Director of Advancement & Community Development

OUR VISION:

TADA!’s vision is that all young people grow up feeling successful, creative, confident, accepted, and accepting of themselves. Through the ability of people learning to express themselves well we can break down barriers of racism and inequality and create positive, active citizens.

OUR MISSION:

TADA! Youth Theater’s mission since 1984 has been to provide young people from different social, racial, economic, and cultural backgrounds with musical theater programs that inspire them to learn, be creative, and think differently through high-quality productions, positive youth development, and education programs. TADA! is a unique, Drama Desk award-winning nonprofit youth theater that produces original musicals for children, teens, and family audiences. TADA! offers a free, year-round, pre-professional training and a positive youth development program for the Resident Youth Ensemble (ages 8-18); musical theater classes/camps for the public; as well as musical theater residencies in NYC schools and community centers. Through TADA!’s high-quality work, young people's self-confidence and creativity are enhanced. They also develop advanced skills in leadership, communication, responsibility, collaboration, and problem-solving – skills that help with growing up and are essential to their success both in school and in life.  

OUR VALUES:

• Musical Theater Passion - We value and have a deep passion for musical theater as an art form that empowers, educates, and transforms people from all different backgrounds. 
• Unique Programming - We value TADA!’s unique programming. Our innovative and responsive approaches to musical theater adapt to the evolving landscape of our community and world, serving and supporting the TADA! Family (board, staff, students, and families and audiences) for over 36 years.
• Artistic Excellence: We value creating high-quality, innovative, professional musical theater productions, programs, and experiences that inspire, transform, empower, challenge, and engage our TADA! family and the greater global community.

• Community: We value an ensemble-based environment where the TADA! family collaborates as a team and works together respectfully and creatively.  All TADA! programs and experiences are rooted in ensemble, and through ensemble based practices, we strive to make everyone involved feel brave to explore and authentically express themselves and their identity. By exploring the depths of others and cultivating empathy, we find space for our true selves to shine. 

• Empowerment and Leadership: We value and encourage everyone in the TADA! family to share their voice and be heard. We want our staff, board, ensemble members, students, and families to feel seen, heard, and free to advocate for themselves. We strive to provide leadership opportunities at all levels; in the classroom, rehearsal room, and behind closed doors with our staff and board members. 

• Arts for All: We value diversity, equity, inclusivity, accessibility, and justice. We value providing all people an opportunity to create, imagine, learn, and experience the joy of musical theater, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ability, nationality, and immigration status. We are committed to being an actively anti-racist and anti-oppressive organization, believe that racial division is a key tool of oppression, and that we gain strength and power in learning and sharing our histories, cultures, and experiences. We commit to urgent action, innovation & transformation within the world and in our own organization.

Professionalism: We value professionalism, integrity, and accountability in all aspects of our work. We value highly trained and versatile musical theater professionals who are dedicated ambassadors and champions of TADA! Youth Theater’s mission, vision, and values in person and online. We commit to continuous improvement and professional growth. 

• Culture of Growth: We value creating a brave, transparent, and supportive culture of growth through respect, collaboration, and teamwork where the TADA! Family feels empowered to take risks and explore their interests and identities at their own pace in order to grow into kind, empathetic human beings.

• Nurture Creativity: We value creating a brave space that encourages and supports creativity where everyone is respected and included. Through supportive ensemble-based productions, programs, and experiences, we see growth in self-expression, risk-taking, and self-confidence.

• Fun: We value sharing the joy and fun of musical theater with all people every day

Purpose of the Development and Marketing Departments 

To support, communicate, and further the mission of TADA! Youth Theater through raising both earned and unearned income that supports all TADA! programming in the education, ensemble, and theater departments.

DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

TADA!’s Director of Advancement & Community Development is a member of the leadership team along with the Executive and Producing Artistic Director, the Director of Education, and Director of Finance and Administration.  The position is responsible for designing and executing a strategic fundraising and marketing plan and program that builds on TADA!’s current donors, audience, and student body base to dramatically increase earned and unearned income through sustainable funding streams, increased donor engagement, earned revenue streams and organizational visibility. Due to COVID-19, TADA! has expanded its programs to include online classes, camps, workshops, productions, and tutorials for youth and teens all across the country and the world. While the programs are there, the audiences have not grown to meet the programming. 

TADA! is seeking a qualified, passionate, self-motivated, and flexible individual who loves raising money, cultivating and building relationships and partnerships, and discovering new audiences. Candidates must believe in our mission and vision and have an understanding, love, and respect of NYC’s youth, musical theater, and arts education. An ideal candidate excels at managing and at the same time executing multiple projects in a busy environment while increasing the public’s awareness and visibility of all of TADA!’s programming. 

TADA! has a small and mighty staff and a dedicated Board of Directors with whom the right candidate will work very closely. The collaborative and strategic leadership team is focused on creating TADA!’s stability, expansion, and growth by co-leading the staff with warmth and integrity to harness their expertise, energy and intelligence, and to inspire commitment to TADA!. All staff members at TADA! (including Directors) do hands-on day to day tasks as well as lead, plan, and think creatively about the future. 

TADA! is - and has been for 37 years -  committed to providing every child interested in musical theater an opportunity to create, imagine, learn, and experience the joy of musical theater, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ability, nationality, and immigration status. The Staff and Board of TADA! are committed to our journey to become an anti-racist multi-cultural organization and to make the changes needed to reflect the mission, vision, and values of TADA!.  Are you ready to go on this journey with us? 

