Co-Director Position
Hours: 30 hours per week with occasional early mornings, evenings, and weekends
Compensation: $39,000 (approx. $2,600 per month after deductions)
Benefits: Blue Cross extended health insurance, three weeks paid vacation with and an additional two weeks paid vacation in December
Location: Mohkinstsís/Calgary (can work remotely for the first two months)
Start Date: Mid-December 2021 to early January 2022
Application Deadline: November 8, 2021
About Mountain Standard Time Performative Art
Foregrounding the body, Mountain Standard Time Performative Art (M:ST) creates an artistic and cultural environment where nuanced dialogues, ethical reflexivity, and social change are animated through experimental, risk taking programming. With each project we build a bespoke infrastructure in which artists can create their most ambitious work within relevant local and global contexts.
The board and staff of M:ST are driven by the following questions, and are looking for a co-director who is compelled to engage them with us:
- What are M:ST’s present and future responsibilities and contributions to the Indigenous land we are situated on?
- How might artist-run centres implement mutual aid practices?
- How might artists and arts institutions become places that co-create material and structural social change with those marginalized by the arts?
- What meaningful connections might artist-run centres make between local, national, and global artistic contexts?
- What does a healthy arts community look like? How do we resource the wellbeing of individuals who work with us?
- How to incorporate movement, embodiment, and performance into all our work both internally and externally?
- How do these practices intrinsically contribute to personal and collective health?
- What does it mean to live under capitalism and make active choices to slow down, honour ourselves and our abilities?
M:ST is committed to growing consensual relationships with the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy), and the people of the Treaty 7 region which includes the Tsuu’tina, Siksika, Piikani, Kainai First Nations and the Îyârhe Nakoda, including the Chiniki, Wesley, and Bearspaw First Nations- on whose land we live. This territory is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. We are grateful for the land where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet, called Mohkinstsís in Blackfoot, meaning elbow.
About the Job + Work Environment
Since 2015, M:ST has employed two directors, one artistic director and one operations director. Now, we are transitioning our staff positions into a co-directorship in which the two directors share artistic and administrative tasks based on their passions and skills. Therefore, in pursuing the position of co-director, you are accepting the responsibility to create your own job description in conversation with M:ST’s existing director.
M:ST will hire a candidate who is committed to developing, resourcing, and presenting their own long-term programming that expresses the vision and values of M:ST, and growing the network of relationships such projects require. They will also be enthusiastic and hands-on supporters of M:ST’s existing programs: The Mutual Aid Working Group and M:ST 10 International Residency Exchange and Gathering, both continuing to develop over the next year. They will be passionate about our ongoing internal work to experiment with and enact non-hierarchical governance structures, clear boundaries, and consent based relationships between coworkers, board members, artists, and our publics.
Remember, we are looking for someone who shares the same values and questions as M:ST, not someone who already knows how to complete all of the tasks listed.
The co-director will report to the board of directors at monthly meetings. The board is very intentional about their time together. The meetings are conversational and each one is started and finished with a prayer. The prayer is an extension of our land acknowledgment and an opportunity for us to get centered, reflect on the land, and remind us of our responsibilities as Treaty people. board meetings and many of our other meetings will continue to happen over Zoom for an indefinite period. That said, Co-Directors will work together out of our office at the CommunityWise Resource Centre (206A, 223 12th Ave. SW). Our office is located on the second floor and is not wheelchair accessible.
Supports for the Position
The change to our staffing positions is an experiment, and M:ST wants to equip both directors for success. We will create a thorough on-boarding process with ample time for conversation with your co-director, M:ST’s board of directors, our collaborators and artists, and training for the position. Realistically, we expect it to take about one year to learn all the nuances of the organization. There is a modest staff development budget available for additional mentorship, peer support, and training. The co-director will be reimbursed for a portion of their phone bill and all pre-approved work-related expenses.
Hiring Pocess
Part 1: Apply, send us either:
- A resume and letter to introduce yourself (maximum two pages for the letter)
- A video link of file (maximum 10 minutes)
- A voice recording link or file (max 10 minutes)
Send to info@mountainstandardtime.org by November 8, 2021.
In your application materials we ask that you introduce yourself and respond to two questions:
- What are your past, present, and future responsibilities and contributions to the Indigenous land you live on?
- For the second question select one from the list in the About section at the top of this document.
Part 2: First interview
Selected applicants will meet the hiring committee over Zoom for an approximately 1 hour long conversation. Interview questions and procedures will be emailed to candidates three days before the interview and each person interviewed will receive a $100 honorarium for their time spent preparing for and attending the interview.
Part 3: Second interview
Selected applicants will meet with the hiring committee for an in-depth discussion on which elements of the job stand out to them and what a co-directorship might look like. Candidates will receive a second $100 honorarium for this interview.
Please contact M:ST’s current Artistic Director, Desiree Nault, to let us know what you need to fully engage in the hiring process. The hiring committee will make changes to help you succeed.
To do so, you can call 403.837.6678 or email desiree@mountainstandardtime.
We also encourage you to reach with any questions about the call or are seeking advice on your application materials.
We enthusiastically invite folks who are Indigenous, Black, and/or people of colour, people with disabilities, people of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, persons from poor and working class backgrounds, and others with the skills and knowledge to engage equity seeking communities. M:ST has a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry. Including but not limited to; anti-Indigeneity, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, transphobia, queerphobia, ableism, anti-semitism, etc.