Manager of Arts and Culture

The City offers a competitive comprehensive benefits package, including 2 weeks paid vacation, 3 weeks of sick leave, and 11 paid holidays. Health, dental, and vision insurance (employee and family) are effective the first day of employment. The City offers two contributory Defined Benefit pension plans. Hybrid telework arrangements may be available.

At the City of Frederick, we value diversity and the respect, engagement, and productivity an inclusive environment produces. We seek to consistently improve internal and external customer satisfaction, innovate, and expand capability of services, and be a government that practices equality, equity, and fairness. We invite you to bring your skills, abilities, and knowledge to the City of Frederick and be a valued addition to a workforce that we know is our greatest asset.

Frederick is a progressive, richly diverse, and authentically charming city. Recognized as one of the best places to live in Maryland, Frederick is surrounded by mountain views and centrally located about 45 miles north of Washington D.C. and 45 miles west of Baltimore, MD.

Frederick is a diverse Main Street community poised to move from arts-friendly to a regional art destination. An hour's drive from both Washington, DC and Baltimore, Frederick boasts a downtown historic district, seventy-three public parks, and modern infrastructure surrounded by rolling farmland, vineyards, and state parks. The Manager of Arts and Culture will implement the Public Art Program and manage, plans, develops and implements a comprehensive City arts and culture strategy. This includes programming, organizing, implementing and evaluating programs, events and activities that promote arts and culture programs, projects, education and special events. In close collaboration with the Public Art Commission, City departments and community organizations, the Manager of Arts and Culture will organize and conduct outreach efforts and collaborates with community groups, schools and other organizations to promote program awareness. This position has overall responsibility for planning, organizing and administering services and activities in support of the City's Public Art and broader arts and culture programs. This classification reports to the Chief of Staff to the Mayor.

Management and Operations

• Serves as spokes person for the City of Frederick arts and culture programs.
• Provides strategic and management oversight of the Arts and Culture Department, its programs, and facilities to ensure that patrons and community members have a safe and high-quality experience.
• Provides oversight to lead and guide departmental and interdepartmental collaborations and ensure active and meaningful community engagement.
• Seeks input from the Public Art Commission (PAC) and its council member liaison, City departments and community arts organizations on public art and arts and culture related projects, concerns and ideas.
• Manages the City's public art, City-owned decorative art, cultural property and protocol gifts, and coordinates regular maintenance of the work/objects.
• Coordinates and manages new permanent and temporary public art commissions and acquisitions through all phases of development from artist selection, contract review and plan compliance, through final installation.
• Attends bi-monthly PAC meetings and provides regular staff reports when applicable. Makes semi-annual presentations to PAC. Identifies, cultivates, and assists in recruitment of board and advisory committee members.
• Ensures public art initiatives are included in city-wide planning processes within City government, by participation in committees, task forces, projects, boards, and special projects.
• Identifies, cultivates, and assists in recruitment of board and advisory committee members.
• Promotes principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and access throughout all arts and culture institutions.
• Recruits, retains, and mentors staff, and provides thoughtful guidance to the senior leadership centered on team cohesiveness, employee growth and collaboration.
• Supports and advises on facility maintenance, improvements, and to assess and implement new organizational and programmatic strategies.

Strategy, Finance and Fundraising

• Obtains PAC recommendations for public art-related strategic plans and projects and ensures they align with City-wide strategic plans and goals.
• Develops compelling proposals, obtains and manages grants to support public art and broader arts and culture goals.
• Expands resources to support public art and other cultural initiatives through innovative policy recommendations, grants, sponsorships, partnerships and other resources.
• Prepares a variety of reports related to the office's operations, programs and plans.
• Supports staff to ensure sound financial management and operational practices are in accordance with city policies and procedures.
• Assumes a leading role in building art-based economic development in the City of Frederick, fundraising in consultation with the foundations to maintain strong relationships with individual, corporate, foundation, and government funders to maximize contributed income.
• Develops, plans and coordinates events. Working in partnership with the private and non-profit sectors, leads and coordinates the development and operations of events, including arts events and festivals.
• Coordinates with private-sector and non-profit groups to leverage and improve existing artistic and cultural assets and build a consistent image for the City of Frederick brand. Coordinates marketing efforts between external organization (e.g., Downtown Frederick Partnership, Golden Mile Alliance, East Frederick Rising, etc.), Chamber of Commerce, and independent arts and culture entities.
  
