Program Officer for Fellowships

Applications accepted on a rolling basis, we recommend applying as soon as possible.

Primary Function:

The Program Officer for Fellowships is responsible for advancing the ongoing grantmaking efforts of The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage (“the Center”) to foster a vibrant and inclusive cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Program Officer will report to and thoughtfully partner with the Director of Grantmaking Programs on the planning and implementation of the Center’s annual Pew Fellowships in the Arts grant cycle (“Fellowships). The Program Officer will collaborate with the Director of Grantmaking Programs in developing program strategy that actively generates ideas for capacity-building programming, editorial content, publications, and other activities that advance the Center’s mission.

The Program Officer will research and connect with artists, curators, scholars, and other practitioners across the fields of art practices served by the Fellowships’ funding area. They will employ this knowledge in their work to contribute to the Center’s grantmaking processes and capacity-building programs, sharing their findings with Center colleagues, grantees and Pew Fellows, as well as other relevant Center constituencies.

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with at least 7 years of related work experience in curatorial work/arts administration/art history, grant-making and/or a related field OR graduate degree plus at least 5 years of relevant work experience.  
• Broad and deep knowledge—and love for—art, culture and community within a national and international context.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access with high emotional intelligence and cultural awareness.
• Intellectually curious; rigorous in their work practices but always generous of spirit, patient, persistent, and personable.
• Organized and self-motivated, capable of working alone but also capable of working collegially as part of a team.
• Significant experience working on behalf of artists and knowledge of developments in the field of artist support and knowledge about contemporary visual and performing arts, poetry and writing.
• Passion for the Center’s mission and its commitment to supporting artists and enthusiasm for engaging with artists across multiple disciplines.
• Exemplary writer able to articulate complex creative content across genres, forms, and diverse practices.
• Strong organizational skills and an aptitude for program development and administration as well as the ability to meet deadlines, handle and prioritize multiple tasks while maintaining attention to detail.
• Strong field network/access to networks of people who can be potential resources for the Center’s work.
• Effective interpersonal skills to successfully interact with a variety of people, including the cultural community, consultants, grantees, applicants, colleagues at The Pew Charitable Trusts, Barnes Foundation, and the various publics with diverse cultures and backgrounds, as called upon. You need to be appropriately thoughtful, respectful, and effective when expressing feedback. A sense of humility and humor are needed.
• Ability to work strategically within existing and evolving organizational parameters as framed for us by our funder, The Pew Charitable Trusts.
• Ability to function with enthusiasm as part of a team. Ability to delegate tasks to/monitor progress of, colleagues and junior staff to advance the workflow/schedule of the Center’s grant cycles.
• Ability to exercise a high level of discretion and confidentiality in interactions with both internal and external people concerning all work-related information, and with understanding of the Center’s unique relationship to The Pew Charitable Trusts.
• Professional working proficiency in technology and computer literacy; Microsoft Office Suite (including Office 365); Adobe Acrobat; and remote communications platforms such as Slack and Zoom.
• Ability to periodically attend meetings and events which are after standard business hours or on weekends, as a Center representative.

Clearances:  

Criminal Background-National

Physical Activities to Perform Essential Functions:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

Moving:  

• Approximately 80%+ of time is spent seated while working at a desk.  
• Ability to occasionally transport up to 25 lbs. of files, equipment or supplies.  Ability to move to access files, equipment or supplies.

Vision Requirements:

• This position requires extended time on the computer.

Communication Requirements:  

• Clearly communicate in person, by phone, and by video conference.   Communicate with others in conversational and written English. 

Working Conditions:

• Position operates in hybrid work setting comprised of the Center’s Philadelphia office and remote work setting indicated by the employee at their documented home address.
• Position requires extended time on the computer.

Job Responsibilities:

• Assure that the timeline and activities for the annual Pew Fellowships grant cycle are administered effectively.  Under the direction of the Center’s Director of Grantmaking Programs:  
  • Identify and secure a diverse pool of individual arts and cultural practitioners to serve as  nominators, evaluators, and panelists to participate in the selection of  Pew Fellowship recipients annually.
  • Participate in meetings with applicants after they have been nominated to apply.
  • Broaden the Center’s network of application evaluators and panelists, as needed.
• The Program Officer engages with Program Assistants across all funding areas; supports grants management staff on grants administration; develops content for and with the Center’s Communications team; and works with the Center’s core administrative staff as relevant to their support of the grantmaking programs. Critically, Program Officer responsibilities include stewarding open grants and keeping abreast of constituent activity more generally, as well as tasks associated with implementing all phases of the Center’s annual peer review panels. This Program Officer will also collaborate with colleagues in support of the Center’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA).
• Act as a subject matter expert on artists and artists’ evolving practices, maintaining up-to-date knowledge of artists’ production and approaches as they relate to the Center’s funding goals.
• Plays a principal role at the Center with respect to both guiding constituents in program ideation and development and developing original programming and content out of the Center proper, in a continued effort to de-silo program areas and reinforce the Center’s role as a hub and resource for knowledge on interdisciplinary cultural practice.
• Partner with program leadership and other Program Officers to create capacity building programs and resources that promote learning, exchange, and relationship building through activities such as convenings, publications, and talks.
• Participate in Communications editorial meetings with program colleagues and contribute to the development and production of material that serves the Center’s goals as a hub for knowledge-sharing on issues critical to artistic practice.
• With guidance from Center’s senior leadership, support and amplify the work of the Center by acting as its representative at public events and participating in talks, panels, publications, meetings, and other forums, as appropriate.  
• Regularly attend exhibitions, performances, and readings of Pew Fellows.
  Participate in and recommend activities that might guide the evolution of your own and our collective work at the Center.
• Other duties as assigned.

Organization-Wide Competencies:

1. 1. Accountability:
   1. Prepares for work assignments and meetings,
   2. Conducts thorough fact-finding, decision-making and/or follow through,
   3. Admits mistakes and errors and informs others when one is not able to meet a commitment.
2. Job Quality:
   1. Dependably demonstrates job knowledge necessary for the position,
   2. Produces timely, accurate, high quality work output,
   3. Prioritizes work responsibilities effectively and produces work quantity expected for the role.
3. Service:
   1. Identifies problems and collaborate with others to devise and create effective solutions.
   2. Interacts and communicates with fellow employees in a manner that promotes a harmonious and cooperative working environment in accordance with our Core Values.
   3. Facilitates open communication and keeps an open mind about new ideas.
4. Leadership:
   1. Sets a good example for others,
   2. Demonstrates ethical decision-making and communication,
   3. Makes decisions. Uses a solution-oriented, collaborative approach.
5. Collaboration:
   1. Seeks win-win outcomes in decision-making,
   2. Shows a proactive, inclusive, helpful, and respectful attitude to colleagues, guests and others,
   3. Takes initiative to contribute to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives.
6. Empowerment (Supervisors):
   1. Directs others’ work effectively with adequate goalsetting, accountability, delegation, supervision, conflict resolution, accessibility to support and resources,
   2. Motivates team to meet short- and long-term goals: individual, department and strategic plan,
   3. Creates environment for staff development.
7. Administration (Supervisors):
   1. Meets goals related to revenue targets, expense control, program fees, etc.,
   2. Develops/manages budget in keeping with organizational priorities,
   3. Follows protocols and reporting requirements set by other departments (HR, IT, Facilities, etc.),
   4. Collects and analyzes data effectively,
   5. Documents work accurately and consistently, shares information appropriately.