UNC School of the Arts | Vice Chancellor for Advancement

  • Full-time

Company Description

Founded in 1963 as the country’s first public arts conservatory, UNCSA is a top-ranked creative and performing arts conservatory located in Winston- Salem, N.C. It is the state’s unique professional school for the performing, visual, and moving image arts, and is one of 17 constituent campuses in the UNC System.

UNCSA provides gifted emerging artists with the experience, knowledge, and skills needed to excel in their disciplines and in their lives. By training creative, gifted, and hardworking emerging artists to do what they love and do it brilliantly, UNCSA serves and enriches the cultural and economic prosperity of the people of North Carolina and the nation.

Job Description

University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) seeks to fill the position of Vice Chancellor for Advancement, a critical role in accomplishing the school’s mission of providing gifted emerging artists with the experience, knowledge, and skills they need to excel in their disciplines and in their lives.  The Vice Chancellor for Advancement will have the presence, vision, and experience to build on previous successes, as well as an innovative spirit that creates new possibilities.  The Vice Chancellor for Advancement will partner with the Chancellor as a member of the UNCSA leadership team.

Background

Approximately 1,300 students—at the high school, undergraduate, and master’s levels—are enrolled in the five conservatories that make up UNCSA: Dance, Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. With its full academic program, the school awards the high school diploma, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees and the Professional Artist Certificate. Another 700 summer and 500 community school students are a part of the school’s annual enrollment. Faculty and staff number just over 600.

With a primary focus on performance, UNCSA provides an environment similar to that of an artist’s colony, where students are encouraged to grow, experiment, and develop their abilities to the fullest. Students study with resident master teachers who have had successful careers in the arts—from American Ballet Theatre to the Metropolitan Opera—and who remain active in their professions. Noted guest artists frequently bring lessons directly from the contemporary arts world. All arts faculty and deans at UNCSA are practicing artists.

Chancellor Brian Cole was appointed to his position in May 2020, having first joined UNCSA in 2016 as Dean of the School of Music. An innovative, bilingual arts leader, he is an accomplished conductor who served four years as the founding dean of academic affairs at Berklee College of Music’s campus in Valencia, Spain. Before that, he served seven years as associate dean of academic affairs at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging

The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Vision for UNCSA states: “We strive to create a safe environment, one that allows people from all walks of life to thrive. Doing so demands that we commit to an explicit and continual process of identifying and dismantling systems and practices of bias, exclusion and oppression. Education and art-making can be transformational forces for change, and we are working so that change leads toward justice.” Likewise, UNCSA is committed to deeply embedding equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into its values and actions to transform the campus into a more welcoming and inclusive community for everyone. The school’s leadership will implement intentional and strategic efforts to tackle the systemic problems of racism and inequity in society, the institution, and the entertainment industry.

Powering Creativity:  The Campaign for UNCSA

UNCSA recently exceeded its $65 million goal in an ambitious capital campaign, Powering Creativity, to provide support for the next generation of creative innovators.

The $75 million raised thus far will help the school fuse conservatory training with advances in technology and technique and prepare gifted emerging artists to tell timeless stories in relevant ways for todays and tomorrow’s audiences. Pillars of the campaign—which have realized tremendous community, national, and international support—include scholarships, faculty support, innovation, living and learning environment, and community engagement. UNCSA’s inspiration-filled campus has produced some of the industry's most remarkable leaders and, with the support of a strong advancement program, is poised to reach new heights.

The Opportunity

Reporting directly to the Chancellor and serving as a member of the executive leadership team, the Vice Chancellor for Advancement (VCA) directs the work of a staff of 11 and maintains close and collaborative working relationships with the Chancellor, deans, and other school administrators and board members.  The VCA will be expected to develop and implement effective school-wide strategies for advancement; build the operation’s infrastructure and capacity to best serve and support both new and existing advancement activities; and provide coordination for advancement functions across the school. The VCA must ensure that the school is well-positioned to expand its prospect base, enrich development efforts, produce consistent revenue growth with a particular emphasis on unrestricted and endowment giving, and realize a level of productivity and a return-on-investment that exceeds national norms.

Providing strong leadership to the office, the VCA will demonstrate the capability to:

  • Lead UNCSA fundraising, assist in establishing fundraising metrics and methods with deans, directors, and development officers.
  • Develop and implement an effective strategic vision for the division.
  • Design and execute fundraising campaigns that surpass goal.
  • Enhance the quality of operations, and strengthen the measurable productivity,
  • in areas of advancement services, annual fund, major gifts, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving, and alumni affairs.
  • Continue strengthening the fundraising role of the Board of Visitors, the Foundation Board, and other volunteer boards, and the level of fundraising expertise and leadership among the deans of the arts schools.
  • Serve as the spokesperson for the school with high-level donors and potential donors and communicate the priorities of the school.
  • Cultivate high level donors and align their interests with goals of the school.
  • Establish and maintain the operating budget and other resources of the division.
  • Grow the focus on alumni engagement and corporate partnerships.
  • Support institutional branding and awareness goals through collaboration with the Vice Chancellors and Provost.
  • Diversify the donor data base and support a more diverse student body.

The Candidate

The Vice Chancellor for Advancement must be an experienced fundraiser and manager with a proven track record of success. The VCA will have an acute sense of strategy at the individual donor level, as well as significant capital campaign experience. The VCA will be a person of integrity with outstanding leadership and communication skills, exceptional judgment and taste, and an entrepreneurial nature. The VCA must possess a passion for the mission of UNCSA.

Qualifications

  • Substantial fundraising and managerial experience with demonstrated success, preferably a minimum of ten years of experience ideally with a significant portion of experience in development and alumni relations at a public university, arts conservatory, or major arts organization.
  • Passion for the mission of the institution, as well as demonstrated, ongoing commitment to, knowledge of, and connection with the arts.
  • Proven success in leading and directing complex organizations as well as developing appropriate metrics for the evaluation of the organization’s performance.
  • Accomplished as a development and public relations strategist.
  • Capacity to support and grow the university’s branding initiatives.
  • Demonstrated ability to consistently close on principal gift solicitations.
  • Proven management and administrative skills, as demonstrated by experience in effectively leading a successful staff and building programs.
  • Superior communications skills.
  • Ability to work collaboratively, engage and inspire others, and develop a rapport with many diverse people and groups, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and friends of the school.
  • Commitment to diversity through the recruitment, management and motivation of a diverse and culturally aware advancement team.
  • The ability to build a local network of relationships with key constituents.
  • Entrepreneurial passion to assist the Chancellor in enhancing the school’s reputation and exploring new resources, collaborations, and business partnerships.
  • Availability for extensive travel.
  • A bachelor’s degree, with an advanced degree preferred.

Additional Information

UNC School of the Arts has retained Capital Development Services to assist with professional recruitment.  Applications and nominations will be accepted until a new Vice Chancellor for Advancement has been hired. Candidates should submit a resume and letter of interest by July 30, 2021 for most favorable consideration. For additional information please contact Jen Tozier at [email protected]