Program
Officer
(Minnesota)

Jerome Foundation, founded in 1964 by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill, supports early career artists in the creation, development and production of new original work. Our geographic funding focus is the state of Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City. We focus our grantmaking through grants and fellowships to individual artists, grants to arts organizations, and broad field-building initiatives that support early career artists.

This is an important moment of transition at the Foundation. Eleanor Savage was named as president and CEO in April 2023, charged with furthering the organization’s commitment to innovative and flexible grantmaking programs for early career artists and arts ecosystems that focus on racial equity and the role artists and culture bearers play in societal change. The Foundation’s leadership, staff and board members are responsive and dynamic in their work with and advocacy for early career artists, guided by the values of equity, diversity, risk and innovation and humility.

The Foundation awards approximately $4 million in grants each year. In 2020, the Board of Directors agreed to increase this grants budget by an additional $8M over four years.

The Foundation currently has a full-time staff of 3, including a President, a NYC Program Officer and a Finance and Operation Manager. Additional contract staff include a contracted Accountant and a Controller. We are now hiring a MN Program Officer and a Grants and Program Administrator.

For more information about the Foundation, see its Annual Report for the most recent fiscal year, and learn more about its programs, grantees, Staff, Board and Members.

The Jerome members, board and staff is made up of artists, arts and cultural leaders, and community members who are deeply committed to developing an inclusive and collaborative organizational culture and practices that promote equity and accessibility. All staff members contribute to a nurturing and supportive culture, internally and externally, as well as to the strategic direction of our work and the daily programmatic and administrative responsibilities. We foster a culture of belonging in service to artists and arts organizations. We are responsive, respectful, understanding of change and difference, and open to critical discourse and learning.

The Program Officer is a primary point of contact and connection with Jerome’s grantmaking constituents and is responsible for: communicating with artists and arts organizations; assisting with the facilitation and logistics for artist-centered processes to reach decisions about grant applications and recommend grants to the Jerome Board for final approval; participating in philanthropic community meetings; conducting site visits with grantees; attending performances/exhibitions; documenting meetings and preparing materials for Board of Director meetings, among other responsibilities.

This position requires a community-minded focus and strong communication and engagement skills for interacting directly with diverse communities of artists and arts leaders; confidence and experience in public speaking and making public presentations; an eye for precision and detail; administrative skills and active listening experience. Specific grant program assignments vary depending on organizational needs.

The Program Officer job is an exempt position, including a mix of Monday through Friday office hours and event/meeting attendance on evenings and weekends. This schedule has some flexibility but requires staff to prioritize based on program timelines and deadlines. There will be specific times (including staff meetings, grant panel meetings, quarterly Board meetings, etc.) that will require mandatory attendance. There is occasional travel within state, as well as to New York City.

Program Officers work as a team on all grant programs and services. This includes, but is not limited to the following programmatic and administrative activities that represent about 80% of this position’s time:

• Explaining grant guidelines and helping applicants determine eligibility, making clear foundation priorities and values
• Providing supportive one-to-one services and group workshops/webinars for applicants as they work on applications to be submitted to the Foundation
• Coordinating, participating in, and making presentations at Foundation-organized community meetings and webinars
• Reviewing applications in accordance with Foundation guidelines to ensure eligibility before applications are distributed to panels
• Helping to identify potential panelists to view applications and participate in panel reviews
• Assisting in the coordination of panels or other decision-making meetings, including scheduling of meeting times, locations, distribution of materials, and panel orientations
• Serving as point of contact with panelists during their review period, answering questions, providing reminders of schedule, coordinating scoring of applications and determining finalists for full panel discussion
• Facilitating panel meetings or other artist-led decision-making processes
• Taking detailed notes of discussions to be able to provide feedback to applicants
• Preparing written materials to help articulate the rationale for recommendations to the Board of Directors for their review and action
• Notifying applicants of status and providing constructive feedback to both grantees and applicants about panel responses to their applications
• Reviewing and responding to interim and final reports and feedback from grantees
• Participating in regular debriefs to inform future rounds of programs, including making revisions to grant guidelines and adjustments to processes
• Serving as an ongoing point of contact between grantees and the Foundation
• Maintaining spreadsheets, calendar and database information for grant tracking and management
• Actively engaging with artists and arts leaders to understand the developmental, organizational and programmatic needs of constituent groups and artists to ensure Jerome’s programs and services are relevant and effective

Additionally, Program Officers are expected to perform the following, off-site, as well Foundation-related and field-wide activities, accounting for 20% of their position’s time:

• Participating in staff meetings, board and committee meetings
• Participating in Foundation learning, research, visioning, planning and learning processes
• Attending performances, screenings, readings, exhibitions, etc., offered by early career artists
• Conducting site visits to organizations to meet with staff and report back to the Foundation about those meetings
• Attending select meetings of other Foundations and philanthropic community events as assigned
• Reading and participating in discussion to advance Foundation understanding of issues facing artists and their fields

The Jerome Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and diversity is a core value. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply.

The above list of responsibilities is not intended to encompass all functions of the position, rather, they are a general framework of the requirements of the position. Job incumbents may be required to perform other functions not specifically addressed in this description.

• Experience working with and respect for diverse cultures and communities with a commitment to practices of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility; a demonstrated understanding of the complexities of intersectional identities; and demonstrated understanding of the needs of artists.
• At least five years of experience with and knowledge of multiple arts fields, aesthetics and genres (including but not limited to dance, film and video, literature, music, technology-centered arts, theater/performance/spoken word, visual arts) as an artist or employee, Board member, and/or consultant for an arts organization(s) dealing with the work of living artists.
• The ideal candidate will have significant connection with the MN arts community.
• Experience building long-term relationships and making meaningful connections with people, organizations, and resources.
• Facility using Mac computers and the Microsoft Office platform (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or the Google Workspace equivalents) and proficiency in using email, databases, spreadsheets, presentations, word processing, calendaring, online research, etc. There is a requirement to learn and perform administrative functions on Submittable and Filemaker database.
• Detail-oriented, highly organized and methodical; effective interpersonal communication skills; strong technical writing skills; ability to accurately synthesize information; be able to take direction; and ability to self-organize schedules, meet deadlines and juggle multiple work responsibilities and complex projects.
• Organized and accurate in record-keeping and administration.
• Comfortable communicating via telephone, Zoom and email.
• Able to review detailed reports and information on computers (as the Foundation receives all grant applications online).
• Ability to interpret written and financial information, analyze data to support conclusions and ability to read a high volume of materials.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with president, staff and board members.
• Creative and self-motivated, enjoy bringing new ideas to the organization.
• Flexible working style, willing to give and take, willing to flex to the tasks needed. Comfortable in a small “everyone pitches in” office environment.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.

Interested candidates should note that Jerome employees are not eligible to apply for direct or indirect Jerome grants.

We value our employees and care about their well-being as part of the overall health of the organization. Benefits include:

• Stipend for monthly phone usage
• 90% subsidized medical and dental insurance monthly premiums for the employee; subsidized medical and dental insurance premiums for dependents
• 401k retirement savings plan with an employer match
• Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D), and Long Term Disability insurance – 100% subsidized monthly premiums
• Flexible work from home practices possible after employee is fully independent on job responsibilities; Jerome’s practice for remote work is at least 60% in office and up to 40% remote.
• Paid time off for holidays, accrued vacation and sick time; paid family, medical leave and bereavement leave
• Support for professional development