Director of Creative Advocacy and Partnerships; ACLS Leading Edge Fellow

Overview

Apply now to work with us as an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow! These two-year fellowships partner recent humanities & social sciences PhDs with organizations committed to promoting justice with and in their communities. Deadline:
March 11, 9 PM EDT.(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). Edge

The Final date to receive applications is March 11, 2026 at 9:00 PM EDT (Please apply directly to ACLS). For more information, please visit  Edge and direct any questions to ACLS at leadingedge

Location:

In San Diego, CA (in-person)

Stipend: $72,000 in the first year, $74,000 in the second year

Benefits:
Access to employer health insurance. Professional development funds and relocation funds provided by ACLS.

Start Date:

September 2026

Based in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, The AjA Project (Autosuficiencia Junto con Apoyo/Supporting Self-Sufficiency) is an arts and social justice organization dedicated to engaging critically with issues that affect our community and realizing our collective liberation through participatory storytelling and the documentary arts. Since 2000, The AjA Project has advanced its mission through media arts workshops, fellowships, grassroots advocacy, and community-driven public art.

In recent years, in light of rising anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, we are intensifying our work to catalyze narrative change by elevating stories of lived experiences and building power and a sense of agency among San Diego’s immigrant and refugee communities.

Overview

Apply now to work with us as an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow! These two-year fellowships partner recent humanities & social sciences PhDs with organizations committed to promoting justice with and in their communities. Deadline:
March 11, 9 PM EDT. Edge The Final date to receive applications is March 11, 2026 at 9:00 PM EDT (Please apply directly to ACLS). For more information, please visit  Edge and direct any questions to ACLS at leadingedge

Position Location:

San Diego, CA (in-person)

Stipend: $72,000 in the first year, $74,000 in the second year

Benefits:
Access to employer health insurance. Professional development funds and relocation funds provided by ACLS.

Start Date:

September 2026

AjA’s creative advocacy initiatives harness the power of participatory arts to address issues of concern for local immigrant, refugee, and other historically marginalized communities. The Director of Creative Advocacy and Partnerships will play an essential role in informing, supporting, and expanding The AjA Project’s art and advocacy work to amplify our programs’ reach and impact. Reporting directly to the Executive Artistic Director, the Director will link AjA program staff, local coalitions, ally organizations, and refugee and immigrant communities who are disproportionately impacted by surveillance, criminalization, and civil liberties violations.

This individual will conduct strategic analysis to deepen AjA’s understanding of the policy landscape. They will use this analysis to develop creative advocacy responses at the city and county levels, through community engagement in town halls, oral history sharing, and public participatory art. The Director will focus on two key programs:
1) Counter surveillance, which empowers marginalized communities to use art and visual storytelling to challenge systems of surveillance, reclaim their narratives, and assert visibility on their own terms; and
2) Civil Liberties, which grounds in historical civil liberties violations, particularly the deportation of Japanese American Communities, to engage immigrant communities in using the media arts to explore, educate, and advocate for the current issues of concern. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who is passionate about arts-based social justice, creative advocacy, and applied participatory research in community settings.

The Director of Creative Advocacy and Partnerships must be based in San Diego to attend AjA’s in-person workshops and public art programs and build relationships with local partners. The fellowship tenure is 24 consecutive months, with an…