School Director
Job Title: School Director
Supervisor: Artistic Director and Executive Director
FLSA Status: Exempt
Classification: Full-Time
Salary: Commensurate with experience, plus benefits.
Starting Date: January 6, 2025
Ballet Arizona is looking for a full-time School Director to lead the school into a new phase of expansion, restructuring and optimization. The School Director must be able to shift from management responsibilities to serving as a teacher, coach, and public speaker. The School Director helps to develop policies and objectives for the school program. Further, the School Director supervises school faculty, school administrative staff, and part-time school instructors and accompanists.
Summary:
The School Director is responsible for the artistic leadership and management of the School of Ballet Arizona and is accountable to Ballet Arizona’s Artistic Director. Areas of oversight include the Children’s, Lower, and Upper Divisions, Pre-Professional Programs, Summer Intensives. The position is multi-faceted with wide range of responsibilities and requires coordination with all Ballet Arizona (BAZ) internal departments and relevant external organizations. Additionally, the School Director will collaborate and consult with the Director of Operations on all school business-operations matters.
Essential Functions:
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.
1. Leadership and Vision
-
- Leads the strategic direction and overall management of The School of Ballet Arizona.
- Collaborates with the Artistic Director to align the school’s artistic vision with the mission and goals of Ballet Arizona.
- Ensures a high standard of dance education, with a strong emphasis on classical ballet, while incorporating contemporary and other dance styles.
- In conjunction with the Artistic Director, Executive Director, Director of Operations, School Manager, and other senior staff, creates and maintains long-range, strategic planning for the school.
- Ensures that all communications, strategies and actions support, protect and nurture the brand of Ballet Arizona.
- Serves as a member of the Education & Community Engagement Committee and the Senior Leadership Team.
2. Program Development and Curriculum Oversight
-
- Teaches and rehearses in the school for a minimum of 20 hours per week.
- Defines, develops and implements SBAZ’s teaching syllabus and methodology in consultation with Ballet Arizona’s Artistic Director, identifying key trends within the industry and adopting and deploying best practices.
- Plans, implements, and oversees the programmatic structure for all school training programs ensuring the Artistic Director’s vision for the school is met.
- Identifies and implements new programs or classes that will further enhance the school’s offerings and attract a diverse student population.
- Ensures that the school’s programs support students’ progression, from beginner levels to the pre-professional track.
3. Faculty and Staff Management
-
- Recruits, hires, and manages a skilled team of full- and part-time faculty members of the school, supporting them through training, mentorship, evaluation, and the development of faculty resources.
- Meets regularly with all full-Ttime faculty for class planning and training, to discuss issues, supply guidance, and communicate upcoming events.
- Supports and collaborates with the Studio Company Manager.
- Conduct regular performance evaluations and offer feedback to support the growth of faculty and staff.
4. Student Development
-
- Leads student recruitment efforts and practices that expand the student body and advance the caliber of the school as well as the organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and a nurturing learning environment.
- Oversees the evaluation of new and current students and works with school faculty to guide leveling after year-end evaluations.
- Assists teachers with student issues, facility needs, and artistic concerns.
- Stewards communication between students, parents, faculty, and staff with a high level of integrity and effectiveness, and serves as a spokesperson for the school as needed.
5. Operational Management
-
- Ensures the school observes and operates within its safeguarding policy.
- Keeps up to date with national safeguarding laws and industry practices, and advises on updates to the safeguarding policy and other policies
- Collaborates and coordinates with the School Manager and School Marketing Manager on marketing content and communications.
- Delivers all schedules for faculty, accompanists, and rehearsals in a timely manner.
- Collaborates with School Manager and Director of Operations to plan all school program logistics.
6. Performance and Events Management
-
- In consultation with Ballet Arizona’s Artistic Director, programs and oversees all school performances.
- Assists with the repertoire, staging, rehearsals and performances of School of Ballet Arizona students in school productions and Ballet Arizona productions.
- Supports, at the direction of the Artistic Director and staff, the company and community engagement team with young artists when required and whenever possible.
- Maintains current partnerships with local schools, arts organizations, and community groups to promote ballet education and expand the school’s outreach through community performances and educational opportunities.
7. Budget and Fundraising
-
- Continually seeks opportunities for increased revenue generation and enrollment.
- Continually seeks to achieve the greatest possible cost efficiency and the most effective use of the expense budget.
- Collaborates with the Director of Operations to successfully manage the school’s budget, including tuition rates, scholarships, and operational expenses.
- Collaborates with the philanthropy team to identify and pursue fundraising opportunities, to support the school operations and scholarships.
- Assists and advises on grant applications and budgets as necessary.
- Other related duties as assigned.
Competencies:
- Must demonstrate a high-degree of integrity, dependability, accountability, and global fluency.
- Must be a strong collaborator and team-player.
- Must have strong leadership skills.
- Must be flexible and able to adapt to changing needs in a fast-paced environment.
- Must maintain high customer service standards for both internal and external stakeholders.
- Must possess strong project management skills including planning, organizing, prioritizing, implementing, and evaluating.
- Must demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Must possess strong staff management skills and the ability to function well as a leader and coach.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
- This position directly manages the Children’s & Lower Division Coordinator, Upper Division Student Liaison, Summer Intensive Coordinator, School Teachers, School Pianists, and ASA Dance Program Manager.
- Provides ongoing support, guidance, and oversight to all direct reports.
- Oversees hiring, training, and scheduling of all direct reports.
Work Environment:
- Work is conducted primarily in a dance studio setting. Event support at the main office location and at external event sites is occasionally required.
- Presence during school hours is required with limited flexibility (4:30 to 7:30 pm Monday – Friday, and Saturdays 10:30 to 3pm). Additional hours can be flexible and agreed with the Artistic Director.
- Some nights or on-call work are occasionally required.
Physical Demands:
- Physical requirements include standing, walking, and demonstrating dance steps for long periods of time and light computer usage.
- Medium physical effort is required – must be able to lift up to 20 pounds.
Travel Required:
- Travel to and from external event sites (within Maricopa County) is occasionally required.
- Must be willing and able to commute to and from the office on a regular basis.
Required Education and Experience:
- 5+ years of extensive experience in ballet training and education, with a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role within a ballet school or dance organization.
- Strong knowledge of classical ballet techniques, pedagogy, and contemporary dance styles.
- 10+ years of ballet training with professional experience as a company dancer
Preferred Education and Experience:
- Experience managing a ballet school and/or supervising other instructors in a ballet program
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
Ballet Arizona provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
How To Apply:
Qualified applicants can apply at www.balletaz.org or may submit a letter of interest, resume and contact information to Human Resources via e-mail to HR@balletaz.org. Please note that NO telephone calls will be accepted.
