Executive Director

The San Francisco based contemporary music ensemble Earplay seeks a dynamic and inspirational Executive Director to provide strong and imaginative leadership as the organization begins its 40th concert season in 2025.  The position start date is June 1, 2024.  This is an excellent opportunity to join a well-established organization combining highly skilled musicians, knowledgeable board members and a stable donor base, to implement a prestigious concert series featuring numerous world premieres and cutting-edge chamber music repertoire. It is an opportunity to work with some of the finest musicians in Bay Area’s new music scene, and to meet and nurture both established and emerging professional composers. For more information on Earplay please see Background, below, or visit our website at https://www.earplay.org/.

Earplay's Executive Director is a part-time, remote position that reports to the Earplay Board of Directors. The Executive Director (ED) is the chief administrative and development officer of the organization, maintaining Earplay's visible presence in the community, operating the organization on a day-to-day basis, providing leadership in the organization’s fiscal growth, maintaining and enhancing the Earplay brand, and managing relationships with audience members, musicians, donors and other stakeholders.

The ED executes the vision and strategy of the organization and is the primary public spokesperson for the organization in communications with donors, volunteers, existing and potential collaborators, local, regional and national organizations, and the public.  The ED strives for the organization’s success in the areas listed below.

Development

• Plan, supervise, and implement grant writing to fund program plans.

• Identify and execute donor relation strategies that will result in developing a broader network of individual donors, and nurturing the current donor base in order to meet or exceed goals.

• Identify and execute corporate donor strategies in order to generate corporate gifts and sponsorships.

• Coordinate gift acceptance and management, and acknowledgement and donor recognition.

• Work to maximize sources of earned income.

• Explore and develop additional sources of funding.

Marketing

• Maintain and enhance the Earplay brand, and ensure that all marketing and public relations efforts provide consistent presentation of that brand to the public.

• Oversee development and maintenance of website, social media and print based materials, and execute direct marketing and social media campaigns.

• Maintain positive media relations, identifying opportunities to broaden the Earplay brand and mission through exposure in San Francisco Bay Area media outlets.

 

Community Relations

• Act as a principal spokesperson for the organization to the media, the corporate community, government agencies, foundations and supporters.

• Determine the direction of and execute community outreach efforts in conjunction with Board.

• Develop ongoing relationships and identify collaborative opportunities with other arts and community organizations consistent with the Earplay mission.

• Be an active participant in the local arts community.

 

Artistic Administration

• Work in close coordination with the Programming Committee and other artistic personnel in repertoire development, selection of venues, and hiring of guest artists.

• Contract with performance and rehearsal venues, guest artists, and ensemble personnel.

• Oversee rental, purchase, licensing and distribution of print or digital music required for performance.

• Oversee venue production and other staff in all aspects of concert production and ticket sales.

 

Financial Management

• Lead the annual budget process.

• Provide, in consultation with the Treasurer, regular reporting on the organization’s financial performance and condition.

• Ensure timely completion and submission of annual year-end report and appropriate tax filings.

• Manage, in consultation with the Treasurer, accounting activities such as bookkeeping, monitoring receivables and payables, payroll processing, check writing, and account reconciliation.

• Hire, train, manage and evaluate any non-artistic staff.

• Manage employee compensation and benefits.
   

Board Relations

• Actively participate in monthly Board meetings as an ex officio member of the Board of Directors.

• Work with the Board to develop and manage the organization’s strategic plan.

• Work with Board committees to ensure that strategic planning and policies align with the mission and vision of the organization.

• Assist in identifying, recruiting and developing new members for the Board of Directors.
   

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a related field.

• Strong experience in non-profit management, or the equivalent in the private sector, including: successful fund raising from public and private sources; motivational leadership and management of board and staff resources; financial management, including budgeting and performance measurement; marketing, public relations and branding; effective collaboration with Boards of Directors.

• Passion for the arts as an important part of the community at large, including, ideally, knowledge and understanding of contemporary music concerns.

• Ability to work in close partnership with a programming committee and other artistic personnel.

• Exemplary communication skills, including public speaking and writing, and an ability to build relationships with community leaders, business executives, foundation officials, donors, and the media.

• Working knowledge of performing arts management.

• Residence in the San Francisco Bay Area is essential.

• Demonstrated warmth, patience, perseverance, humor, integrity, enthusiasm, people skills, commitment, and an inspirational leadership style.

 

About Earplay

Our Mission: Earplay nurtures the finest new chamber music of our time, linking audiences, performers, and composers through concerts, commissions, and recordings.

Founded in 1985 by a consortium of composers and musicians, Earplay has performed over 600 works by more than 350 composers, including 158 world premieres and 93 new works commissioned by the ensemble. Visit the Earplay archives to learn more about Earplay's rich history.

Earplay is dedicated to the performance and recording of new chamber music. It is an evolving genre where composers and musicians freely experiment with musical structure, rhythm, and sounds, challenging the audience to broaden its concept of music with new emotional and auditory experiences.

​Earplay concerts feature the Earplay ensemble, a group of artists whose lyrical and ferocious style provides eloquent, vivid performances of today's finest chamber music. Earplay regularly presents new video on the Earplay YouTube channel, and both audio and video on the Earplay website’s Media page.

​Earplay sponsors the annual Donald Aird Composers Competition, open to composers of any age and nationality; and the annual Vibrant Shores Prize, for composers identifying as people of color. In each case, the winning composer receives a cash prize of $1,000 and a performance on one of Earplay’s mainstage concerts.