Seeking an Executive Editor

by Julius Ferraro

thINKingDANCE is seeking a part-time Executive Editor for the 2019-20 calendar years, and possibly beyond. This position is mostly volunteer (a small stipend is provided), and is coequal with two other volunteer executive positions, the Editor-in-Chief and the General Manager. This is an excellent opportunity for a driven individual with a love of dance, writing, and leading groups to help shape the future of an ever-evolving community that was established in 2011 in response to a lack of thoughtful, critical dance coverage in the Philadelphia region. Today thINKingDANCE comprises a writing staff of thirty, all with abundant energy, talent, and passion.

Executive Editor responsibilities include:

• Program and coordinate thINKingDANCE’s monthly meetings, usually attended by 20-25 writers. Meetings are currently two hours long and include an education, workshop, conversation, or writing component. They are the beating heart of our community.
• Coordinate with various committees within thINKingDANCE, including development, education, communication, diversity/equity/inclusion, and an advisory board.
• With Editor-in-Chief, spot-read all articles published on the site, attending to accuracy, language use and sensitivity, and technical problems.
• Work with Editor-in-Chief to shape editorial policy.
• Through creative visioning, delegation, and collaboration, help articulate and shape a vision for tD’s future—what is thINKingDANCE, and what can it become?—and to identify and cultivate new potential partners. Potential visions for the future could include:
  • greater focus on public education and community growth, developing new programs and expanding on current ones such as Write Back Atcha and the Mighty Writers partnership;
  • expanding on programs like the Theatre Philadelphia partnership and identifying new partners and funding sources for co-publication and writing on contract;
  • focusing on specific types of coverage, such as long-form think pieces;
  • focusing on revenue development, and working with general manager to develop new revenue streams;
  • focusing inward and developing more rigorous internal education programs for current staff.

An ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• writing and/or editing skills;
• familiarity with thINKingDANCE as a publication and as an organization;
• some experience in leadership or organizing;
• passion for dance, the arts, or journalism;
• a desire to approach the organization’s unique virtues and challenges creatively and constructively.

Based in Philadelphia, thINKingDANCE is a consortium of dance artists and writers who work together to increase visibility for local dance, encourage new forms of dance writing, broaden the scope of dance coverage in our city, and increase audience receptivity to dance. We do this through live events and partnerships as well as at www.thinkingdance.net, our online dance journal. We train and educate our writers through regular workshops with visiting dance writers, monthly peer-critique sessions, and a uniquely rigorous two-tiered editing process. The organization is currently thirty writers strong.

This position is mostly volunteer. A small stipend is provided.

To apply, please send a letter of interest and a resume to Julius Ferraro, editor@thinkingdance.net, by Sunday November 4, 2018, with the subject line Executive Editor. Please feel free to contact editor@thinkingdance.net with questions about this posting.

By Julius Ferraro
October 5, 2018