Project Manager, Creative Class Collective - Strategy, Planning, and Execution, Freelance

Project Manager - Strategy, Planning, and Execution, Freelance

About Creative Class Collective

Creative Class Collective is an organization committed to promoting art and culture in the diverse community of Long Beach. Our mission is to showcase local, national, and international artists and promote a unique experience through our four programs: Long Beach Walls (previously known as POW! WOW! Long Beach), Art Renzei, Unexpected Connections, and Port City Creative Guild. Our overall vision is to make Long Beach a globally recognized destination for arts and culture by highlighting the city's unique and dynamic creative landscape.

Project Description & Objectives:

We are currently looking for a highly skilled Project Manager to join our team at Creative Class Collective and assist with various initiatives. As the Project Manager, you will be responsible for overseeing the production process, from conception to completion, to ensure that the project meets its goals, reflects the intended brand image and message, and serves the objectives of diverse stakeholders. Your primary responsibilities will include creating production budgets, providing creative direction, securing artists, suggesting community vendors, venues/locations, and resources, and ensuring that all project expectations, deadlines, and budgets are met.

To succeed in this role, you must be able to proactively manage a project from start to finish, conceive and develop new creative ideas, and have a deep understanding of project management, sponsor and partner management, and creative ideation/development processes. You should also possess excellent organizational and communication skills, the ability to work collaboratively with others, and a keen eye for detail. A high affinity and appreciation for culture and the arts is central to this role as well.

More specifically, the job focuses on 6 core areas:

1. Stakeholder Communication: Establish continuous communication with stakeholders such as artists, sponsors, the community, and partners. Create regular reports, updates, and meetings to foster long-term relationships.

2. Risk Management: Proactive identification of potential risks in a project and creating contingency plans.

3. Volunteer Management: Oversee strategies to recruit, train, and mobilize volunteers.

4. Grants & Funding Applications: Assist with identifying, and writing grants for non-profit organizations.

5. Community Engagement: Deepening the organization's engagement with the community will be valuable. Skills to foster and maintain relationships with local authorities, schools, businesses, and other community sectors.

6. Knowledge of Art and Culture: Experienced knowledge about current trends in the art and cultural sectors worldwide.

Project Management (70%):

• Assist in the project management of Creative Class Collective initiatives, including strategic growth plans, milestone tracking, performance dashboards, competitive analysis, product development, launch strategy, market entry plans, brand/marketing strategy, digital and social content strategy, CRM/Mailchimp, research, operations, sourcing, and financial management.

• Provide total oversight for all logistical facets of assigned conferences, programs, and meetings.

• Participate in and/or lead program-specific committees throughout the overall event management process.

• Liaise with Live & Virtual Events Program partners for a smooth transition of contracts/agreements/expectations with supporters.

• Adhere to milestone and task deadlines for assigned meetings and events, and ensure proper documentation of task and milestone completion is maintained.

• Be nimble to quickly and creatively problem solve for emerging issues and independently make necessary decisions

• Understand stakeholder needs and ensure that all parties are aligned and content (sponsors, City stakeholders, partners, artists, community, parent company’s resource teams, volunteers)

• Provide updates to weekly status reports.

• Work with Creative team in the development of all onsite assets based on Events' standards.

• Assist in developing creative strategies to produce powerful informational presentations for our program activities.

Budget and Sponsorship Management (20%):

• Prepare comprehensive budgets inclusive of all direct hard costs, and submit to the Director for internal management approval.

• Look for opportunities to achieve cost efficiencies and scale

• Help identify new ways to stimulate and sustain relationships gained through Creative Class Collective initiatives to promote long-term support/donations (audiences, partners).

• Manage sponsor outreach list, identify new organizations to contact, and support outreach team.

• Monitor the financial income of individual and sponsor donations via Excel and manage Donor donation receipts.

Other (10%):

• Develop and maintain program-related Standard Operating Procedures.

• Attend departmental/company meetings as required.

• Attend site visits as needed.

• Perform additional duties as assigned.

• Participate in ongoing training and development.

What you’ll need to have:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience managing the end-to-end process of art exhibitions, installations, or shows including the planning, development, and execution

• Demonstrated leadership skills

• Passionate enthusiast for the arts

• Excellent communication, presentation skills and organizational skills.

• Ability to leverage vendor and agency relationships and experiences.

• The ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects.

• Ability to manage a variety of live event programs, including large, multi-faceted events, single and multi-day conferences, week-long festivals, large high-profile receptions/dinners, and internal meetings.

• Experienced in all aspects of logistics planning, including contracting, venue/logistics management, transportation, audio-visual, food & beverage, shipping, and on-site execution management.

• Organized, creative, and efficient.

• Ability to travel/work during the week and on weekends (up to 10%).

• Proficient with Google Suite and Microsoft Office.

Qualifications

• B.A. in art/design, business, communications, marketing, or related field
• 5 years + experience managing the end-to-end process of art exhibitions, installations, or shows including the planning, development, and execution
• Passionate enthusiast for the arts
• Ability to fundraise on behalf of the organization as well as nurture sponsorship opportunities
• Explore appropriate grants available and write/submit proposals.
• Demonstrated track record of leading, influencing, and inspiring teams, achieving buy-in and commitment from peers and clients, forming strong working relationships across the organization, management, and with artists and community stakeholders
• Proven experience conducting ideation to achieve strong “big ideas” that straddle digital, content, experiential
• Intellectual drive, intensity, professional impact, and personal values that complement the existing team
• Superior communication skills, project management, budget management, and organization - Proficiency with Mac, Google Drive (sheets, slides, doc), Microsoft Office, Excel, needed.