Program Director
Calgary Winter Festival Collective Program Director
Expression of Interest Due: March 10, 2020
Calgary Winter Festival Collective is the working name for an initiative that is in the discovery phase with participating stakeholders; for 2021 the target plan is to hold an event that brings together multiple organizations. The timing of the festival is January 14 to February 28, 2021. While this is the current planned date, there is a milestone date in September 2020 to determine if the event will go ahead in 2021.
Current Draft Mission: The Calgary Winter Festival Collective will establish, celebrate and promote an inclusive winter festival which positions our city as a vibrant location for citizens and visitors to enjoy.
Opportunity
We are seeking an individual or team that will manage the plan and delivery of this program from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. This is a call for expressions of interest for those interested in leading this collective and to come into the planning in the early days to make the collective thrive, succeed, and be set up for years to come.
Primary Purpose of the Program Director
As the collective program director, you’ll be expected to develop the plan and coordinate the work for the successful delivery of the festival. There will be a program team (to be determined) and office that is developed as the central hub of the initiative. You’ll be expected to utilize your business knowledge, stakeholder relations and planning experience along with excellent coordination skills to successfully drive outcomes and milestones. Participating stakeholders will align their own events and activities to the collective, as they determine feasibility, with the assistance of the program director.
Responsibilities and Deliverables
To build and execute the overall plan, including approach, scope, tasks, durations, work effort, dependencies, budget, planning assumptions, risk profile, resource allocation, and deliverable definitions. This includes aligning participating stakeholder activities.
Reporting to the executive committee, the specific responsibilities will include:
- Stakeholder communications and relations.
- Coordinate numerous stakeholders in aligning plans and activities to the collective.
- Track and report stakeholder progress to plan.
- Support stakeholders by identifying and removing barriers and mitigating issues.
- Program Management:
- Help in the design and setup of the management office.
- Activate event wide plan (site plan, safety, venues, permits).
- Coordinate collective calendar and identify gaps for programming.
- Initiate and facilitate programming in outdoor spaces, i.e. firepits.
- Escalate risks before they become issues and where required resolve issues.
- Manage the collective program budget and report updates to executive committee.
- Facilitate a post-mortem and key learnings report via a survey to measure success.
- Marketing and Communications:
- Serve as an advocate to the overall initiative.
- Create collective brand, message, and marketing campaign.
- Develop and deliver communications to stakeholders and media.
- Develop a shared marketing platform (i.e. website, calendar, handbills).
- Establish and manage a central “info” hub of all activities.
- Reporting:
- Coordinate and facilitate progress meetings.
- Prepare reports to the steering committee and executive committee.
- Create recommendations for future iterations of the event.
Excluded from Scope: Participating stakeholders will define their approach to participation as many already have existing programming plans
Qualifications
The ideal candidate will be proactive, passionate, have a positive and engaging attitude and will have worked in a dynamic environment where they have experience delivering on multiple priorities and will hold the following qualifications:
- Post-secondary education or experience in a related field.
- Minimum of six to eight years of experience in the coordination and management of diverse stakeholders in achieving an agreed set of goals and outcomes.
- Experience developing and implementing a program brand, communications strategy, and media relations.
- Event experience including programming, planning, coordinating and budgeting.
- Excellent communication skills demonstrated by public speaking, written communication, political acumen, and strong facilitation skills.
- Self-motivated and output focused with strong capabilities around troubleshooting and problem management.
- Analytical experience working with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
- Strong interpersonal, administrative, and organizational skills.
- Highly organized with exceptional time management skills, the ability to prioritize, to recognize importance of deadlines, and to multi-task.
- Experience working both independently and, in a team or collaborative environment.
- Knowledge of MS Office Suite and Google Drive.
Reporting Structure
The role will be a consultant position contracted through Calgary Arts Development and reporting to the collective’s executive committee and the Mayor’s Office to ensure the alignment with all the stakeholders.
The executive committee includes representatives from the following stakeholders:
- City of Calgary (Mayor’s office, Arts & Culture)
- Calgary Arts Development
- Tourism Calgary/CSME
- CMLC (Calgary Municipal Land Corporation)
Expression of Interest Requirements
Please include the following documents with your submissions:
- Two-page overview outlining your approach and what you would bring to this opportunity as program director.
- High-level proposed timeline including approximate hours required for the 12 months contract term.
- Fee schedule for consulting services.
- Resume.
- Any other supporting documentation (no more than two additional files or links).
The deadline for the expression of interest is March 10, 2020, 5:00pm. All submissions should be sent via email to sara.bateman@calgaryartsdevelopment.com.
