Contemporary Music Ensemble Seeking General Manager

Alarm Will Sound, an artist-led chamber orchestra dedicated to contemporary music and related arts, seeks a General Manager who will increase its organizational capacities, grow its business opportunities, and strengthen its position as a leader in the field of classical music. That leadership is based on an 17-year history of excellence and innovation; candidates for the position should likewise value know-how and risk-taking. The ideal candidate is a creative and strategic problem-solver with operational and financial experience in the nonprofit performing-arts sector. We have created this new position to make sustainable our vision of a more diverse and inclusive approach to making music for a wide audience who deserve art that reflects and transforms today’s world.  Compensation for the part-time position is $30,000 plus benefits. Hours and location are flexible; a significant amount of the organization’s work is accomplished through an online workspace rather than at an office.

JOB TITLE: General Manager

Classification: Part Time

Compensation: $30,000 plus benefits

Application deadline: September 15, 2018

Alarm Will Sound is an artist-led chamber orchestra dedicated to contemporary music and related arts. Our mission is to move contemporary music and performing arts towards the center of today’s culture through nationally and internationally recognized leadership in the field. That leadership is based on an 17-year history of excellence and innovation. Candidates for the position of General Manager should likewise value know-how and risk-taking.

 

Job Description

The General Manager is responsible for growing Alarm Will Sound’s organizational capacity and strengthening its position as a leader in the field of classical music.

The ideal candidate is a creative and strategic problem-solver with operational experience in the nonprofit performing-arts sector. We have created this new position to make sustainable our vision of a more diverse and inclusive approach to making music for a wide audience who deserve art that reflects and transforms today’s world.

The General Manager reports to the Executive Director. Her/his responsibilities fall into two broad categories:

  • Business responsibilities concern the cultivation of performance opportunities that are central to the organization’s artistic mission and earned income.
  • Organizational responsibilities concern the day-to-day artistic/program and administrative operations of the organization.

Business Responsibilities – 50%

  • Research presenters, festivals, and venues for business opportunities.
  • Prepare the Artistic Director and Executive Director to make pitches that match the interests and mission of specific presenters, festivals and venues.
  • Negotiate contracts with presenters, festivals, and venues, as well as with performers, composers, collaborators, and contractors.
  • Determine the season schedule in consultation with Executive Director and Artistic Director.
  • Facilitate budget planning and management with Executive Director.
  • Support production logistics in collaboration with the Production Manager
  • Produce quarterly newsletters in collaboration with the Marketing Manager that maintain awareness of Alarm Will Sound’s programs and activities for presenters, festivals, and venues.

Organizational responsibilities – 50%

  • Manage cash flow, assets, and reserves.
  • Manage accounts receivables and payables.
  • Bookkeeping using Quickbooks Online.
  • Prepare expense reimbursements to ensemble members, staff, and contractors.
  • Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local employment laws.
  • Maintain insurance compliance, including Certificates of Liability as requested by venues.
  • Prepare and file tax documents including the organization’s annual return as well as 1099’s and W-2s for contract and salaried employees
  • Under the guidance of the organization’s accountant, prepare documents required for the annual audit.
  • Prepare budgets and financial statements required for grant applications and reports in collaboration with the Development Manager.
  • Prepare operational information needed for grant applications and reports, including production schedules, audience demographic data, and ticket sales.
  • Prepare production and financial information for use in individual donor cultivation.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree required, preferred majors in the performing arts, arts administration, or related fields.
  • Significant experience at a nonprofit.
  • Fluent in Google Drive Suites, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Office.

Environment

Alarm Will Sound’s team is spread across North America. A significant amount of the organization’s work is accomplished through an online workspace rather than at an office. Therefore, the General Manager’s hours and location are flexible.

Contact

Send inquiries and applications to gavinchuck@alarmwillsound.com.

Alarm Will Sound: Mission and History

Mission

Alarm Will Sound moves contemporary music and performing arts towards the center of today’s culture through nationally and internationally recognized leadership in the field. We engage diverse audiences through productions that cross musical styles and combine artistic disciplines, frequently incorporating staging, action, movement, and visual media into our performances. Indeed, today’s composers, performers and audiences increasingly create and seek out events that make connections among many art forms, genres, and media. With the goal of rewarding our audience’s curiosity, the ensemble brings intelligence and a sense of adventure to the rich variety of artistic expression in the contemporary world.

History

Alarm Will Sound was founded in 2001 by composers and performers who met as students at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Playing old and new music together at a formative period of our artistic and technical growth, and then sticking together as a team since, we have developed a remarkable mutual commitment reflected in the fact that there has been very little personnel change in over 15 years. Our reputation for artistic and organizational innovation flows directly from the personal and professional trust that we have built with each other: risks are taken because they are shared and because they are part of a shared vision.

Our performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity” by the Financial Times of London and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times says that Alarm Will Sound is “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene.”

The versatility of Alarm Will Sound allows us to take on music from a wide variety of styles. Our repertoire ranges from European to American works, from the arch-modernist to the pop-influenced. Alarm Will Sound has been associated since our inception with composers at the forefront of contemporary music, premiering pieces by John Adams, Steve Reich, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Aaron Jay Kernis, Augusta Read Thomas, Derek Bermel, Benedict Mason, and Wolfgang Rihm, among others. We are the resident ensemble at the annual Mizzou International Composers Festival, in Columbia, MO focusing on world premiere performances of music by emerging composers. The group itself includes many composer-performers, which allows for an unusual degree of insight into the creation and performance of new work.

Alarm Will Sound may be heard on nine recordings, including our most recent, Modernists, released by Cantaloupe in May 2016, and the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Radio Rewrite. Our genre-bending, critically acclaimed Acoustica features live-performance arrangements of music by electronica guru Aphex Twin. This unique project taps the diverse talents within the group, from the many composers who made arrangements of the original tracks, to the experimental approaches developed by the performers.  

Alarm Will Sound has been presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, (le) Poisson Rouge, Miller Theatre, the Kitchen, the Bang on a Can Marathon, Disney Hall, Kimmel Center, Library of Congress, the Walker Arts Center, Cal Performances, Stanford Lively Arts, Duke Performances, and the Warhol Museum. International tours include the Holland Festival, Sacrum Profanum, Moscow’s Art November, St. Petersburg’s Pro Arte Festival, and the Barbican.

The members of the ensemble have also demonstrated our commitment to the education of young performers and composers through residency performances and activities at the Community Music School of Webster University, Cleveland State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Missouri, Eastman School of Music, Dickinson College, Duke University, the Manhattan School of Music, Harvard University, New York University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

With diverse experience in composition, improvisation, jazz and popular styles, early music, and world musics, we bring intelligence and a sense of adventure to all our performances.

 

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Authored by Gavin Chuck
Managing Director, Composer

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