PROGRAM MANAGER
Red Clay Dance Company seeks a highly organized, collaborative, and mission-driven Program Manager to help bring our programs to life. As Chicago's premier Afro-contemporary dance company, Red Clay Dance Company creates, performs, and teaches dances of the African Diaspora while advancing our mission to awaken Artivism through artistic excellence, education, and community engagement. As we enter our 18th season, we are investing in our organizational capacity to support the next phase of our growth. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys turning ideas into action, building strong relationships, and ensuring that meaningful programs are delivered with excellence.
About the Role
The Program Manager coordinates the day-to-day implementation of Red Clay Dance Company's organizational programs, including Making the Artivist, School & Community Partnerships, In the Making, and Community Classes. Working closely with the Artistic Director & CEO, this role ensures programs are organized, delivered on schedule, operate within approved budgets, and provide exceptional experiences for participants, artists, and community partners.
This is an implementation-focused position and does not have fundraising or grant writing responsibilities.
What You'll Do
Coordinate and manage the day-to-day implementation of organizational programs.
Develop and maintain program schedules, timelines, and logistics.
Serve as the primary point of contact for participants, schools, and community partners.
Schedule and support program staff.
Monitor program budgets and expenditures.
Maintain participant records and program data.
Prepare routine program reports and assist with program evaluation.
Collaborate with Marketing & Communications and Facility & Operations to ensure successful program delivery.
Support organizational events and performances as needed.
We're Looking for Someone Who Is...
Exceptionally organized and detail-oriented.
A strong communicator who enjoys working with people.
Calm under pressure and able to manage multiple priorities.
Passionate about arts education, community engagement, and social impact.
Comfortable balancing administrative work with hands-on program support.
Excited to contribute to a collaborative, creative, and mission-driven organization.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Arts Administration, Education, Dance, Nonprofit Management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Two years of experience coordinating programs in the nonprofit, arts, education, or community engagement sectors.
Strong organizational and project management skills.
Experience coordinating multiple projects and schedules.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and database or CRM systems.
Ability to work occasional evenings and Saturdays as programming requires.
Why Join Red Clay Dance Company?
At Red Clay Dance Company, you'll join a team of artists, educators, and changemakers committed to using dance as a catalyst for artistic excellence, cultural preservation, and social transformation. Your work will directly support programs that engage youth, artists, and community members while helping strengthen an organization entering an exciting new chapter of growth.
Apply: Please include “Program Manager” in the subject line and email your cover letter, resume, and references in a single attached .pdf file to HR@redclaydance.com. We respectfully request no phone inquiries. Only candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted.
Compensation:
Salary: $30.00 per hour/29 hours per week.
All materials submitted will be kept confidential. All submissions will be acknowledged
Red Clay Dance Company is a Black, female-led, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, for-purpose organization that awakens "Glocal" Artivism through creating, performing, and teaching dances of the African Diaspora.
Red Clay Dance Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a deep commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in all aspects of our work. We believe that diverse ideas, cultures, and traditions strengthen our organization and enrich the art we create. We honor the intersectionality of identities and strongly encourage candidates who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, gender non-conforming and non-binary, neurodiverse, and people with disabilities to apply. Employment decisions are based on individual qualifications, merit, and organizational needs, without discrimination based on race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
CAREERS
Red Clay Dance Company lives to awaken “glocal” change through creating, performing and teaching dances of the African Diaspora–change that transforms cultural and socio-economic inequities in our local and global community.
The company aspires to be a global model for synergy in dance creation, performance and education that elevates the stories of people of African Diaspora. We accomplish this through:
● Artistic collaboration through research, investigation and refinement
● Employing dance artivism as the vehicle to shift cultural and socio-economic imbalances.
● Nurturing artivists from novice to professional by providing an authentic pipeline.
● Building a global community through strategic partnerships.
● Inspiring audiences to strengthen community through artivism (art + activism).
Our Core Values:
● We celebrate diversity while still embracing unity.
● We embrace cross-cultural collaborations.
● We demand honest and open communications.
● We expect integrity and originality in all of our work.
● We value honoring history and using that information to inform and create our company’s future.
● We promote healthy lifestyles and choices.
● We encourage comprehensive dance education
● We understand that non-profits need to demonstrate more clearly than ever how we deliver on our mission, while operating in an efficient, accountable and transparent manner.
