POSITION DESCRIPTION

TITLE: Research and Impact Manager

REPORTS TO: President & CEO

LOCATION: Anywhere in the U.S. & Territories, with preference for Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay Area

TYPE: Full-time, exempt position, effective immediately

COMPENSATION: Salary is budgeted between $85,000–$95,000 commensurate with qualifications. CCI offers 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision; voluntary retirement plan; paid holidays and time off; and professional development opportunities

POSITION OVERVIEW:

Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) seeks a Research and Impact Manager. The successful candidate will support CCI’s new efforts to commission and activate research to inform frameworks of understanding and new policies that improve the live-work conditions and support systems of arts workers and all those who share their informal gig- and formal independent-work conditions. Particular focus will be paid to creative economy workers whose material vulnerability stems from structural racism and inequalities.

Since CCI’s founding in 2001, the organization has a history of commissioning primary research, such as the 2016 report “Creativity Connects” and the 2021 Urban Institute report “Arts Workers in California.” However, this hire marks the start of CCI becoming a new center for study and policy-influencing activities to increase empirical understanding of the challenging conditions facing arts workers (including artists) and how their conditions are shared with growing numbers of other itinerant workers with similar unpredictable incomes and lack of unemployment insurance and employer-conferred safety nets. Artists have been at the forefront of precarious work, and they helped popularize the term “gig work” which described the financial hustle of jazz musicians in the mid-twentieth century. Today’s nature of work has been shifting from full-time employment to freelance activities, resulting in a need to generate new knowledge on the emerging nature of “work” through the lens of arts workers, particularly those of color, and to inform new frameworks and solutions, including fresh strategies for collective bargaining, delivering benefits, and attaining ownership and governance power. Grounded in CCI’s mission to support arts workers, this new portfolio of work is deliberately cross-sectoral; open to unconventional and untried solutions, particularly technologically enabled possibilities; and actively seeks to “hack” existing laws and structures of support. The Research and Impact Manager will work closely with, and complements, CCI’s initiative AmbitioUS, which provides funding to develop infrastructure for projects wherein cultural communities can be preserved and uplifted economically and arts workers can become empowered and self-determining through asset and governance ownership.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reports to CCI’s President & CEO, with support from program staff working across CCI’s program areas;
Manages and implements the day-to-day operations and programmatic activities of Research and Impact;
Serves as the primary representative for CCI’s research and advocacy activities;
Establishes CCI’s research and policy-action line of work—its goals and strategies, measurable outcomes, naming and branding, suite of activities, and strategies;
Develops and manages commissioning of research and policy-influencing activities, including recommending research topics and issues, research questions, and the parameters/delimitations of scopes of study, as well as work to activate the new knowledge generated through convenings, partnerships, and dissemination of information;
Leads project teams comprised of CCI staff and external collaborators and researchers, including but not limited to funders, policy makers, artists and arts workers, labor organizers and movement leaders, writers and designers, and communications consultants;
Meets obligations to funders—drafting proposals and reports, and establishing and tracking the kinds of information to assess and report on outcomes and impacts;
Writes grant proposals, research proposals, memo briefs, blog posts, social media, presentations, and talking points for CCI board, staff, and funders, and external-facing audiences;
Manages relationships, representing CCI and its goals and values, with research and advocacy partners, legislators, funders, and constituents;
Plans and coordinates activities to activate research to have impacts, including but not limited to meetings, convenings, funder briefings, conference presentations, and the development of communications and report ephemera;
Tracks and maintains program budgets;
May recruit and will supervise staff, consultants, and/or volunteers;
Contributes to the day-to-day operations of CCI by working as part of the senior leadership team on all aspects of internal systems for CCI to be efficient, effective, equitable, and impactful for those we serve;
Participates with other CCI staff on the development and use of effective organizational systems (e.g., record keeping, tracking of investments, assessment-related data) and strategies (i.e., to meet multiple objectives);
Supports efforts to ensure compliance with internal established policies and procedures (such as but not limited to conforming with office style guide, accounting processes, and staff management) and all local, state, and federal laws, such as and not limited to equality, human resources, financial compliance, workplace safety, and the like;
Engages in various sectors and fields (e.g., arts and culture, alternative economy, economic justice, just transition, labor, etc.);
Performs other program-related and all-staff activities, as assigned;
Demonstrates willingness and ability to travel to attend meetings and conferences; and
Maintains Pacific Time work hours and, at times, works unconventional and irregular hours. CCI has two physical office locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but CCI operates as a remote-work workplace, with on-site presence on an as-needed basis.

WHAT YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE:

Experience in applied research or public policy.
Master’s Degree in the social sciences, with knowledge of scientific methods and industry practices preferred.
Ability to manage contracts and relationships with research partners so that they are able to be efficient and creative.
Ability to assess quality of research content in development.
Excellent reading comprehension and analytical skills in order to inform research as it progresses and to synthesize reports in order to compel readers and strategically identified constituents to shift behaviors and take action.
Strong project management and organizational skills.
Ability to set and meet deadlines independently, including work plans and project timelines.
Ability to juggle multiple projects.
Ability to train and manage the work of staff as well as coordinate the work of diverse groups of project teams.
Ability to understand and translate data and research findings for multiple audiences.
Strong written and oral communications skills for presenting publicly.
Positive and accountable contributor to the CCI team and to those we work with and support.
Ability to exercise discretion, confidentiality, and values-based decision-making.
Working knowledge of any combination of the following: arts, culture, artists’ support systems, or creative industries; with labor movements, workers’ rights, economic justice, just transition, worker-owned cooperatives, new economy, or local economies.
Demonstrable knowledge of and commitment to issues of diversity, justice, and equity.
Lived experiences that foster empathy for vulnerable populations.

ABOUT US: 

Center for Cultural Innovation is a California nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 2001, the mission of CCI is to promote knowledge sharing, networking, and financial independence for individuals in the arts by providing business training, grants, and incubating innovative projects that create new program knowledge, tools, and practices for artists in the field, and conditions that contribute to realizing financial self-determination. Further information on CCI can be found at www.cciarts.org and its AmbitioUS initiative at www.ambitio-us.org. 

CCI is committed to creating a diverse environment and an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or preference, national origin, disability, age, or any other protected status. We consider qualified applicants in a manner consistent with federal, state, and local laws. We strongly encourage people of color, immigrants, queer and gender nonconforming people, and those with different abilities to apply.

TO APPLY:

Submit in a single email, with subject line “Application: Research & Impact Manager” the following:

• Cover letter
• Resume
• Two professional references