Associate Program Director, Learning Through Drama

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The CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) is seeking a full time Associate Program Director for the Learning Through Drama program. 

Mission

The CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) is an arts-in-education program at the City University of New York (CUNY), serving more than 9,000 people annually in New York City. CAT uses theatre strategies to engage, inspire and educate in a variety of settings, including schools, after-school programs, college campuses, community-based organizations, and government facilities.
Learning Through Drama (LTD) is a program of the CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) that provides in-school workshops for middle and high school students in public schools around New York City. In duos, LTD Actor Teachers create drama-based sessions whose learning objectives include social emotional, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. We develop curriculum weekly in conversation with the school community and in response to the interests and needs of the young people. 

General Description

The Associate Program Director (APD) will report to the Program Director (PD) and be responsible for assisting the PD in executing the full scope of the Learning Through Drama program. This responsibility includes assisting in the management and training of eight to ten Actor Teachers and eighteen MSW apprentices, maintaining relationships with school communities, and assuring curriculum quality. The APD will be chiefly responsible for creating and maintaining administrative systems to support CAT's compliance with multiple government funders (including the Department of Youth and Community Development). They will lead communication with school administration and teachers around scheduling and programming. They will assist in creating and implementing Professional Developments with school staff and possible school events. The APD will be expected to be on-site at CAT and at all schools regularly throughout the year. 

Key Responsibilities

• Understanding, maintaining, developing, and representing Creative Arts Team/Learning Through Drama pedagogy
• Assisting Program Director in planning and steering Learning Through Drama programming
• Assisting Program Director in hiring, training, and managing about eight to ten Actor Teachers, whose responsibilities include creating weekly curriculum to be implemented in schools
• Assisting Program Director in establishing and maintaining relationships and regular communication with administrators and teachers at 12 to 15 NYC public high schools and middle schools, including in-person meetings in The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens
• Assisting Program Director in creating and maintaining systems to collect program data, including evaluations
• Assisting Program Director in managing up to eighteen MSW interns, whose responsibilities will include case management
• Securing workshop schedules at each school that fulfill contractual requirements, educational goals, and programmatic needs
• Having an on-site presence in schools in Queens, The Bronx, and Brooklyn to facilitate new program-to-school relationships, fulfill funder requirements, and support other administrative programmatic needs. In-school presence will be as-needed  but may be required up to five days per week
• Communicating schedules, including last-minute changes to Actor Teachers, school staff, and funders
• Interfacing with DYCD Connect and AirTable to ensure data is entered accurately and on time
• Preparing internal files for periodic funder audits
• Attending weekly team meetings at CAT and participating in weekly Curriculum Lab with Actor Teachers
• Attending periodic meetings with fulltime CAT staff and contributing to strategic planning
• Representing CAT (along with other FT staff)  at K-16 Initiatives staff meetings (the unit within CUNY where CAT is based)
• Co-facilitating curriculum training as needed with the Program Director for Actor Teachers during September curriculum intensive, and weekly Monday meetings
• Co-facilitating weekly sessions with Program Director for MSW student apprentices
• Correspond and have weekly check-ins with MSW candidate Field Supervisors
• Facilitating relationships between MSW Student Apprentices and school staff
• Along with PD, creating and maintaining digital and physical systems to document curriculum
• Scheduling short-term residencies as they arise throughout the school year
• Filling in for Program Director in their absence
• Implementing periodic short-term residencies as they arise during the school year, to be negotiated with PD and CAT leadership
• Occasionally facilitating workshops in schools as a substitute for Actor Teachers
• Representing LTD at conferences as appropriate and needed
• Other duties as assigned

Work Sites

The Associate Program Director must be available to be on site (at CAT offices in Midtown Manhattan or in a school anywhere in NYC) five days a week. Work sites will be at CAT on Mondays and Wednesdays, at schools as needed, and remote only when workload allows. School sites are as follows and are subject to change:

• 999 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn
• 925 Astor Avenue, The Bronx
• 1180 Rev James A polite Avenue, The Bronx
• 109-95 98th Street, Queens
• 101-01 Rockaway Boulevard, Queens
• 121-10 Rockaway Boulevard, Queens
• 1700 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11213
• 99 Terrace View Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
• 3000 E Tremont Ave, Bronx, NY 10461
• 14-30 Broadway, Astoria, NY 11106

For questions, please e-mail Precious Sipin at [email protected] and Mícheál Curtin at [email protected]

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years experience creating and implementing original drama-in-education work with young people is required
• A minimum of one year in administration or education is required
• Expertise in, and ability to communicate about, drama education is required
• Excellent administrative capabilities are required
• Previous work with young people is required

Preferred Qualification

• Undergraduate or graduate degree in applied theatre, arts education, arts administration, or education is highly valued
• Local knowledge of NYC communities is highly valued
• Multilingualism, particularly an ability to facilitate in multiple languages, is highly valued

Pay Range:

$58,000 - $63,000

RFCUNY Benefits
RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.