Teen Public Art Program Manager

Position: Teen Public Art Program Manager Job Description 

Who We Are:

Founded in 1937, the mission of the Community Art Center is to cultivate an engaged community of youth whose powerful artistic voices transform their lives, their neighborhoods and their worlds. The Community Art Center has propelled close to 8,000 Cambridge youth to develop themselves artistically, academically and socially. We do this by providing a combined total of approximately 3,000 program hours per year through three program areas: the School Age Child Care Program, the Teen Media Program and our Community Programs which include our public art program and the Do It Your Damn Self!! National Youth Film Festival – the oldest youth film festival in the country! Community Art Center is deeply connected to the Cambridge arts and nonprofit scene, and has partnered with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Google, BioMed and others in the heart of Cambridge’s Kendall Square – the Tech and BioTech capital of the country. Winner of a Coming Up Taller award in 2006, an NEA grant in 2018, and numerous national awards, Community Art Center maintains a long history of quality, arts-based youth development programming.

What we Seek:

Reporting to the Director of Programs and Executive Director, the Teen Public Art Program Manger works alongside our Teen Media Program Manager to spearhead our creative youth development programs for young people ages 13-19. CAC is seeking an experienced artist and youth worker who is a self-driven, team player committed to teaching and caring for young people. They will be directly responsible for designing and teaching project-based learning opportunities through murals and other public art installations. The right candidate will be adept at supporting the social emotional needs of youth and helping them to understand and positively affect the world around them. 

The TPA Program Manager should be experienced and passionate about their art form. They should have a deep understanding of youth development principles as well as both the assets and challenges of urban communities of color. This is an extremely entrepreneurial role for the right person with a lot of room for growth, expansion, and ideas.

About the Teen Public Art Program:

The Teen Public Art Program is an afterschool program and summer workforce development program that focuses on creating a variety of public artworks that feature the artistry of our youth, celebrating their lives, stories, and community. Public art is artwork that is created for the general public and displayed in public spaces. It can be a form of community expression that reflects society and the time and place in which it’s made. It can be temporary or permanent, and take many forms. Teens in this program have painted murals; designed vehicle wraps; organized community events; and designed clothing, jewelry, and graphics.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

Teach and Care for Young People

• Develop, design (including producing written curriculum) and implement classes in public and visual art for young people ages 13-19 that include objectives in our three Program Elements: Artistic Growth, Personal Development and Community Engagement.
• Serve as an advocate for youth as needed, promoting positive relationships with families, school, community, and other service providers. 
• Provide support to program staff and solicit additional supports with regard to behavioral response and social/emotional needs of youth. 
• Collaborate with youth on public art projects and help guide youth collaborations with guest artists.
• Teach and care for young people with an equity lens, cultural humility, and an individualized approach.

Program Development and Management

• Promote a positive, youth-led culture with a high level of youth voice. 
• Maintain an active schedule of recruitment efforts including resource fairs, in-school speaking engagements, flyer distribution, and communication with school art teachers and staff.
• Maintain a system for enrollment of young people entering into and continuing with the TPA program.
• Engage with corporations, local non-profits, and city government to procure sponsored public art opportunities for youth. This includes developing and presenting proposals and budgets for potential public art projects.
• Collaborate with CAC staff to design programmatic events like Port Arts Festival and Mural Masters.
• Manage all youth participation, artist contracts, and logistics for Teen Public Art mural projects as well as events including the annual Port Arts Festival.

Organizational Leadership

• Promote, and advocate for the Art Center at funder meetings, outreach events, performances, public forums, online, and other venues.
• Attend organizational planning and staff meetings and support the overall growth of the institution and the overall culture of the surrounding Port neighborhood.

Administration and Operations

• Maintain student paper and electronic files and ensure adequate record keeping for your program area including archiving of paper and digital artwork.
• Manage and oversee the program area budget with support from the Director of Operations and Finance.

Additional Qualifications: 

Candidates must be committed to the Community Art Center’s mission and organizational values, which are: We believe in the power of young people. We believe in the power of artistic expression. We believe in taking care of ourselves and each other. We believe in creating positive change in our neighborhood and beyond. 

• Demonstrated practice in art making along with an ability to teach beginning to intermediate art classes
• Demonstrated 2-4 years youth development experience
• Outstanding outreach and youth organizing skills
• Experience in a community based nonprofit environment
• Strong belief in the arts as an empowering tool for individual and social change
• Commitment to working with young people from various racial and cultural backgrounds
• Proactive approach to problem solving
• Ability to juggle multiple projects and responsibilities
• PC, Mac, and social media literacy. Experience with Procreate and Adobe Creative Suite is a plus.
• Excellent organizational skills
• Creative, motivated, dynamic and outgoing individual
• Bilingual candidates preferred (especially English and: Haitian Creole, Spanish or Portuguese)

Salary/benefits: $61,000-$68,000 commensurate with experience;  individual & family health & dental; 401K with employee match

Hours: Full time (in-person) — 40 hours/week. Community Art Center programs are open to youth from 2:00pm - 6:00pm after school, and 8:00am - 6:00 pm during summer and school vacation weeks. 

Teen programming runs 4:00pm - 6:00 pm, M-F with extended hours during the summer, school vacation weeks and occasional evenings.Program staff work 10:00 am - 6:00 pm with additional hours for occasional events.

How to Apply: Please email a formal cover letter and resume to: 

careers@communityartcenter.org, Attn: Teen Public Art Program Manager

Community Art Center is an equal opportunity employer