This is a great time to join TADA! We have recently:

Received the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and PPP 1st and 2nd draw loans (one has already been forgiven), as well as EIDL Paid down long-term debt to all individuals Growing our team by adding and hiring new roles at TADA! that will move the organization forward Began renovating our space in order to create a clean, and fun space for our youth that will also help with increasing our registration capacity and allowing for more space rental opportunities   Completed 6 months of bi-montly meetings with our EDIAJ committee, and are in the process of finalizing and executing our action steps and plan  Created new programming such as AMP (Arts Mentorship Program) and Arts For All in order to provide more opportunities for our youth to receive arts education and job readiness training in off-stage careers that will contribute to their success in life and future  Analyzed and updated our Board requirements and bylaws in order to move forward with board recruitment that emphasizes the many different ways individual board members can contribute to the organization that are unique to their personal experiences and communities.  We eliminated the Board give and get minimums. 

Reports to Executive and Producing Artistic Director 

This position is responsible along with the Board and Leadership Team to significantly grow the organization’s fundraising, visibility and sales through:

Donor Identification (individual and Institutional), Solicitation, Cultivation, Management and Stewardship‍ Marketing and Communication that increase awareness of all of TADA!’s programs, and TADA!’s mission and impact  Increase and cultivate partnerships to grow all of TADA! audiences (e.g., production audience, students for classes and camps, schools for residencies and programs, etc.)  Creating and Implementing a strong strategic plan that involves and leverages the resources and talents of all board members, staff, alumni  and other key volunteers and committee members.  Supporting, communicating, and furthering the mission of TADA! Youth Theater. 

Key Responsibilities 

Create, execute and maintain an annual plan and budget for the Development Department which includes Individual Fundraising and cultivation; Institutional Fundraising;  Government Support; and Special Events. This involves some reimagining, rethinking and driving of TADA!’s contributed revenue streams Create and Oversee Marketing Department’s Annual Plan and budget including strategies for Audience growth, Advertising, Visibility, Partnerships, Social Media, Database, Website, and creation of marketing materials as well as devising creative marketing strategies and solutions (i.e., budget, discounts, promotional strategies, ads) Design, manage, and constantly enhance TADA!’s  process for an integrated approach to fund development and philanthropy that specifically targets foundations, corporations, and individuals (including major gifts and planned giving) so that short- and long-term revenue streams can be established Design, implement and maintain a communications plan to ensure stewardship and donor/prospect engagement are maximized. Define performance measures for fundraising success and monitor/report results on a regular basis. This includes developing and managing an annual Development budget and cash-flow that includes revenue and expense projections by contribution category to assure annual goals are achieved. Provide vision and oversight to annual fundraising events Create and distribute TADA!’s Annual Report -- gather information from all departments and work with designer  Hire, train, oversee and manage Development and Marketing staff, consultants, and volunteers Future and Strategic planning with staff and Board including working on TADA!’s EDIJ plan and actions Work closely and support and strategize individually and with full TADA!’s Board of Directors on plans, attend and report at Board and Committee Meetings, leverage the time, talent, resources and connections of all Board members to support the fundraising and marketing strategy, Lead the Board’s Event ad-hoc Committee, Work with the Board Development Committee and staff to identify and recruit new Board candidates. Participate as a contributing member of the TADA!’s leadership team Take an organizational view of key challenges and opportunities from a strategic planning standpoint, adding insight and ideas Work in tandem with other organizational leaders in support of the mission of the theatre. Serve as an ambassador, working to build and maintain strong relationships with key funders, community leaders, education and ensemble families, Alumni, board members and other relationships critical to the fundraising efforts and growing the TADA! Community Works closely with the Director of Finance & Administration on grant proposals & reporting, the annual Audit process, 990, CHAR500, etc. 

‍Qualifications‍‍

‍The ideal candidate should have:

Passion for, commitment to and is fully aligned with TADA!’s mission and vision, and knowledge of needs in communities served by TADA! Strong strategic vision and agility, skilled at planning and problem solving and a record of success managing people as well as success at working independently A successful track record in fundraising and marketing --  increasing earned and unearned income Be diplomatic and able to negotiate and navigate change graciously, while remaining clear, decisive, proactive and fair Be a self-starter, able to thrive in a fast-paced institutional environment Outstanding written and oral communication skills with diverse audiences, internally and externally Ability to manage and prioritize among multiple simultaneous projects Positive attitude and the ability to build rapport with diverse colleagues & external stakeholders Prior use of Salesforce a plus and working knowledge of data analysis Solid experience with budget development and oversight High energy and be a “doer” with a willingness to develop and execute a variety of activities ranging from the day-to-day to the broadly strategic. Able to be hands-on doing work as well as a leader guiding others A commitment and deep interest in diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of TADA!’s programming and initiatives

TADA! Youth Theater is committed to building and fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce that is representative of our vastly diverse youth in our Ensemble program and school programs. Priority will be given to candidates who are dedicated to anti-racism and share our mission and vision above. BIPOC candidates, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ individuals are encouraged to apply.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or veteran status. We are actively looking to expand our staff with BIPOC candidates.

To apply, please email your cover letter and resume to jtrevens@tadatheater.com and include the words Director of Advancement & Community Development in the subject line. Salary range $90,000 - 110,000 plus benefits including health and life insurance, eye care, flexible spending, optional Aflac, optional 403(b), and paid vacation, sick and personal days.