Public Programs Associate Manager

Position Category: Full-time, Regular 

Employee Type: Salaried, Exempt 

Reports to: Senior Artistic Director 

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.-5 p.m; event-driven evening and weekend hours required. This is an in-person position. 

Organization: 

Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit arts organization located in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature. 

Our programs create opportunities for readers and writers of all ages and walks of life to engage with stories. We provide programs in concert halls, classrooms, our community space, and on the radio. Literary Arts is committed to remaining a dynamic and responsive organization that will continue to evolve with our community’s needs and deepen our equity work across all our programs. 

The Position: 

Literary Arts seeks an enthusiastic, well-organized individual to support our public programs, which includes but is not limited to Portland Arts & Lectures (PA&L) and Special Events (SE), Portland Book Festival (PBF), and The Archive Project (TAP). This position plays a key role in the daily operations of an established and dynamic literary nonprofit organization, offering wide-ranging experiences to a candidate seeking a career in arts administration and/or event management. Event work will require 1-2 evenings per month, always with substantial advance notice. 

The Public Programs Associate Manager actively participates in ongoing efforts to further an organizational culture that supports and reinforces the equity, diversity, and inclusion goals of Literary Arts. 

Responsibilities: 

Portland Book Festival: (40%) 

• Manage PBF book fair exhibitors and other festival vendors (such as food carts, audio-visual, etc.), including outreach and recruitment, processing applications, communications, and day-of logistical coordination. 
• Oversee planning and communication with festival venue partners and serve as liaison between venues, third-party vendors, volunteers, and other staff. 
• Manage PBF book submission process, communicate with applicants. 
• Curate PBF pop-up programming, including creating schedule and outreach to community groups. 
• General support to the Senior Artistic Director for PBF, including communication with authors and publicists, copy writing, maintaining, and updating websites, and more as needed. 
• Oversee hiring and management of seasonal festival event intern(s) and support volunteer recruitment and communications in collaboration with volunteer specialist. 

Portland Arts & Lectures and Special Events: (20%) 

• Production support, including coordination with venues and third-party vendors. 
• Research, copywriting for print and digital, and maintaining and updating website and digital assets. 
• Day-of oversight of technical production elements. 

The Archive Project: (25%) 

• Project management of pre-production and production of weekly radio show and podcast. 
• Work with marketing and broadcast partners to facilitate weekly distribution. 
• Copywriting and maintaining and updating website and digital assets. 
• Maintain files and continue rights request project and organization. 
• As needed, attend events with partner organizations to record. 

Other/General (15%) 

• Administrative support to the Senior Artistic Director. 
• Event and customer service support via phone, email, and in person as needed. 
• Other duties as assigned by the Senior Artistic Director. 

Skills and Competencies: 

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying. Please be clear and specific about how your background is relevant. 

• 5+ years’ experience working on public event production/management. 
• Ability to interact positively with people of diverse backgrounds. 
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. 
• Exceptional organizing and project management skills and attention to detail. 
• Strong time management skills, including the ability to set and meet deadlines, manage multiple tasks, and show flexibility with tasks. 
• Familiarity with contemporary literature and authors. 
• Fluency with Mac and Microsoft business applications, particularly Microsoft Excel and Word. Familiarity with WordPress, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Audition a plus but not required. 

Qualities: 

• Commitment to literature and its place in our society. 
• Desire to communicate and collaborate with your team and cross-departmentally. 
• Comfortable in an environment that acknowledges, encourages, and celebrates differences. 
• Strong attention to detail. 
• Demonstrated ability to appropriately manage highly confidential information. 
• Creative problem-solving aptitude. 
• Commitment to the mission of Literary Arts. 

Experience: 

Literary Arts acknowledges and celebrates all types of learning: academic, career, and on-the-job training, as well as volunteer and military service. Literary Arts’ goal is to hire and retain individuals who have demonstrated success performing the essential duties of the position and/or who possess the qualities to learn new skills quickly. Experience working with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds is strongly recommended for this role.

Job Conditions:

Office Layout is an open concept, between two common spaces used for meetings, events, and workshops. Approximately 70% of the workday is spent at an unshared computer workstation. The rest of the time is spent in meetings, at events, and performing tasks around the office. 

Equipment Used: Mac laptop, copier/printer, postage machine, and other standard office equipment. Literary Arts provides an adjustable office chair; a standing desk can be requested. 

Physical Demands: Long periods of sitting are required at the computer or in meetings. Some concentrated periods of computer keyboarding may be required throughout the work week. However, this position does accommodate breaks from sitting as needed. Lifting and moving of boxes is required; boxes in excess of 25 pounds should be lifted with assistance. Event production set-up and tear-down requires the ability to navigate through venues and around event grounds, such as setting up signage, moving materials between venues, navigating the use of a hand truck loaded with books and materials, lifting items in and out of vehicles, and moving in and out of venues quickly. Work is performed in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment with frequent interruptions and reorganizing of priorities. 

For more information about Literary Arts, visit https://literary-arts.org.

 Literary Arts currently pays for health, dental, and vision coverage for each FTE employee, and offers a 401K program with employer match. Literary Arts also fully pays for short- and long-term disability insurance. All full-time employees begin with three weeks of paid vacation time, which increases to five weeks after five years of employment. We also provide three additional paid personal days off, in addition to observing approximately 12 paid holidays. As a registered nonprofit, the organization qualifies for public service loan forgiveness. Information on additional benefits is available upon request. 

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume, sent as a single combined PDF file, to applications@literary-arts.org with the subject line “Public Programs Associate Manager.” Please address in your cover letter the importance of diversity and inclusion in the arts. Applications that do not follow these guidelines will not be considered. 

We will begin formally reviewing applications on Friday, May 17, 2024. 

After you submit your application materials, you will be invited to participate in a voluntary survey. Literary Arts is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for our employees and volunteers, and data collected from these surveys allows us to measure and show the progress we are making in a concrete way. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and experiences.