Join our Production Team!

The deadline for this position has passed. We look forward to reviewing applicant materials!

We’re excited to welcome back our 2020 Production Team members Madilynn Garcia and Sequoia Hauck for the 2022 program! We are hiring two NEW Production Team members to round out our dream team – join our crew!

About Art Shanty Projects

Mission: Art Shanty Projects intentionally creates an impermanent art village on Minnesota lake ice amid changing climate and environment. With a spirit of embracing challenges through creativity, we support an ecosystem that inspires everyone to create and participate in art, thrive in winter, and build community.

Since 2004 Art Shanty Projects has created joyful winter art experiences for people of all ages. Inspired by pop-up ice fishing villages, artists use the frozen lake as a space to build a temporary community, immersing visitors in a colorful village filled with interactive installations and performances. With few regulations and no building codes — and against intense and unpredictable winter weather conditions — artists of all career stages have the freedom and challenge to create wild and wonderful work that can’t be experienced anywhere else. Together, with tens of thousands of annual visitors, we celebrate, champion, and embrace the extreme winter sport of art making.

Art Shanty Projects is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a creative, supportive, and joyful community both on and off the ice in Minnesota. We accomplish this through art and relationship-building, as well as an ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. 

Overview of Position

The Production Team is a collaborative group of four staff members responsible for the implementation of the operating functions of Art Shanty Projects. Together, they work with the Operations Director and Artistic Director to ensure ongoing programmatic excellence by coordination of activities, programming, and events before, during and after the on-ice program.

Employees of ASP are expected to participate in a culture of work-sharing and transparency, and to effectively communicate and collaborate with peers, making sure all members are accountable to one another. This team will be tasked with dividing and completing work assignments accordingly.  ASP leadership is horizontal and non-hierarchical, and all staff members are responsible for fostering this culture.

The Production Team will be the face of the Art Shanty Projects staff on the ice. As such, they must represent the mission and values of the organization. They will build a joyous and sustainable community both on and off the ice.

Collectively the Production Team will be responsible for the following duties and responsibilities:

• Attendance at weekly meetings leading up to, during, and after the festival
• Attendance at board meetings and workgroup committee meetings, as needed
• On-ice logistics coordination related to infrastructure, amenities, etc.
• Volunteer coordination, training, and management
• Sourcing and coordinating in-kind donations (food & coffee for back of house during the on-ice program)
• Accessibility planning and implementation
• Zero Waste planning and Implementation
• Food Vendor selection and management
• Communications support (documentation, social media, media/press lists, website, newsletters)
• On-ice fundraising implementation
• Membership program maintenance
• Artist support, including build visits in advance of the program and management during the event

No single staff member will be entirely responsible for any of these projects; no single staff member will work on all of these projects!  We determine the project assignments as a team, depending on who has the skills to lend and/or the desire and aptitude to learn. 

Experience

Applicants should have the ability to manage their own work, timelines, deadlines, as well as work collaboratively on tasks and projects.  The demanding context of a frozen lake requires all individuals to be prepared with their own winter gear (snowpants, coat, boots, gloves, etc) necessary to do their jobs.

Required skills:

• Experience in arts festivals and/or arts programming and production
• Enthusiasm about working with and managing people and projects
• Familiarity and comfort with working outdoors in variable winter weather conditions
• Ability to calmly solve problems in the moment, amidst the public
• Familiarity with or eagerness to learn Google suite, Mailchimp, and Asana

Additional desired skills (not required):

• Photography
• Fundraising
• Volunteer coordination or other people management
• Zero waste and sustainability planning
• Basic graphic design skills

We prioritize transferable skills, whether through life experience, formal and informal education, or other avenues; if you do not have every one of these skills, please still apply.

Additional Info

This is a contract position from September 2021 through March 2022. Each production team member will work approximately 300 hours and will be paid at the rate of $20/hour.  Hours are variable and are not consistent from week to week. Individuals can expect lighter schedules in the fall, and more intense hours in January and February. Approximately 100 of the hours will be spent on the ice during January and February; the remaining 200 hours will be dedicated to advance planning, weekly maintenance tasks during the festival, and post-event wrap-up.

Duties leading up to the festival will be a mix of independent work, virtual meetings, and in person work that is both indoors and outdoors. All production and festival aspects will be done in-person, mainly outdoors (and occasionally in unheated interior spaces such as a storage unit).

The following dates are required:

• All Artist Meeting: September 8 (evening, on zoom)
• Installation: January 8-9, 2022 (approximately 8am – 5pm, in person)
• On-Ice Program: January 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30, February 5, 6 (approximately 8:30am – 5:30pm, in person)
• Strike: February 12 – 13 (approximately 8am – 5pm, in person)

Applications are to be submitted individually, not as a team.  

To Apply

Please send a letter of interest, resumé or CV, and three references by August 11, 2021 to program@artshantyprojects.org

Art Shanty Projects is deeply committed to social, racial, gender, and economic justice. We strongly encourage people of color, Black and Indigenous folks, LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, and those who are unemployed or underemployed to apply.

Download the Production Team Job Description: