Director of Strategic Partnerships & Special Productions

Overview

Director of Strategic Partnerships & Special Productions — Washington, D.C. Executive and Senior Management

Full-time, Salaried: $105,000 per year

How to apply:

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The Director of Strategic Partnerships and Special Productions serves as a cornerstone of Washington Performing Arts's mission as a leading arts producer, creative convener, and community builder within the region's creative economy. Reporting to the President & CEO, and a member of the senior management team, the Director will be a key representative with D.C. institutional and civic stakeholders and partners.

The ideal candidate possesses an entrepreneurial mindset and brings a portfolio of deep work experience, strong networks within the civic, cultural, and business sectors in the Washington metro area, as well as relationships with artists who live and work in the capital region, primarily within the 8 Wards of Washington D.C.. The position is the lead strategist for Washington Performing Arts’s signature community engagement program, Mars Arts D.C..

About Washington Performing Arts:

One of the most established and honored performing arts institutions in America, Washington Performing Arts has engaged for more than half a century with artists, audiences, students, and civic life. The city is truly our stage: for decades, in venues ranging from concert halls and clubs to public parks, we have presented a tremendous range of artists and art forms, from the most distinguished symphony orchestras to both renowned and emerging artists in classical music, jazz, international genres, and more.

We also have an ever-expanding artistic and educational presence on the internet, addressing the programming challenges of this time of pandemic while envisioning ongoing opportunities for online connection and community in a post-COVID world.

Washington Performing Arts deeply values its partnerships with local organizations and other arts institutions. Through events online and in myriad performance venues and neighborhoods, we engage international visiting artists in community programs and introduce local artists to in the lives of both young people and adults through residencies and education programs. Our achievements have been recognized with a National Medal of Arts and with four Mayor’s Arts Awards from the DC Government.

Celebrating our 60th Anniversary in 2026, we are ever inspired by the motto of our founder, Patrick Hayes: “Everybody in, nobody out.”

Mars Arts D.C. is Washington Performing Arts’s signature community engagement initiative. The product of a partnership between Washington Performing Arts, Jacqueline Badger Mars, and Mars, Incorporated, Mars Arts D.C. carries out its mission of presenting and elevating the dynamic vibrancy found in the local arts community and business economy through ever-growing artist engagement and long-term communal partnerships. With programmatic elements highlighting the uniqueness and beauty across all eight wards of the District, Mars Arts D.C. offers distinct performance opportunities, artist residencies, signature education programs, and robust integration with the Washington Performing Arts main stage series, all for the benefit, enjoyment, and growth of both the creative community itself and the D.C. community as a whole.

The Director is a member of the Management Team of Washington Performing Arts, joining the President & CEO, Chief Financial Officer, Director of Advancement, Director of Programming, Director of Gospel Music Programs, Director of Marketing, Communications & Creative Media (CCM), Director of Arts Education and Community Engagement, and President Emeritus. Additionally, they have one direct report: a half-time Mars Arts D.C. Manager.

Responsibilities

The position focuses on four principal areas:

• Developing and producing free and/or thematic programs through the Mars Arts D.C. program, Washington Performing Arts’s signature community…