indigenous, and other racialized artists
  • Knowledgeable about anti-oppressive practices and anti-Black racism
  • Knowledgeable about contemporary art, anti-oppressive and decolonial art practices, and the needs of emerging artists in Toronto and Canada, and in touch with other international art discourses
  • Strong writing and communications skills
  • Arts administration skills gained from institutional settings or self-initiated projects.
  • Self-motivated, able to work without a direct supervisor, highly organized, resourceful

Assets:

  • Smart Serve / Knowledge of LCBO S.O.P licenses
  • Fentanyl overdose training
  • Design skills (Photoshop, Illustrator)
  • Website management (WordPress) and social media management
  • Conflict mediation skills

If you are interested in applying for this position, please forward the following information to general@whippersnapper.ca, subject line “Application for Project Manager”:

  • CV
  • Cover letter (500 word maximum) explaining what you bring to the position, why you’re interested, and how you have engaged with Black, Indigenous, and / or racialized artists
  • Three references: names, relationship and contact information
  • Links to any public social media accounts: (Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, personal website, etc)
  • Optional: Succinct documentation on any projects in which you have played an administrative or curatorial role