Current Job openings:
Executive Director
Brookfield Craft Center is seeking a leader to become our next Executive Director. Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director is responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the Craft Center and for the management of its staff, its physical plant, and achievement of its financial goals and objectives. The Executive Director has daily interactions with staff and frequent interaction with instructors, customers, board members, members of the Center, donors, volunteers, and the general public.
Responsibilities
- Provide leadership and policy guidance to ensure that the Craft Center can consistently meet the goals of its mission and its financial objectives.
- Manage and evaluate all Craft Center operations, programs, and activities. Implement policy decisions from the board of directors.
- Hire, supervise, evaluate, and promote staff consistent with the Craft Center’s mission and objectives.
- Be the principal face and voice of the Craft Center in public settings, media interviews, and the Center’s own publicity.
- Approve all financial disbursements and monitor the Craft Center’s financial and accounting activities; prepare annual budgets; provide the board of directors with monthly comprehensive financial reports.
- Enter into contracts, with the approval of the board of directors.
- Keep the board of directors regularly informed about the Craft Center’s activities, and promptly alert the board to any developments that may affect the Craft Center’s well-being.
- Actively participate in fundraising for ongoing operations, new programs, and capital projects.
- Maintain the Craft Center’s records. Keep sensitive information confidential.
Skills and Qualifications
- BA, BFA, MFA, or MBA in fine art, art education, marketing, or related fields.
- At least 5 years’ experience in art or craft industry or in nonprofit management.
- Knowledge of fund development proccesses and procedures, plus familiarity with the planning and implementation of fundraising programs.
- Familiarity with database management and good computer skills.
- Comfort working in a team environment, demonstrating sound interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
- Strong organizatonal skills, plus a strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skill set.
Ability to handle challenges and solve problems in a positive, productive way.
To apply, send a cover letter and resume to: jobapplication@brookfieldcraft.org, and put “executive director position” in the subject line.
Curator for Art Exhibition:
Brookfield Craft Center is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in its endeavors. This includes representing different voices in our instructors, students, class offerings and in providing opportunities for artists from many communities to sell and exhibit their works. Expanding the cultural range of our offerings can only help us to promote creativity and personal growth through craft education.
As part of our continuing efforts, Brookfield Craft Center will host an annual exhibition with a DEI theme with a guest curator who will provide artists in the BIPOC and other underrepresented communities the opportunity to display and sell their works as well as tell their own stories. To facilitate this Open Call, BCC is eager to work with a guest curator from a marginalized community to determine the thematic content and curate the exhibition. The exhibition is scheduled to open in July of 2022 and slated to be installed in our Brookfield, CT gallery and be presented virtually as well. The curator will receive a $1,000 stipend for their work.
Working with the BCC team, this person will lead the effort to:
- Define the theme of the exhibition within the broad DEI theme.
- Define the call of the exhibition.
- Review and approve artist submissions.
- Install the exhibition.
- Create the program documentation and materials for the exhibition.
The ideal person to lead this effort will:
- Have experience with curation.
- Be within commuting distance of Brookfield Craft Center.
Interested individuals should send a cover letter and CV by April 30th to Howard Lasser at director@brookfieldcraft.org
About Brookfield Craft Center: The Brookfield Craft Center (BCC) was founded in 1952 and is recognized as one of the core fine craft schools in America. The center, incorporated in 1954, is a 501(c)(3) organization, offering classes and workshops in glass arts, woodturning, ceramics, jewelry, blacksmithing, fiber arts, drawing and painting, digital arts and other creative endeavors for children and adults taught by professional faculty. The historic Mill Building (ca 1780) Gift Shop and Exhibition Gallery is a beautiful venue for displaying fine craft. As a force for arts advocacy and community building, Brookfield Craft Center strives to teach and preserve the skills of fine craftsmanship, and to enable creativity and personal growth through craft education.
Education Director / Artist in Residence:
Brookfield Craft Center has received a grant that will, in part, allow it to hire a new position. This position “Artist in Residence / Education Director” is created to provide artists with a professional working space in an artistic community. At the same time this position offers the selected individual the opportunity to develop, or exercise, their administrative skills in management of Brookfield Craft Center’s educational program.
Grant Funding: This position is initially funded by a grant that covers two years. Our goal with the creation of this position is to offer an experienced or budding artist the opportunity to build their portfolio while growing Brookfield Craft Center’s educational program to a sustainable level once grant funding is ended. While the initial offer will be for a term of up to two years, this can be extended depending on the interest and success of the individual selected.
The individual will have access to any of our 8 studios in which an emerging artist in fine arts and crafts can expand the parameters of their chosen mediums, explore new directions in their work and enhance their creative vision, and at the same time advance Brookfield Craft Center’s goal of growing its educational program and furthering its mission of preserving the skills of fine craftsmanship, preservation of its historic buildings and educating the public through seeing and participating in the hands-on creation of crafts.
Application process: Interested persons should submit a cover letter and resume/CV to:
Brookfield Craft Center, Inc.
Attn: Executive Director
PO Box 122
Brookfield, CT 06804
Or email to: Director@brookfieldcraft.org
Applications must be received by Monday, March 25, 2021.
A great opportunity to be part of our future: Our Board is Growing! Come Join Us!
The Brookfield Craft Center (“BCC”) is looking for an expanded slate of board members to support our growing community impact and influence on the arts within the new Brookfield Town Center. We are seeking individuals who bring diverse experience in life, culture, career, and community to help achieve the mission of the BCC: to teach and preserve the skills of contemporary and traditional craftsmanship, creativity, and personal growth.
Goal: Our goal is to recruit seven new board members for 2023 including a new board president, with room to expand beyond that goal based on the skill of the nominated candidates.
Who is eligible? Individuals with a passion for lifelong learning, curiosity or passion for the arts, and the continued expansion of our town center and the arts in Connecticut are welcomed. Our representative board may include individuals with skills and backgrounds such as: event planning, the arts community, arts/education instruction, fundraising or endowments, construction management, marketing, social media, retail, fine crafts, volunteer coordination, strategic planning, board governance, and more!
Commitment to DE&I: As part of guiding actions and principles, the BCC Board is committed to diversity and inclusion in our board membership. Our DE&I policy can be found here. The BCC is committed to a nondiscriminatory approach and provides equal opportunity for employment and advancement throughout our organization including our contractors, educational programs, and support for working artists in all mediums. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard.
Expectations: At this time the Board meets once a month with a focus on operations, programming, staffing, financials, and strategic planning and goals. Additional support of and attendance at gallery and open house events provides board members an opportunity to share the value of the BCC. Support of our fundraising goals are a sign of commitment to the organization and an important tool in the approval of grants. While we don’t specify board member contributions, we kindly request that board members personally support our annual appeals.
Term Length: Board Member positions are three-year terms and are (re)elected annually according to term date. However, due to some early departures and a desire to have staggered terms among Board Members we are looking for the following terms:
2 – members for a one-year term
2 – members for a two-year term
3 – members for a three-year term
Interested? We’d love to hear from you! Please complete this form and tell us more about yourself. We will reach out within a couple of business days.