Associate Program Director - Learning Through Drama

The CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) is seeking a full time Associate Program Director for the Learning Through Drama program.

Organizational Mission

The CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) is an arts-in-education program at the City University of New York (CUNY), serving more than 9,000 people annually in New York City. CAT uses theatre strategies to engage, inspire and educate in a variety of settings, including schools, after-school programs, college campuses, community-based organizations, and government facilities. CAT is housed within the CUNY K16 Initiatives unit at the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs.

Program Description

Learning Through Drama (LTD) is a program of the CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) that provides in-school workshops for middle and high school students in public schools around New York City. In duos, LTD Actor Teachers create drama-based sessions whose learning objectives include social emotional, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. We develop curriculum weekly in conversation with the school community and in response to the interests and needs of the students.

Job Description

The Associate Program Director (APD) will report to the Program Director (PD) and be responsible for assisting the PD in executing the full scope of the Learning Through Drama program. This responsibility includes assisting in the management and training of eight Actor Teachers and twelve MSW apprentices, maintaining relationships with school communities, and assuring curriculum quality. The APD will be chiefly responsible for creating and maintaining administrative systems to support CAT's compliance with multiple government funders (including the Department of Youth and Community Development). They will lead communication with school administration and teachers around scheduling and programming. The APD will be expected to be on-site at CAT and at all schools regularly throughout the year.

• Understanding, maintaining, developing, and representing Creative Arts Team/Learning Through Drama pedagogy.
• Assisting Program Director in planning and steering Learning Through Drama programming.
• Assisting Program Director in hiring, training, and managing about eight Actor Teachers, whose responsibilities include creating weekly curriculum to be implemented in schools.
• Assisting Program Director in establishing and maintaining relationships and regular communication with administrators and teachers at 12 NYC public high schools and middle schools, including in-person meetings in The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.
• Assisting Program Director in creating and maintaining systems to collect program data, including evaluations.
• Assisting Program Director in managing up to twelve MSW interns, whose responsibilities will include managing student casework and providing students with safe passage to and from schools.
• Securing workshop schedules at each school that fulfill contractual requirements, educational goals, and programmatic needs.
• Having an on-site presence in schools in Queens, The Bronx, and Brooklyn to facilitate new program-to-school relationships, fulfill funder requirements, and support other administrative programmatic needs. In-school presence will be as-needed but may be required up to five days per week.
• Communicating schedules, including last-minute changes to Actor Teachers, school staff, and funders.
• Interfacing with DYCD Connect and AirTable to ensure data is entered accurately and on time.
• Preparing internal files for periodic funder audits.
• Attending weekly team meetings at CAT and participating in weekly Curriculum Lab with Actor Teachers.
• Attending periodic meetings with fulltime CAT staff and contributing to strategic planning.
• Representing CAT (along with other FT staff) at K16 Initiatives staff meetings.
• Co-facilitating curriculum training as needed with the Program Director for Actor Teachers during September curriculum intensive, and weekly Monday meetings.
• Co-facilitating weekly sessions with Program Director for MSW student apprentices.
• Facilitating relationships between MSW Student Apprentices and school staff.
• Along with PD, creating and maintaining digital and physical systems to document curriculum.
• Scheduling short-term residencies as they arise throughout the school year.
• Filling in for Program Director in his absence.
• Implementing periodic short-term residencies as they arise during the school year, to be negotiated with PD and CAT leadership.
• Occasionally facilitating workshops in schools as a substitute for Actor Teachers.
• Representing LTD at conferences as appropriate and needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 years experience creating and implementing original drama-in-education work with students is required.
• A minimum of one year in administration or education is required.
• Expertise in, and ability to communicate about, drama education is required.
• Excellent administrative capabilities are required.
• Previous work with students is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Undergraduate or graduate degree in applied theatre, arts education, arts administration, or education is highly valued.
• Local knowledge of NYC communities is highly valued.
• Multilingualism, particularly an ability to facilitate in multiple languages, is highly valued.

Work Sites

The Associate Program Director must be available to be on site (at CAT offices in Midtown Manhattan or in a school anywhere in NYC) five days a week. Work sites will be at CAT on Mondays and Wednesdays, at schools as needed, and remote only when workload allows. School sites are as follows and are subject to change:

• 99 Jamaica Avenue, Brooklyn
• 925 Astor Avenue, The Bronx
• 1180 Rev James A polite Avenue, The Bronx
• 109-95 98th Street, Queens
• 101-01 Rockaway Boulevard, Queens
• 121-10 Rockaway Boulevard, Queens

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) is a nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1963 to provide post-award fiscal and administrative support for CUNY’s research and sponsored programs. RFCUNY’s services allow CUNY researchers, faculty, and staff to focus on their intellectual curiosity and scientific discoveries, on projects and programs that serve our local and global communities, proposing concrete solutions to society’s most pressing challenges.

RFCUNY serves as a fiscal agent and works closely with all the CUNY campus Grants Offices to perform the core functions of post-award financial management for CUNY research projects and sponsored programs. These functions include legal assessment and signing of agreements where RFCUNY is named as a fiscal agent; setting up award accounts; preparing sub-awards and assisting PIs in monitoring the work of the recipients of sub-awards; supporting project directors with hiring and managing research project and sponsored program staff; supporting the purchasing and paying for goods and services with grant and program funds; managing financial aspects of projects including accounts receivable, financial reporting, invoicing, budget monitoring, and cost compliance with uniform guidance; ensuring that sponsor financial requirements are met; monitoring compliance with applicable project and financial management rules and laws; supporting the management of independent and external audits and financial reviews; and providing data, information, management expertise, and other supports to CUNY’s research and sponsored programs.