Job Bank

JOB TITLE:       Executive Director                               DATE: November 2023

REPORTS TO:      Board President

SUPERVISES:                          

Executive Assistant & Board Coordinator

Artistic Operations Director

Marketing & Communications Director

(Interim) Development Director

Community Engagement & Outreach Director

Patron Services Director

Controller

 Seasonal staff

 COLLABORATES WITH:         

Artistic Director and Artistic Leadership Team

Board and Board Committees

Orchestra and Chorale Committees

Key venue staff, suppliers, and contractors

Seasonal volunteers

About the Carmel Bach Festival : The Carmel Bach Festival runs for a four-week period in July of each year (two weeks of rehearsals and two weeks of performances). 2024 will mark the Festival’s 87^th season, making it the longest-running music festival in California. The natural beauty of its setting in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the quality of its performances, the quantity and variety of its concerts, the loyalty and generosity of its patrons are all hallmarks of the Festival.  Over 100 exceptional professional instrumentalists and vocalists participate enthusiastically, and Festival is characterized by the warm personal relationships between patrons and musicians, built over many years.

Under the current management team and Board, the Festival has built a strong and sustainable position. Thanks to a major transformational gift and prudent investment management, the Festival’s Endowment has doubled in value to over $6 million. Having successfully come through the COVID storm, while preserving and strengthening all its key relationships and onboarding gifted Artistic Director Grete Pedersen, the Festival has now embarked on reinvigorating its programming, community relations and marketing activities to create renewed momentum.

On the Festival website (www.bachfestival.org) you will find extensive information about our history, our venues in and around Carmel-by-the Sea, about our Board, our Artistic Leadership Team, our Musicians and the 2023 Ticket/Program booklet, as well as about the many features and activities that make our village so attractive to visitors and residents alike.

The Role of the Executive Director

The Executive Director (ED) reports to the Board President and carries responsibility for all aspects of the Festival’s logistics and operations including artistic planning, marketing and promotion, relationship building and fundraising, educational activities, community outreach and financial administration of a $2.5 million plus budget.

Coordinating with the Board, the Artistic Leadership Team, our venues and other key service providers, the ED leads the Festival’s administrative and artistic planning team in ensuring the efficient execution and production of the annual and long-term artistic plans and programs for the Festival and maintains a year-round focus on community engagement, music education and crossover programming.

The first task of the new ED will be to collaborate with the current incumbent (who is planning to retire after a successful 9-year tenure), our Artistic Director and the Artistic Leadership Team to finalize and successfully execute plans for the July 2024 Festival.

Key Candidate Requirements and The Application Process

As our Executive Director (ED), you will be a strategic, visionary, collaborative, adaptable and experienced leader, passionate about the performing arts, ideally classical music. As is typical in a small business, you will need to be quite “hands on”, willing and able to adapt to the various tasks required when operating with relatively limited staff and within a complex and time-sensitive schedule.

In addition to your educational background - a Bachelor’s degree, or higher level qualification - please consider the following important criteria:

• Minimum of 5 years of successful executive leadership experience, ideally in a multi-performance, multi-venue performing arts environment.
• A collaborative, systematic and deadline-sensitive approach to working with other key contributors in developing and implementing programing concepts which align with audience expectations.
• Experience with planning and efficiently producing complex, multi-venue programs optimizing the logistics of the available performers, venues, and events. 
• Demonstrated leadership and staff development skills.
• Accustomed to and comfortable working within the framework and rules of a collective bargaining agreement.
• Efficient communication, report writing and administrative work, using generally available digital technology.
• Strong financial planning, analysis and reporting skills.
• Willingness and ability to engage and interact comfortably with Board members, existing and potential patrons, sponsors, and musicians for fund raising purposes, including grant writing.
• Persuasive oral and written communications skills including public speaking.
• Interpersonal sensitivity and ability to communicate effectively with key stakeholders.

Application Process

Please submit a comprehensive cover letter, along with your resume, salary range expectations, as well as any samples of your recent project or other written work on which you would like us to rely to: search@bachfestival.org by 5pm Pacific Time on Friday, December 15, 2023.

The Search Committee will review every submission and contact you regarding the status of your application and next steps in the process by early January 2024.

Thank you very much for your interest in the Carmel Bach Festival

About Carmel Bach Festival

Since 1935, the Festival's mission is to celebrate the works, inspiration and ongoing influence of Johann Sebastian Bach by immersing audiences in a festival experience integrating music, education and ideas. Over the years, the Festival has grown in scope and stature, attracting top-tier musicians and artistic leaders from around the world and broadening its repertoire to encompass not only Bach's works, but also a diverse range of baroque, classical, and crossover music, open master classes, an original family concert, and a number of free events. In 2022, the Festival welcomed its first female Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Grete Pedersen. Pedersen’s artistic leadership transcends the traditional boundaries of performance by providing fresh musical contexts that spark the imagination, stimulate the mind, and enrich people's lives in multi-faceted ways.

Connections working at Carmel Bach Festival