  Artistic and Programmatic Leadership
• Guides individual artists and community groups through public art and arts and culture related application and approval process.
• Guides the development of a Cultural Plan, which will set goals for the City of Frederick relating to non-profit arts and culture organizations, individual artists and collectives, creative sector businesses, and for profit arts and culture businesses.
• Represents the City's public art interests through direct interface with the Mayor and City Council, Parks & Recreation/Economic Development, and the local community.
• Oversees conservation, preservation, restoration, storage, appraisal, insurance, maintenance of the City's public art collection (all City-owned public art as well as City-owned decorative art, cultural property and protocol gifts).
• Maintains all records pertaining to the City's public art collection.
• Works with the Manager of Risk, Safety and Compliance to oversees the appraisal and insurance of the City's public art, City-owned decorative art collection, cultural property and protocol gifts objects.
• Directs and provides creative and business direction of administrative and production planning support for the Arts and Culture.
• Interacts with, and stays abreast of developments in, the regional arts and culture and expand its influence regionally and nationally.
• Identifies and pursues ongoing funding opportunities, including tax credits, for funding the goals identified in the to be-developed city-wide cultural plan.
• Manages and expands existing programs, including Art in City Hall, that engages various community stakeholders and highlights the City's commitment to arts and culture.

Communications and Community Engagement

• Strengthens public art and arts and culture in the community by developing resources and partnerships to support the City's Public Art Strategic Plan among art and cultural institutions, public and private organizations, governmental entities, donors, community organizations, and the general public.
• Develops and coordinates a comprehensive communication and engagement strategy; including marketing and promotional materials, such as brochures, newsletters or press releases, internet based/social media communications and other outreach methods to reach diverse, multi-cultural and multi-generational population.
• Develops, prepares, and presents reports to the Mayor and City Council, Parks & Recreation/Economic Development, and to the PAC.
• Develops partnerships and builds relationships with artists, creative sector businesses, local universities and school districts, and state, federal, and private sector arts and other funding organizations.
• Listens, negotiates, and collaborates with diverse gro2ups, representatives from public and private agencies.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

REQUIRED SKILLS (Communication/Language; Mathematical; Computer; etc.):

• Knowledge of contemporary art and related issues, and in particular, knowledge and familiarity of the theory, principles, practices and procedures of public art programs, and understanding of the role public art and arts and culture play in the economic health of a City.
• Knowledge of the needs of artists and art organizations to grow and thrive in cities.
• Knowledge of best practices in public art planning and implementation.
• Knowledge of practices and techniques of administrative analysis and report preparation.
• Knowledge of budgetary and financial record keeping techniques and preparation.
• Knowledge of computer applications related to the work, including Word, Excel, Access, Filemaker Pro.
• Knowledge of basic public staffing, procurement and contract administration practices.
• Knowledge of grant making processes, ideally in a government setting.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills.
• Knowledge of and ability to fundraise and secure grant funding for public art and other arts and culture initiatives.
• Good public presentation skills.
• Ability to creatively market public art and other cultural initiatives including using social media and websites to communicate with the public about programs and resources.
• Ability to create and administer program budgets, ideally in a government setting.
• Ability to develop and implement public art programs, involving the design and integration of artwork into the construction of public sites and buildings.
• Ability to manage art projects at various stages of development.
• Ability to manage all phases of the design, fabrication and installation of the artwork.
• Ability to work well independently and collaborate with team members across other departments.
• Ability to establish exceptional organizational skills, multi-task, prioritize work and meet critical deadlines.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively orally and in writing.
• Ability to exercise sound independent judgment within established policies and guidelines.
• Ability to be highly organized and manage time effectively.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with City officials, management, supervisors, employees, media representatives, vendors, and the general public.
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels within and outside the organization.
• Ability to handle difficult or politically sensitive issues effectively and tactfully.

OTHER DESIRABLES:

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in art-related field.
• Previous experience as a public arts manager/administrator in a municipal setting.
• Knowledge of laws, codes and regulations governing public agency financial operations.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by the incumbent to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The employee frequently is required to move about on foot to accomplish tasks; remain in a stationary position; use hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things. The employee is regularly required to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time and may occasionally need to traverse uneven outdoor areas, performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving one's whole body to climb, lift, balance, walk, twist, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, and handle materials. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• This individual must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of the spoken word, including activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, and/or quickly.
• The worker is required to have the visual acuity necessary for normal visual inspection (with or without correction), including close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. The worker must have the ability to perceive the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction and have the ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound. The worker is required to listen to and understand information and ideas presented in the English language through spoken word and sentences. This individual must have the ability to recognize there is a problem. The worker is required to identify information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. This individual must have the ability to coordinate two or more limbs while remaining in a stationary position or standing. WORK ENVIRONMENT/CONDITION: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee will generally work in a typical office setting and occasionally work outdoors, with exposure to a variety of weather conditions, including extreme cold or heat, wet and/or humid conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually normal.