Brown University
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Job Description:
The Director of Creative and Artistic Administration serves as the primary arts and production administrator of the Department of Africana Studies / Rites and Reason Theatre, one of the oldest research theatres in the United States dedicated to the development, study, and presentation of Black performance traditions. This position is for someone who understands that the stage is a site of scholarship, that the making of new work in collaboration with artists is itself an intellectual act, and that a developmental theatre's most important contribution is not the work it presents but the work it helps bring into existence.
Rites and Reason Theatre is a space where plays are born, devised works take shape, and artists are given the room and the rigor to discover what they are actually trying to make. The Director of Creative and Artistic Administration is the person who connects the creative and developmental space - who knows how to find the resources to support a playwright whose second act isn't working yet, with a choreographer building movement vocabulary for a story that has never been told in quite this way before or with an ensemble finding a devised piece through process rather than from a finished page.
Working in close collaboration with the Department Chair, the Director leads the development and administration of the Theatre's annual season, which spans full theatrical productions and world premieres, staged readings of works in development, devised and collaborative projects, symposia, guest artist engagements, and signature events such as the Black Lavender Experience. The Director is responsible for the arts administration that connects these individual events into a coherent body of work - one that reflects the scholarly commitments of the Department, advances the Theatre's identity as a site of creation and not only presentation, and cultivates enduring relationships with artists and communities across the African Diaspora. They lead artist identification and recruitment, administratively shepherd productions from earliest concept through opening night, and work to build the audiences and institutional partnerships that give this work its reach and its meaning.
The Director of Creative and Artistic Administration also works in close collaboration with the Academic Department Manager (ADM) on the planning and scheduling of events and with budget planning.
Education and Experience
• Bachelor's Degree with 5-7 years of related experience, Master's degree preferred.
• Substantive professional experience in theatrical production, new play or devised work development, performing arts programming, or a related field - either as a practicing artist (director, dramaturg, choreographer, playwright, or interdisciplinary practitioner) or in a leadership role that required deep, ongoing creative collaboration with artists at all stages of the developmental process.
• Demonstrated experience with new work development and devised theatre processes, including the ability to provide meaningful dramaturgical and artistic feedback and to support artists through the uncertainty and iteration that developmental work requires.
• Productive and wide-ranging professional relationships in the arts world, preferably with Black theatre, dance, and/or music artists and scholars based in the U.S., the Caribbean, Africa, or other parts of the African Diaspora.
• Deep working knowledge of professional theatre, dance, or related performance practices - including the specific tools, processes, and professional norms of new play development and devised work - with fluency in the dramaturgical and creative conversations that happen at each stage of a work's evolution.
• Demonstrated curatorial and artistic vision with experience developing programming that is both intellectually substantive and community-responsive, including work that is still being made.
• The capacity to be a genuine creative partner to artists: to enter a developmental process, understand what a work is trying to become, and offer feedback and support that serves the artist's vision rather than substituting another one.
• Supervisory experience and strong collaborative leadership skills - the ability to mobilize faculty, staff, students, and artists around a shared creative vision while maintaining clear organizational accountability.
• Experience with project planning, production management, and the management of concurrent projects at different stages of development.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to articulate an artistic vision compellingly to diverse audiences - from grant committees to community members.
• Familiarity with audience development strategies and marketing for performing arts or cultural programming.
• Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendars, etc.) Canva, Zoom, and Workday or a willingness to learn.
• Ability to work both independently and as a deeply engaged member of a collaborative team; capacity to listen well, inspire others, and lead by example.
Additional physical demands and working conditions:
- Some travel throughout the US may be required for artist scouting, conferences, and institutional partnerships.