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Artistic Director

The Orchestra

The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony is excited to hire a new Artistic Director. Founded in 2008, BARS is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco dedicated to promoting and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identified (LGBTQ) musicians and composers toward the goal of broad crossover appeal and excellence in the performing arts. Over the past 15 years, BARS has established itself as a premier community orchestra in the Bay Area, regularly playing to sold-out crowds and performing with world-renowned soloists. We put on approximately 4 full concerts per season, as well as ad-hoc chamber concerts and other engagements.

 

The Position

Our new Artistic Director (AD) will lead the artistic operation and growth of the orchestra. The AD bears ultimate responsibility for: choosing repertoire, soloists and any guest conductors; leading rehearsals and directing artistic productions; and selecting and developing the orchestra’s members. The AD also represents the orchestra in the community and assists in fundraising. The AD reports directly to the board and exercises authority in accordance with guidelines established by the board. The AD is expected to work in close collaboration with the board president, operations manager, and key musician members, including section and committee leaders.

 

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will possess exceptional musicianship; strong conducting skills and experience; ability to work with community music groups and bring out the best in non-professional musicians; effective organizational skills, including rehearsal planning and production management; effective oral and written communication skills; an ability to build rapport with audience members and the broader music and LGBTQ communities; and facility with fundraising and budgeting. Strong ties to the Bay Area music community are also desired. Candidates must be available in San Francisco to lead weekly rehearsals and occasionally to appear at other events. The person selected for this position must also have a passion for promoting LGBTQ composers and performers, including an understanding of and commitment to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

 

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter, resume, and answers to the candidate questionnaire to applications@bars-sf.org by February 29, 2024. Your cover letter should help us understand how your professional and personal experience have prepared you to lead our organization, including your commitment to LGBTQ issues and community music groups. Candidates who reach later stages in the interview process may be asked to submit video footage or other additional materials. We also anticipate inviting finalists for the position to conduct a concert during our 2024–25 season. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, and we particularly encourage applicants from groups under-represented in classical music to apply.

 

Compensation

The position pays $3,500 per concert set (rehearsals and other preparations, and performance



Applicant Questionnaire:

We are asking all applicants to submit answers to the following questions with their resume and cover letter. Most of the questions are open-ended and designed to give applicants an opportunity to consider various aspects of the positions of Artistic Director and to give us insight to applicant approaches to those areas. Please limit yourself to 1-2 pages for the whole questionnaire. We may ask you to elaborate on some of these questions if invited to interview.

  • Please write a brief vision for a 3–5 year artistic plan.

  • Please provide an example program you would like to do in the near future with the orchestra, any other types of artistic activities you might like to lead the orchestra in undertaking, and any possible guest artists that you would like to invite to collaborate with the orchestra.

  • Please tell us about your relationship with the bay area classical music and LGBT communities.

  • We anticipate inviting finalists for the position to each conduct a concert during the BARS 2024–25 season. Please let us know of any potential periods of time that you anticipate not being available between August 2024–June 2025 or any annual commitments (e.g. conducting in a festival, vacations etc.).