Now Hiring - Executive Director
Description
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra invites applications and nominations for the position of Executive Director, available in the summer of 2024. Sherri Burkhart Reddick, who has served as Executive Director for more than 35 years, has announced that she will step down from the role at the end of the 2023/2024 season. Her legacy is a strong and dynamic organization that is poised to welcome visionary new leadership and become an even more vibrant orchestra in the years ahead.
About the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
Hailed as the musical cornerstone of its community, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra (ASO) has grown and flourished with the Anchorage community over the course of its 77-year history. The ASO is one of the state’s leading cultural institutions and arts producers and has provided the musical foundation for countless other musical endeavors throughout the region. The Orchestra has shared music with hundreds of thousands of people over the decades, including generations of young people. The ASO has been and continues to be a companion to the community in times of celebration and solace. In recognition of its leadership role in the community, the Anchorage Symphony was the first recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Arts Organizations.
The Anchorage Symphony has been described as “a cultural powerhouse for Alaska that is innovative, accessible, and always a bit unpredictable.” In the broadest sense, the ASO envisions Great Music for Every Life. Full orchestra concerts of works by well-known composers are the bedrock of the classical concert series, but the ASO also welcomes and seeks out opportunities to innovate, cross artistic genres, and honor musical traditions of various cultures.
The ASO’s core programming is a five-concert masterworks series with a full orchestra and renowned guest artists. The ASO was one of the first orchestras to explore silver screen, multi-media, and cross-cultural programming as a way to reach a broader cross-section of the community, and has done so for decades. Commissioning has also been central to the ASO’s mission for the past 18 seasons, and the ASO has introduced audiences to the work of many distinguished composers, including women and people of color.
The ASO has a robust education program and has developed new pathways for community engagement through the Music for My Neighbors program that provides access to concerts, education, and family events to students and youth, members of the military, clients of social service agencies, and others throughout the area.
The ASO is governed by a 25-member Board of Directors and has an administrative staff of four. The Orchestra has an annual operating budget of $1.3 million and an endowment of about $2.5 million in a trust established solely for support of the ASO. Elizabeth Schulze is the Music Director of the ASO.
About Anchorage
Located in southcentral Alaska on the Cook Inlet, Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and the fourth largest city by area in the United States. The city has a population of 290,000; the greater metropolitan area is home to nearly 400,000, more than half of the state’s total population. Anchorage offers incomparable and unspoiled natural beauty with all the comforts of modern urban life. The city boasts sparkling glaciers, vast parkland and trails, abundant wildlife, and dazzling northern lights.
Anchorage is also alive with the arts. In addition to the Orchestra, Anchorage is home to a professional opera company, two youth orchestras, art and history museums, choral and chamber music groups, and music and folk festivals. The Anchorage Concert Association brings a rich offering of performing arts events to Anchorage, and Broadway Alaska, a partnership between the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts and The Nederlander Organization, brings major Broadway productions to Anchorage.
The ASO serves a diverse and multicultural community in the ancestral homelands of the Dena’ina peoples, who continue to be stewards of the lands. Alaska is home to more than 200 Federally Recognized tribes that speak more than 20 languages. One of Anchorage’s neighborhoods has the most linguistically diverse zip code in the entire United States.
The Position
The Executive Director (ED) provides leadership and vision that allow the Anchorage Symphony to fulfill its mission and achieve its goals for artistic excellence, financial sustainability, and engagement with its vibrant multicultural community. The ED is responsible and accountable for all aspects of the ASO’s management, including:
strategic planning
board relations
artistic administration
budgeting and finance
fundraising
marketing and audience development
communications and public relations
collective bargaining and labor relations
concert production and operations
education programs
community engagement
The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors through the Board President, partners with the Music Director, and serves as a liaison to the musicians of the Orchestra. The ED recruits, motivates, and supervises the administrative staff. The ED oversees all volunteers and contractors. The ED ensures that a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, access, and belonging is a shared value among all who are a part of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra.
The Executive Director takes a leadership role in annual and capital fundraising from all sources, including individuals, businesses and corporations, foundations, and government. The ED identifies, cultivates, and solicits both individual and institutional donors and provides excellent stewardship for all gifts received. The ED gives impetus to the fundraising efforts of the Board. Working with staff and volunteers, the ED ensures the success of fundraising activities and special events.
The Executive Director works closely with the Music Director to achieve the ASO’s artistic goals. The ED oversees all aspects of concert production and operations, including scheduling, artist engagement, venue arrangements, technical requirements, and electronic media use. The ED fosters a supportive environment that allows the Music Director, orchestra members, and guest artists to do their best work.
The Executive Director oversees all aspects of marketing and communications for the ASO, including institutional branding, ticket sales, and audience development campaigns, social media presence, and public relations efforts.
The Executive Director prepares and manages the annual operating budget of the ASO, monitors income, expenses, and cash flow on a regular basis, and facilitates the annual audit and tax reporting. The ED ensures that the ASO’s Treasurer, Finance Committee, and Board of Directors have timely and accurate information to inform their decision-making.
The Executive Director is the principal spokesperson for the ASO throughout the community, the region, and the state. The ED establishes and maintains productive working relationships with other arts, education, and community organizations and actively seeks opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. The ED is a full-time resident and an active participant in the life of the Anchorage community.
Requirements
Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate will have a record of success as the chief executive or senior executive staff leader of a professional not-for-profit performing arts organization. The successful candidate will combine a deep love for music and orchestras with a passion for sharing symphonic music with the widest possible audience. The candidate will have the demonstrated ability to provide leadership and management in the areas of fundraising, marketing, finance, operations, and artistic administration.
The successful candidate will have excellent communication, interpersonal, and diplomatic skills. The candidate will be a person of integrity with high ethical standards and an unwavering commitment to the complete mission of the ASO. The candidate will be nimble, flexible, and adaptable with a can-do, let’s-get-it-done attitude. The candidate will be able to handle multiple deadlines and competing priorities with grace and good humor. The successful candidate will bring a big-picture vision to a small-office environment and inspire team members to reach and exceed their goals.
The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic fundraiser who can identify, cultivate, solicit, and provide excellent stewardship of gifts from individuals, foundations, businesses, corporations, and government agencies.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong personal commitment to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, access, and belonging. The candidate will welcome the opportunity to expand the ASO's reach throughout the region with orchestral masterworks concerts, pops concerts, chamber music programs, young people’s concerts, family and neighborhood programs, the annual performances of The Nutcracker, and more.
The successful candidate will welcome the opportunity to participate in and contribute to the cultural life of the Anchorage community.
Compensation
The salary range for this position is $95,000 to $115,000 per year, depending on qualifications and experience.
Applications
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in all facets of the organization and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.
Please submit a cover letter that describes your specific interest in the Anchorage Symphony and your qualifications for the position. Send with a resumé and salary expectations. On a separate sheet, please also include the names of several professional references. All applications will be treated as confidential, and references will not be contacted without the applicant’s agreement. Electronic submissions are requested.
The position will remain open until filled; the Search Committee will begin to review credentials in late April.
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
c/o Catherine French Group
2500 Q Street NW, Suite 623
Washington, DC 20007
applications@catherinefrenchgroup.com
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