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Arts Every Day 
Baltimore Arts Education Initiative Manager

Job Description Title: Baltimore Arts Education Initiative Manager
Classification: Full Time, will require occasional nights and weekends
Type: Organizer
Salary: $40k-50k
Reports to: Executive Director
Ideal Start Date: September 15, 2020

Job Purpose: This position is responsible for the implementation of the Baltimore Arts Education Initiative (BAEI) activities in Baltimore City Public School District (the District) including: 1) management and communication with committees, district offices, and community partners; 2) development of a parent and youth engagement strategy that advances the implementation of the district fine arts plan and 3) management of the Arts Challenge Fund. Candidates should bring creativity, intuition, tactful relationship management, and energy to problem solving under changing conditions.  

Management of Committees and Partnerships: The success of this initiative is dependent upon the engagement, leadership, and support of a diverse group of individuals representing district office, educators, communities, students, arts partners, and city leadership.  

Committees include: Advisory Committee, New and Conditionally Certified Teacher Support Committee, High School Working Group. Additional working groups and committees may be formed, as necessary. 

• Consistent communication, scheduling and documentation of meetings, and engagement of individual members;
• Coordination and collaboration with multiple school district offices to advance progress on the plan including the Office of Teaching and Learning, Human Capital, Office of Achievement and Accountability, School Board of Commissioners and more;
• Ability to identify, establish, build, and maintain partnerships within multiple local and statewide stakeholder groups;
• Frequent attendance at School Board of Commissioners meetings, district hosted presentations, and other events hosted by community, parent, and student groups;
• Close collaboration with the district Fine Arts Office to identify needed areas of support regarding the Fine Arts Plan. Develop programs as appropriate;
• Coordination of initiative-specific tasks and community events. Community
  

Organizing and Outreach: Collaborate with AED staff to develop and implement youth arts advocacy group:

• Identify/recruit students interested in advocacy work involving the arts in City Schools; Development and implementation of advocacy resources and training in collaboration with parent advocacy team; ○ Collaboration and planning of student engagement in various decision making processes when the arts are involved;
• Coordination of workshops from key organizations, advocacy groups, and artists that specialize with youth led advocacy efforts;
• Develop and Implement a parent engagement strategy:
• Development of parent-focused arts education advocacy tools and trainings;
• Coordination and collaboration with other national, state and local parent and student education advocacy groups;
• Development and coordination of events, blog posts, social media campaigns, op eds and other forms of public engagement to increase awareness of equitable access to arts education as an important issue.

Management of the Arts Challenge Fund: This fund will be used to incentivize principal spending on arts materials for instruction and limited to: consumable arts supplies, musical instruments, instrument repair, arts-specific equipment and tools.

• Management of application process in conversation with district partners;
• Management of awards including processing invoices for payment, tracking award and overall spending, communication with school partners;
• Management of school reporting and reporting on overall award;
• Communication of award to press, district, and schools.

Data Analysis and Reporting: Arts Every Day submits an annual data request to the Baltimore City Public Schools Office of Accountability. This request includes districtwide Fine Arts staffing, scheduling and course enrollment data.

• Timely submission of the IRB and MOU renewal;
• Communication and coordination with the District Office for data analysis, testing and final review;
• Attention to detail, ability to review large data sets;
• Collaboration with graphic designer for development of the Annual State of the Arts Report.

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in relevant field (arts, education, social justice). 2-3 years of community organizing, youth development, Pk-12 education sector and/or non-profit experience required. Knowledge of Collective Impact work, systems change, experience and knowledge navigating the Baltimore City Public Schools district office or comparable urban education system is a plus.

Skill Requirements: 

• Demonstrates excellent organizational and project management skills;
• Ability to ideate big picture solutions and execute the details needed for successful implementation;
• Attention to detail and ability to juggle many tasks at once is imperative;
• Excellent oral, written, communication, public speaking and presentation skills;
• Ability to work well with others, including members of the AED staff;
• Ability to intuitively manage and navigate multiple delicate relationships;
• Efficient at convening and organizing events;
• Ability to communicate complex ideas and data points to inform decision making;
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, MailChimp, EventBrite, Google Drive;
• Friendly and positive demeanor.

Application Procedure: Please submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@artseveryday.org with the subject line “BAEI Manager”. Applications received by August 15, 2020 will receive priority consideration.

About the Baltimore Arts Education Initiative: Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) is a district of 168 schools and programs serving 79,187 students. Since 2008, Baltimore City has operated under the “Fair Student Funding,” model which funded schools based on enrollment numbers and gave principals the autonomy to formulate their own budgets and priorities. The intent behind “Fair Student Funding” according to former CEO Dr. Andres Alonso was “… very simple: the action is in the schools. The resources should be in the schools, and the community should be involved in decisions at the school level. With guidance and support from the district, our expectation is that schools are going to make better decisions about teaching and learning.”

Simultaneously, Federal policies under “No Child Left Behind” created a high stakes environment focused on standardized testing. In Baltimore, the focus on testing and principal autonomy combined with annual cuts to State education funding resulted in a steady decline of certified arts educators. Because positions were cut at the school level, there were no mass layoffs to make newspaper headlines. The arts suffered death by a thousand cuts. As of the 2018-19 School Year, only 50% of city schools offer music instruction, 75% offer visual art instruction and little to no dance or theatre instruction.

Arts Every Day, in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, applied for and received a National Endowment for the Arts Collective Impact grant in Fall 2017 and launched the Baltimore Arts Education Initiative with the goal of engaging a wide range of local stakeholders to create a Fine Arts Strategic Plan with actionable goals. In May 2018, the superintendent presented the complete Arts Plan as part of the Blueprint for Success, a districtwide initiative to support student wholeness, literacy, and staff leadership. School year 2022 is the first major benchmark of the Arts Plan with the goals: 1) Grades PK-5 enrolled every year in visual art and music classes, dance and theater units taught within physical education and language arts, 2) Grades 6-8 enrolled in 1 or more arts classes every year with option for continuous discipline-specific instruction. 3) Grades 9-12 choose from all arts subjects to complete the art graduation requirement. Students can enroll in 1 or more arts disciplines each year to specialize and prepare for college/career in the arts.

Implementation of this plan began with a major shift in the school year 2019-2020 budget policy requiring principals to meet and maintain certified arts teachers to student enrollment ratios. By Fall 2019, the district, with recruitment support from Arts Every Day, had successfully hired over 60 new certified arts teachers in Visual Art, Music, Theatre, and Dance for the 2019-2020 school year.