ASSOCIATE COMPANY DIRECTOR

Company Overview

Pleiades Theatre is a Dora-nominated theatre company, whose vision is:

SHARING 1ST AND 2ND GENERATION CANADIAN STORIES

Pleiades’ mission is to redefine what it means to be “Canadian” (because for too long that definition has been too narrow) by sharing stories from 1st and 2nd generation Canadians with each other, Tkaronto, and the world.

Through their mandate, Pleiades encourages 1st and 2nd generation storytellers (particularly artists of colour, but through intersectionality also d/Deaf artists, artists with disabilities, artists living with mental illness, New Gen artists, 2SLBTQIAP artists, and Indigenous artists) to create:

INSPIRATIONS: new, relevant stories exploring their experiences;

TRANSLATIONS: sharing stories from other languages for all audiences;

ADAPTATIONS: exploring existing works through their lens.

Founded in 1997 by John Van Burek, then led by Andrey Tarasiuk from 2017-2023, Pleiades is now under the leadership of Artistic Executive Director Ash Knight.

www.pleiadestheatre.org

Job Description

ASSOCIATE COMPANY DIRECTOR

Grants and Fundraising

·         Work with the AED to determine what fundraising activities should take place in a given year, and then execute annual fundraising and sponsorship campaigns, special events and targeted fundraising requests, research, find and write new and/or existing grant proposals and applications

·         Connect with individual and corporate donors to increase private donations

·         Manage all aspects of donor relations, including acknowledgment, benefits fulfilment, and personalized engagement.

·         Lead the preparation and submission of grant applications, maintaining relationships with foundations to secure ongoing funding.

·         Explore new funding models for productions through new grants from organizations and foundations

·         Gather information and present research for ad hoc initiatives

·         Research new development and fundraising opportunities to support programming

Public Relations and Marketing

·         Organize overall marketing & outreach initiatives

·         Oversee the creation, writing, copy and distribution of all marketing materials for social media, marketing, newsletters, print and press campaigns.

·         Develop the company’s Audience Development Plan and seek opportunities to reach new and diverse audiences as well as engaging with our local community.

·         Regularly post on Pleiades’ Social Media accounts

·         Connect with media outlets to get reviewers to see productions

·         Represent Pleiades at various events and functions

AR Glasses Program

·         Maintain, train on, and update all IT/AV equipment related to Pleiades’ AR Glasses program

·         Create multi-lingual surtitles and/or ASL videos for the AR Glasses on public presentations by Pleiades, working with translators, consultants, interpreters and others as/if needed

·         Run AR Glasses for all shows during productions or public readings for d/Deaf and/or non-English speaking audiences

Planning and Administration

·         Work with the AED to help maintain organizational systems, documents, data, and materials and supervise the day-to-day activities including website updates, run/attend staff meetings to keep abreast of upcoming projects and deadlines.

·         If needed, book tours into venues and manage contracts (CAEA, ADC, PGC, PACT, Independents) and co-production agreements.

·         Work with the AED in leadership decisions and tasks

Education Workshops

·         Organize and oversee outreach visits, education resources, and workshops with local schools and youth organizations.

·         Work with the AED to design workshops for schools and train artist-educators

·         Research new opportunities with and at schools 

Other duties as required

Required Competencies and Qualifications:

·        Knowledge of  grant writing for arts organizations

·        Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite programs (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook)

·        Proficiency in Canva and/or Adobe Photoshop or other graphic design programs

·        Confidence and comfort with learning new IT programs and skills

·        Strong organizational and planning skills

·        Excellent interpersonal skills to build strong relationships with donors

·        Detail oriented to track financial data, deadlines, donations, budgets, and prose for grants, marketing material, etc.

·        We are looking for a long term commitment from someone who can eventually transition into a fulltime Company Director or General Manager

·        Experience as  a Production Manager, though not necessary, would be a huge asset for the AR Glasses Program

Perks:

·        We happily observe holidays as needed by the ACD, respecting their cultural heritage

·        This is a self-employed contract: you set your own hours of work (co-ordinating with AED for meeting and events), work from where you like most of the time (though we can provide a workplace if you like), and can take other jobs as long as you can meet your responsibilities to this contract (as the hours increase, this may be harder)

·        7 weeks of no hours: 2 weeks at the beginning of January, 2 weeks in the middle of July, 2 weeks at the end of December, and 1 week in floating unavailable days

Pay:

OLW for Toronto, $25.05/hr on a part-time average of 20 hrs/week (some weeks much more, some much less) for 45 weeks per year, (slightly over $22,500 over the course of a year) + HST if applicable.

As funding increases, this would build up to an average of 35 hrs/wk (approaching $40,000 over a 45-week year) + HST if applicable, taking on more responsibilities.