Northern Spark 2019- Curatorial Content Festival Apprentice

Northern Lights supports artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere, focusing on innovative uses of technology to imagine new interactions between audience, artwork, and place and explore expanded possibilities for civic engagement.

Our largest program is Northern Spark, a free, annual, late-night, multidisciplinary arts festival that takes place in June and draws tens of thousands of Minnesotans each year. In collaboration with arts organizations and community partners, we turn the city into a surprising arts experience.  For more information about Northern Lights.mn, visit our website: http://northern.lights.mn/.  For more information about Northern Spark, visit northernspark.org

In 2019 Northern Spark takes place in three neighborhoods: Downtown East (Minneapolis) in The Commons, American Indian Cultural Corridor (Minneapolis) along Franklin Ave., and Rondo (St. Paul) at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center. The apprentice positions seek applicants with strong cultural ties to the latter of these two neighborhoods.

Since 2011, Northern Spark has created a spirit of adventure and belonging, with the help of hundreds of artists and community partners. The goal of the apprentice program is to share the systems we’ve built over the years, and to foster an exchange of skills and community knowledge in the neighborhoods where the festival is taking place. Festival apprentices get an inside view at how a large public event comes to be, as part of a dynamic team that works together to produce this beloved event. 

For this year’s Apprentice Positions we are looking for candidates with cultural connections and community involvement in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul and the American Indian Cultural Corridor in Minneapolis.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday, January 11, 2019.

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter online here.
Questions? email jobs@northern.lights.mn 

Job Description: Curatorial/Content Manager Festival Apprentice

The CCM Festival Apprentice works with the Artistic Director on all aspects of the artist interface for NS and with the Co-Directors on aspects of information about Northern Spark on public facing platforms, in particular, the NS website. Core areas of learning and responsibility include:

Artists

• Manage information about and contracts with all individual artists
• Attend site visits with artists
• Attend tech reviews with artists (optional)

Website

• Edit individual artist information to a consistent level and length
• Review individual partner project information for consistency and appropriateness
• Manage artist and partner project imagery and other visuals necessary for the website using Dropbox
• Edit food truck information to a consistent level and length
• Review and manage Sponsor and Supporter information for consistency and appropriateness
• Work with Co-Director and Producer to identify map locations of all projects and festival installations
• Work with Co-Directors to manage all other website content (e.g. Theme, How to get around, etc.)
• Manage deadlines in Asana and Google spreadsheet for content delivery with staff, artists, partners, vendors
• Manage and upload all website content according to schedule

Printed Guide and Festival Signage

• Assist w/ preparation and proofing of printed map for NS
• Manage final content for festival signage

Northern Spark Team

• Attend bi-weekly staff meetings
• Attend monthly Program Council meetings
• Attend all projects meeting (February)
• Attend Production Meeting (May)

Stipend: $5,000
Estimated hours: approx. 10 hrs/week w/ additional hours required in March and May for website content upload
Duration: January through June 30, 2019
Reports to: Artistic Director

Required skills: Great written and verbal communication skills, self-motivated and able to adapt to changing deadlines. Ability to work with a broad range of people outside the organization. Previous experience working with artists and/or successfully managing a significant website project is desirable but not necessary. Knowledge of WordPress desirable but not necessary. Experience working with Google Docs and Spreadsheets desirable but not necessary. Experience working with Asana desirable but not necessary. Experience working with Dropbox desirable but not necessary.

Required equipment: Own computer. Internet access when not at NL office.