The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE) seeks a full-time Project Manager for Healing Verse Germantown: The Streets Are Talking. Healing Verse Germantown includes community poetry workshops, a poetry phone line, public art exhibition, and a digital/printed archive to help Germantown residents heal from the trauma of gun violence. The compensation for this position is $70,000 annually. The project manager will coordinate all aspects of the project, oversee the project timeline, and centralize all project logistics and communications. They will work very closely with OACCE staff and the artistic team, in addition to Germantown community members and partners, and report directly to OACCE’s Public Art Director, Marguerite Anglin.
OACCE received a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to create Healing Verse Germantown: The Streets are Talking, in collaboration with lead artists Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson, and Public Art Coordinator Rob Blackson. The grant term concludes on December 31st, 2025. Healing Verse Germantown engages individuals affected by gun violence in Germantown through four components: 1) poetry workshops led by professional poets and social workers; 2) a phone line featuring new poems weekly about gun violence and healing, and offering mental health resources; 3) a public art exhibition of poems from the workshops/phone line, rendered into public art installations displayed in Germantown locations marked by gun violence; 4) a book archiving the project. These healing verses of poetry will be a powerful outlet for collective expression, cultivating peace and resistance against violence in Germantown and throughout Philadelphia.
RESPONSIBILITES
- Function as the project manager, day to day point of contact, and liaison between artists, vendors, contractors, community members, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the artistic team, and OACCE staff
- Ensure project stays on schedule and within the project budget
- Support the community engagement and planning process for 10 poetry workshops in Germantown in the spring and summer of 2024
- Support additional cultural programming in Germantown such as the project kickoff event, poetry readings, and the public art exhibition opening
- Assist the public art team in securing sites, receiving bids, and overseeing the installation of 20 temporary public artworks in Germantown
- Assist the communications staff at OACCE and Bloomberg Philanthropies in managing web and social media content, communications to project partners and participants, and other outreach as needed
- Organize tours and additional engagement with the 20 public artworks while they are installed between September and November, 2025.
- Assist with developing, producing, and distributing the project book, which will document the project from start to finish
- Support OACCE staff and artistic team with meeting grant requirements and fulfilling all reporting requirements
- Complete other duties as needed.
REQUIRED COMPETENCIES, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Experience in planning, budgeting, reporting, and tracking project milestones
- Experience in public engagement and managing public programming in diverse, urban communities
- Proactive, self-directed, and shows an enthusiasm for curation and project management
- Highly organized, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and creative
- Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal)
- Ability to effectively work under pressure to meet deadlines
- Capacity to work independently and collaboratively as part of a team
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office; Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite is a plus.
- Deep familiarity with Philadelphia’s cultural community; connections to and familiarity with the Germantown community is a plus
QUALIFICATIONS (EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE):
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent educational experience is required. The ideal candidate will have a minimum 3-5 years of project management experience and past artistic curation and/or cultural programming experience. Experience with community outreach and engagement is a plus.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: Must be a Philadelphia resident. Must be able to work a hybrid combination of remote and on-site at a City of Philadelphia government building.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS: Position requires a high level of mental concentration and commitment. Position requires travel to project sites and meetings throughout the city.
TO APPLY: please email a resume, cover letter, 3 samples of projects you have managed to OACCE’s Public Art Director, Marguerite Anglin, at marguerite.anglin@phila.gov. Phone calls will not be accepted.
DEADLINE: Application materials are due by 11:59pm, January 2nd, 2024.