Full-Time Chief Executive Officer – Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra
Job Description
Under six renowned Music Directors, the Brooklyn Philharmonic has emerged as one of the nation’s premier music ensembles and a vital presence in the cultural life of the New York metropolitan area. For more than five decades, the Brooklyn Philharmonic has played a leading role in the presentation of innovative and thematic programming, and audiences have embraced the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s commitment to the concept of the orchestra as a contemporary performance ensemble. The Orchestra has premiered more than 150 works, including 60 commissions, and has introduced audiences to the best new music of our time while shining light on the great repertoire of the past. The Brooklyn Philharmonic is deeply committed to education and to serving the diverse communities of New York’s most populous borough.
The major activities of the Brooklyn Philharmonic include full-orchestra concerts, a chamber-music series, an award-winning education program, an active community engagement program, and works for hire.
The Orchestra experienced serious financial issues due to the onset of the U.S. recession and severe cutbacks in funding from corporate, foundation, government and individual donors. Self-produced subscription concerts were suspended for two seasons, while the Orchestra launched a serious strategic planning and revitalization effort.
The Orchestra re-emerged on the music scene in the 2011-12 season with the appointment of Alan Pierson as Artistic Director and a redefined mission that has taken the orchestra to Brighton Beach, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bensonhurst, Downtown Brooklyn and other neighborhoods to perform programs with unique and customized relevance to those communities. In Brighton Beach, Russian cartoons and animations from the mid-20th Century were shown on screen while the orchestra played the original soundtracks composed by Dmitri Shostakovich and other prominent Russian composers. In Bed-Stuy, the singer Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) was the featured soloist in a concert where his songs were reimagined for symphony orchestra.
The highlight of the current season is the orchestra’s June 8 return to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the first time in three years in a collaboration with hip-hop artists Erykah Badu and Yasiin Bey.
Despite the artistic success and critical acclaim over the last 18 months, the Orchestra remains financially challenged. Moreover, the high visibility given to the Orchestra’s accomplishments has led other orchestras to recruit top Brooklyn Phil staff, including the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Development Officer.
Chief Executive Officer – Description of duties
The Chief Executive Officer reports to the Board Chair and is the top member of the staff, providing the leadership, direction, management, and resources necessary to achieve the Orchestra’s artistic, institutional and community engagement goals.
The CEO is expected to have a broad and deep strategic focus, with primary personal accountability for fundraising and institutional development, strategic planning and organizational vision. The CEO will also, in close partnership with the Artistic Director, formulate and enable achievement of the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s artistic vision, create collaborative ventures and partnerships that advance the Orchestra’s institutional goals, and ensure that the Orchestra’s administrative staff is appropriately supporting the Artistic Director’s requirements and the realization of the artistic vision.
The accountability for fundraising includes the identification, cultivation and personal solicitation of major gifts, as well as research, development and solicitation of foundation and government grant opportunities. The CEO provides encouragement and staff support to the fundraising efforts of the Board and assists in building and sustaining productive relationships with corporate, foundation, and government funding sources at the local, state, and national level.
Additionally, the CEO will recruit, manage and develop the Orchestra’s full- and part-time staff, including recruiting a development associate to fill a currently vacant position.
The CEO is the chief spokesperson for the Brooklyn Philharmonic in the community. In collaboration with the Artistic Director, the staff and the Board, the CEO will establish and maintain productive working relationships with other arts, educational and community organizations and seek opportunities for partnerships.
The CEO will also shape a particularly important institutional initiative. In May 2008, the City of New York awarded the Brooklyn Philharmonic the opportunity to renovate and occupy the historic Degraw Street Firehouse. Located just south of downtown Brooklyn, the Firehouse will house new administrative offices for the Orchestra on the second floor and space on the first floor for performances, lessons, classes and meetings. Maximizing the potential of the Firehouse – both its physical presence and the opportunity for innovative on-line programs emanating from and connecting to the Firehouse – is a high priority. The City of New York has committed $2.8 million in capital budget funding for renovation of the Firehouse, and the groundbreaking will occur in summer 2013.
Candidate Profile
The Orchestra is seeking an experienced, New York-area non-profit development executive who is looking for an opportunity to move into the senior staff position, responsible for strategic planning and organizational vision at the highest level, while still retaining personal accountability for fundraising and institutional development.
The ideal candidate will be a creative, dynamic and visionary leader with exceptional fundraising skills and New York-area contacts and successful experience in rebuilding and revitalizing a not-for-profit performing arts organization. S/he will have the demonstrated ability to plan and operate strategically, to build public support, to strengthen infrastructure, to inspire staff and board, and to develop effective programs. S/he will have a record of achieving and exceeding goals for fundraising.
The successful candidate will have superb interpersonal skills. S/he will be able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a complex array of stakeholders – internally and externally – locally, regionally and nationally. S/he will be a team builder with a track record of effective staff management, including hiring, rewarding and motivating talented staff.
The successful candidate will be a person of integrity, sound judgment, high energy, and good common sense. S/he will welcome the opportunity to be a part of the Brooklyn cultural community and to provide leadership to a major Brooklyn arts organization.
How to Apply
Candidates with appropriate New York-area fundraising credentials as outlined above are encouraged to submit a résumé by email to: search@brooklynphilharmonic.org or by mail to: Timothy Gilles, Chair Search Committee Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra 20 Jay St., Suite M16 Brooklyn, NY 112013778 total views, 1 today
