Association for Cultural Equity Seeks Executive Director

The Association for Cultural Equity (ACE) is seeking applications for the position of executive director. The application deadline is March 31, 2022.

The successful candidate will be committed to sustaining the world’s expressive traditions through preservation, research, dissemination, and reconnecting communities with their cultural heritage.

ACE is a living archive that puts its collections at the service of source communities, endangered cultures, emerging cultural leaders, students and teachers at all levels, and the scientific community. The Global Jukebox features hundreds of recordings from throughout the world accompanied by rich contextualization, including journeys that enable visitors to explore a tradition across multiple cultures.Their digital platforms also include the Lomax Digital Archive and a YouTube channel of Alan Lomax’s video collections, which have had over 31 million views. ACE’s Repatriation Initiative returns copies of documentation to communities in the U.S., Caribbean and Europe, while the Endangered Cultures/Emerging Leaders Initiative trains cultural leaders in documentation practices and creates collaborative educational programs.  They carry out comparative studies of music and dance drawing from the Cantometrics and Choreometrics frameworks. ACE’s partners include community cultural organizations, archives, libraries, and academic institutions in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Responsibilities of the Executive Director:

• Work closely with staff to expand and improve ACE’s programs and evaluate and ensure their effectiveness and excellence.
• Lead development initiatives with support of board, staff, and consultants. Apply to public and private funding sources.
• Work closely with the Managing Director to ensure financial stability and prudent expenditures.
• Lead communication efforts for ACE in support of visibility and reputation.
• Represent ACE’s work at relevant professional convenings.
• Actively maintain existing relationships and build new collaborations with funders, consultants, artists, organizational partners, and scholars.
• Oversee and evaluate the work of staff and consultants, including recruiting and mentoring new staff and interns.
• Report to board of directors, providing ongoing communication about significant organizational, programmatic, and financial developments along with monthly written reports of activities.

Desired Qualifications:

• Broad knowledge of, and passion for, American and world traditional music and dance.  Experience in public folklore and/or applied/public ethnomusicology desirable.
• Successful fundraising and grant writing experience.
• Administrative, governance, supervisory, and management experience.
• Demonstrated ability to initiate, organize, and manage actual and virtual public programs.
• Demonstrated ability to think productively and creatively, and to communicate effectively with multiple audiences, including the general public.
• Proven ability to work successfully with funders, academic and public sector colleagues, other organizations and government agencies, and community members.
• Highly motivated, self-directed, and able to work collaboratively and respectfully with colleagues in a small office environment.
• MA or PhD in Folklore, Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, or a related field preferred, with interest in working with scholars specializing in studying expressive traditions cross-culturally.

The Executive Director will work full time. The salary range is $70,000–$85,000, commensurate with experience. Contributions are provided towards medical insurance. Generous vacation and holiday leave. ACE is housed at its offices in New York City.

To apply, please send a letter of interest that addresses qualifications along with a c.v. or resume and relevant samples of work to [email protected].