Box Office and Guest Experience Manager

The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University is seeking a Box Office and Guest Experience Manager. This is a full-time (1.00 FTE), 12-month, professional faculty position.

As a start-up organization, the PVR CCA seeks an enterprising and energetic individual who is comfortable working in the context of a developing organization in which organizational and operational decisions are still being made.

The Guest Experience and Box Office Manager will be responsible for ensuring an exceptional guest experience. They will anticipate guest needs, exceed guest expectations, and prioritize a welcoming and inclusive environment. This position manages a comprehensive set of responsibilities (front of house, ticket office, volunteers, special events, student events and camps, donor events, safety procedures) to ensure the comfort and safety of all guests and employees. This position is responsible for establishing and implementing financial and operational procedures necessary to manage ticket sales as well as overseeing a diverse team of student staff, interns, and volunteers. This requires a dependable, self-motivated, and conscientious individual who can organize a professional box office, registration service, and hospitality-oriented unit to comfortably deliver excellent and personalized customer service to a varied clientele including first time ticket buyers, VIPs, government officials, student camp participants, long-term donors, and everyone in between in a high traffic, fast-paced environment.

Scheduled to open in Spring 2024, the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts is a new $70M building currently under construction. The facility features multiple venues, including a 499-seat concert hall, a black box theater, an outdoor stage, a 3,000 square foot gallery, and additional art presentation spaces, classrooms and programming locations. In addition, as part of its “Unboxed” series, the Patricia Valian Reser (PVR) Center for the Creative Arts (CCA) will present performing arts at locations throughout the Oregon State University (OSU) network, which includes both formal and improvised venues on the Corvallis campus, the Cascades campus, the Newport campus, the community, and beyond.

Position Duties       

25% Box Office & Subscription Management

Oversees all Box Office operations – processing single, season, and group ticket orders, as well as event and camp registrations in a timely and accurate manner. Establishes and demonstrates procedures and policies that insure an excellent level of service to patrons, subscribers, donors, volunteers, and patrons with special needs. Manages the Box Office computerized ticketing system (AudienceView Campus), sets up events, reports, and maintains accurate patron and donor records. Makes recommendations and advises on pricing, seating plans, on-sale dates and rollout for events, patron retention, and donor engagement. Implements established plans as outlined by the Associate Director of Audience Engagement and Education. Creates and maintains a positive, professional, user-friendly and ADA compliant box office environment. Maintains subscription membership database, sends out renewals, prepares monthly subscription reports.

Works with Marketing on mailing lists, customer service and special sales programs. Work with the Administrative Assistant to the PVR CCA to deliver box office reports, coordinate AudienceView integrations, and manage attendance rosters. Works with all venue presenters to set up effective box office and registration services. Greets and directs walk-in traffic. Coordinates consistent box office, gallery, and phone coverage during business hours per guidance from the Associate Director of Audience Engagement. Arranges VIP experiences, individually and in groups, for special guests.

20% Staff Supervision, enforcement of theatre and gallery policies and procedures and implementation of safety/emergency procedures.

Schedules, trains and supervises student and volunteer box office staff to ensure competency in all computer, financial, and customer service operations. Recruits, trains, and schedules paid and volunteer ushers, ticket scanners, and house managers. Assumes Box Office, house management, daily operations and event coordination duties as needed. Responsible for training and implementation of safety and evacuation procedures.

15% Box Office Financial Procedures

Establishes and enforces box office procedures that ensure financial accountability for all staff including cash handling, and sensitive data management. Creates weekly, show, and annual reports for settlement, fiscal control, and general box office reporting.

15% Special Programs and Education

Manages enrollment and registration for summer camps, educational programming, and field trips. Greets groups and participants to create a hospitable, welcoming environment for special/educational programs, and manages the on-site experiences of program participants outside of academic or artistic content delivery.

15% Event Set-Up and Strike, Front-of-House Building Management

Set up chairs, podiums, tables, flowers, pipe-and-drape, or other fixtures and furnishings as needed to create memorable front-of-house events such as gallery openings, receptions, and artist talks. Assist caterers in setting up for events, including management of the warming kitchen. Manage keys and ingress/egress throughout the facility during events. Lock and unlock facility as needed. Work with the Associate Director of Events and Productions to manage front-of-house elements associated with artistic events.

10% Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum/Required Qualifications       

·        Bachelor’s degree in business, communications, hospitality, marketing, public relations, arts administration, or related field.

·        Understanding of, and commitment to justice, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and diversity practices and to embedding practices into excellent guest service.

·        Experience in customer service or hospitality.

·        Experience with cash handling and related accounting procedures.

·        Experience in or willingness to learn about venue management and performing arts box office practices.

·        Proficient in written and oral communication.

·        Ability to perform effectively when working in stressful situations.

·        Ability to manage multiple projects on various timelines and prioritize as necessary.

·        Ability to perform a variety of administrative duties without direct supervision.

·        Ability to prepare financial reports and meet deadlines.

Preferred (Special) Qualifications         

·        3 years’ working in a box office or related environment.

·        Proficiency in common box office ticketing systems. Training or direct experience with AudienceView is a plus.

·        Experience directing and/or supervising employees, experience with student workers is a plus.

·        Proficiency in Spanish.

·        Knowledge of crowd safety, ADA and de-escalation techniques.

·        Knowledge of dynamic pricing, tiering, and revenue projections.

·        Knowledge of multi-venue operations and academic performing arts centers.

Working Conditions / Work Schedule  

The Guest Experience and Box Office Manager is an in-person position that will require extensive evening and weekend work given the ongoing expansion of this vibrant facility and meeting university and community expectations.

·        The incumbent in this position will be expected to work on site and with a team.

·        The position will require evening and weekend work, with atypical hours that are varied within a normative 40-hour work week.

·        This position will require long periods of standing, the ability to move chairs, and support event and program set up as needed.