Program Administrator, Creative Economy

 About the New England Foundation for the Arts:

The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) is a 501(c)3 organization with an annual budget of $8.4 million. NEFA invests in artists and communities and fosters equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation.

As an organization, NEFA values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive world, which we interpret as all people having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize creative and community endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunities based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography and strive to counter those inequities in our work.

NEFA is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and is invested in creating an equitable and inclusive working environment and organizational culture. We are committed to hiring individuals who share, value, and support these goals, and who reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. NEFA does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

About the Position:

The Program Administrator coordinates the operations of NEFA’s Creative Economy program and its suite of technical tools and services. NEFA’s Creative Economy program strengthens New England's creative community by supporting its visibility as well as its connection and knowledge building - both internally among artists and creative enterprises and externally with the broader community.

The Program Administrator will take on the critical work of implementing recommendations from a recent sustainable growth planning process for NEFA’s creative economy work and CreativeGround.org, the program’s primary tool. CreativeGround.org is NEFA’s free, New England-wide online directory and research database which spotlights the region’s robust creative community and enables users to find and connect with the region’s cultural nonprofits, creative businesses, and artists of all disciplines. The Program Administrator is responsible for maintaining and supporting the enhancement of CreativeGround functionality in response to user experience and feedback and increase its use as a critical research tool and community building platform.

The Program Administrator reports to the Senior Program Director for Research and Creative Economy and works in close partnership with the Community Engagement Coordinator, Creative Economy. As a member of the Creative Economy team, the Program Administrator will administer CreativeGround and other creative economy tech platforms; support creative economy data projects; and implement processes that systematize and track the work of the team and its service to constituents. This is a mid-level, tactical operations position requiring substantial situational assessment and project management skills, experience working with websites and databases, and a strong appetite for learning and teaching new tools and processes.

 

This is a new position that may evolve over time.

 

 

 

Essential Functions - % of Time Creative Economy Tech Administration – 35%

• Serve as the in-house site administrator of CreativeGround.org, newly upgraded to Drupal 8, partnering with Senior Program Director and website developer to resolve outstanding site issues; research and test new functionality; and coordinate ongoing site enhancements;
• Perform regular CreativeGround site maintenance duties including processing user accounts and approving profile updates, updating non-user-generated site content, and monitoring and resolving minor tech issues;
• Work with Community Engagement Coordinator to field and process constituent/user questions and feedback, triage and escalate functionality issues to site developers as needed, and test and document solutions;
• Implement the creative economy technical plan (e.g. apply guidelines and proactively find ways department can implement best practices related to accessibility standards, search engine optimization, data management, information security, and tech/data ethics);
• Monitor and suggest improvements for tools to support the New England Creative Economy Network including supporting partners’ integration of CreativeGround data into external websites through the site API, working with NEFA’s technology and data team to integrate CreativeGround with NEFA’s Salesforce instance to enhance reporting and data visualization capabilities, and collaborating with NEFA’s Communications Team to maintain the Community Initiatives database on nefa.org.

Creative Economy Data Administration – 30%

• Ensure creative economy data integrity by reviewing and cleaning CreativeGround profiles, creative economy research data categories, and other creative economy data sets;
• Track CreativeGround site usage and analyze trends, make recommendations based on data;
• Assist Senior Program Director with the training and sharing of creative economy data with local, regional, and national partners (including coordinating updates to data privacy policy, the data focus group, and training materials);
• Monitor data access by CreativeGround users, partners, and data analysts;
• Assist Senior Program Director to develop creative economy data surveys, snapshots, and visualizations to share on CreativeGround and with partners.

Program Administration – 25%

• Implement and document updates to the creative economy work plan;
• Coordinate team operations, including workflow processes and timelines for projects and meetings; track and report progress against metrics;
• Support Senior Program Director in meetings through note taking, summarizing discussions, and identifying next action steps;
• Assist with relationship management by preparing and sharing training and project materials with web developers, data users, internal staff, and advisory groups;
• Coordinate technical and data needs for creative economy workshops, meetings, and other events.

Connecting and Learning – 10%    

• Represent the program and organization at conferences, meetings, performances, and other events; report on learning and outcomes;
• Participate in organization-wide convenings and events, planning sessions, and working groups.

Scope

Does this position supervise others?   No

Internal/External Contacts: 

Maintain and support positive relationships with CreativeGround website developer, other applicable vendors and consultants, data users, as well as with internal NEFA staff. The Program Administrator works with NEFA’s grant program staff to advance the organization’s impact in the region, with NEFA’s technology and data and communications staff to support and enhance systems coherence across the organization.

Financial/Operational Resources Impacted: 

$ 30,000

Decision Making/Problem Solving:

Attain familiarity with all tools that contribute to problem-solving program technology issues and data management. Ability to interpret service requests and translate them into specific tasks or functional improvements. Coordinate and apply established guidelines to track and assist in resolving program technical and data issues; uphold internal data standards and protocols; offer input in team discussions to inform and support the team and Senior Program Director in program planning and decision making.

Minimum Starting Salary:

$ 55,000

Opportunities for Advancement:

Employees at the administrator level are eligible for promotion after two years of employment and having demonstrated satisfactory progress on performance goals as determined by their immediate supervisor.                         

Qualifications Required: 

• 4-6 years of experience working in a professional setting, ideally in roles with relevant work including database management and user-based website administration such as ticketing, donor/member platforms, or ecommerce;
• Strong organizational and planning skills with the ability to advance multiple priorities and projects concurrently;
• Experience in web-based platform administration, ideally with Drupal or comparable system, involvement in Drupal community a plus;
• Outstanding data skills - impeccable attention to detail for data cleaning and database maintenance; familiarity and/or comfort with data analysis tools a plus;
• Highly skilled in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, and project management software (Asana or other); familiarity with Constant Contact, Google Studio/Analytics a plus;
• Strong project management/coordination experience
• Enthusiasm for learning new tools and problem-solving;
• Highly motivated to map, initiate, and advance projects to satisfactory completion;
• Appreciation for and identification with NEFA’s mission, vision, and values and interest in engaging in work to advance NEFA’s goals, including those centering equity, diversity, intersectionality, and accessibility;
• Interest in New England’s creative community and ability to travel throughout the region.

Preferred:

• Experience liaising with website developers and providing technical support, meeting facilitation or training;
• Background in online community platforms and/or creative economy research or creative economy and creative placemaking initiatives;
• Familiarity with SalesForce and data management software.

Physical/Mental Demands: 

Travel (occasional regional), stationary position, computational skills, reasoning, decision-making, detailed work, communication, organization skills, reading, processing (high capacity for input and analysis)

Application Instructions

All candidates must apply using the application form at nefa.org/employment. Applicants will be asked to submit a current resume and a cover letter describing your interest in and preparedness for the role, as well as respond to a limited set of questions about relevant skills. The deadline to apply for this position is Tuesday, February 16. A review of applications will begin immediately. Applications received after the deadline may not be reviewed if the existing candidate pool is deemed sufficient.