Artistic Manager | Teaching Artist

Overview

About Storycatchers Theatre’s Changing Voices (CV) program.

Changing Voices is a 30-hour per week, eight-month-long supported employment program composed primarily of emerging black and brown adults in the justice system who are 18-24 years of age and from the west and south sides of Chicago. The program uses story-writing, musical theatre performances, job/life skills training, and case management support to empower youth to meet their personal goals.

 

Position summary.

The Artistic Manager of Changing Voices supervises a creative process of partnering with young people to write their real-life stories and express their voices through musical theatre. By building strong relationships and trust, the teaching ensemble empowers young people to see themselves as strong resilient people with agency and adaptability.

The Artistic Manager works with other team members to create a platform for their voices and enable the youth to advocate for themselves. The Artistic Manager is a key leader within Storycatchers: a strategist, a youth mentor and confidant, and an advocate for personal growth.

The Artistic Manager manages five part-time teaching artists, including their trainings, (in curriculum, writing coaching, methodology, and performance) and any professional development initiatives as required by the overall goals of the organization.

Lastly, they are a team member, working closely with a full-time case manager and full-time program manager, who together establish a safe, caring, and enriching program experience. It’s a team that is accountable to specific program outcomes and thus works collaboratively with administration to grow the impact of the program.

 

Primary Job expectations.

• Learn and use Storycatchers Theatre’s artistic process and methodology.
• Create and implement a well-structured curriculum that respects the need for both trauma-informed care and youth accountability to personal and program goals.
• Develop the trust and respect of the program youth while providing strong emotional support within the boundaries defined by the company’s policies and trauma-informed practices.
• Learn and implement practices of harm-reduction and restorative justice in a group setting.
• Supervise the process of turning youth narratives into compelling musical theatre scripts.
• Empower youth to contribute significantly in all elements of the production process.
• Direct all program productions.
  • Be a lead teaching artist and a manager for other teaching artists:
  • Be the lead teaching artist on weekly community performances – during work hours.
  • Lead creative workshops and life-skills sessions, individually or collaboratively.
  • Be accountable for the quality of creative work and lead staff to develop goal-oriented workshops, warm-ups, and other exercises.
  • Conduct performance reviews for all teaching artists.
  • Create annual training and professional development plans for CV teaching artists.
• Assist the Program Manager in enforcing policies and creating disciplinary reports.
• Provide emotional support to youth and be a role-model for professional demeanor.Be a strong collaborator in creating a safe and enriching program environment where youth are excited to work.

 

What you’ll need to be a great candidate.

• Experience working with communities with trauma, particularly black and brown youth from disinvested neighborhoods – shared experience with their barriers to success is preferred.
• Demonstrated commitment to the value of diversity and collective liberation.
• Creative writing experience, preferably in the musical theatre genre. Samples will be required.
• Extensive experience working as a professional theatre artist and/or teacher.
• Demonstrated success leading and managing a team.
• Detail-oriented, organized with strong time-management skills.
• Be able to think strategically, frequently.
• Strong belief in self-care practices, both in individualized and group settings.
• A belief that the youth are the experts in their own lives.

 

Required availability.

• Average 45 hours per week. Monday through Thursday 8:30am-5pm, flexible Fridays and occasional nights and weekends.
• Program space is located at Western and Washington on the Near West Side.

 

Compensation.

• 100% paid enrollment in company health plan.
• Paid federal holidays, paid holiday break and 12 days of additional PTO.
  • 20 days of additional PTO after one year of employment.
•  Starting Salary Range: $50,000 – $55,000.

 

About Storycatchers Theatre.

For 34 years, Storycatchers Theatre has been empowering justice-involved youth to craft and perform musical theatre from their own personal stories of growing up in Illinois’ underserved neighborhoods and coming of age in the juvenile justice system.

Using an award-winning and transformational writing methodology, these youth develop the skills needed to successfully re-enter society and move beyond their histories to become peer mentors, civic influencers and agents of change in our community.