GENOVESE VANDERHOOF & ASSOCIATES
A Cultural Management Consulting Firm
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Toronto, Ontario
Executive Director
The Toronto Consort invites applications and referrals for the position of Executive Director.
Now in our 50th season we seek an articulate, visionary, and enthusiastic leader capable of expanding our live and digital performance reputation to new generations of listeners and artists, locally and globally. The ideal candidate will appreciate this distinctive repertoire as a vehicle for historical, cultural, and educational transformation, and have the savvy to optimize the next phase of our digital streaming service, Early Music TV. Together with a revitalized organizational strategy, effective governance, and a loyal subscriber base, the new Executive Director will be in an enviable position to apply their exceptional people and performing arts administration skills to guide the Toronto Consort into its next golden age.
The Toronto Consort:
Since its founding in 1972, the Toronto Consort has become internationally recognized for its excellence in the performance of medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque music. It is one of Canada’s most successful chamber ensembles.
Led by a collective of Artistic Associates, the group’s members are amongst
Canada’s leading Early Music specialists, both singers and instrumentalists.
The ensemble performs an annual subscription series at the Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in Toronto and has toured on a frequent basis across Canada and internationally. The Toronto Consort has 10 CDs to its credit, including two nominated for Juno Awards.
Despite grappling with the issues faced by all arts organizations by the prolonged pandemic, The Toronto Consort was able to maximize creatively digital opportunities that have brought it new audiences both locally and around the world.
Launched in November of 2020, Early Music TV is an on-demand streaming platform. With a world-class catalogue of Early Music masterpieces and free educational content, Early Music TV has been designed to engage a worldwide digital audience of music lovers and musicians.
The Early Music Collaboration Lab focuses on shared learning opportunities for adults over the age of 65 and younger people aged 14 to 25. In addition there are many student/teacher resources available including a free concert series, in-school workshops for high school students, and more.
The Consort also offers free audience-engagement activities such as pre-concert lectures and the Explorer blog series, a way for the curious to discover Early Music.
Unusual for an Early Music ensemble is the Consort’s commitment to contemporary Canadian works within its mandate. Many celebrated Canadian composers have written pieces especially for the organization.
The Consort quite consciously works with artists from other disciplines in order to present Early Music in a fuller, more accessible context to contemporary audiences. It has collaborated with such organizations as the Toronto International Film Festival, Luminato Festival Toronto, Tafelmusik, Soundstreams, Sampradaya Dance Creations, Nuit Blanche, Opera Atelier, and Doors Open.
The Consort has produced a considerable amount of music for historical drama television series including The Tudors, The Borgias, and The Vikings, all produced by the cable network Showtime, and recorded the soundtrack for Atom Egoyan’s award-winning film, The Sweet Hereafter.
The Consort often creates its own editions and transcriptions of Early Music, as well as arrangements frequently involving considerable creative decision-making, as well as collaboration with diverse performers within Canada and beyond.
The annual budget is approximately $700,000.
The Position of Executive Director:
Reporting to the Board of Directors and working collaboratively with the Artistic Associates, the Executive Director is responsible for the overall administrative, financial and daily operations of the Toronto Consort. The Executive Director takes a lead role in all of the organization’s activities and projects including budgeting, financial management, fund-raising, education and outreach program delivery, audience engagement and customer service, and community partnerships.
A Director of Audience Engagement and Education, a Director of Development, the Front of House Manager, and a part-time bookkeeper report to this position, along with a number of on-going contract positions. Ticketing services are provided by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s box office with the Tessitura software.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have previous experience in a performing arts organization, some background in not for profit arts management, and a university degree in music/arts and/or business management or equivalent experience in arts administration.
The new Executive Director will have a strategic growth mindset and excellent analytical, financial and organizational skills. Other necessary characteristics would include political savvy and diplomacy, good oral and written communication skills, a track record in community participation and partnership, and experience in leading and developing people. Proven capability in fund-raising, working with individuals, foundations, and corporations, as well as government funders, is imperative.
Knowledge of concert production is important as the Executive Director has oversight responsibility—in collaboration with the Artistic Associates--for contracting artistic and technical personnel, insurance coverage, service agreements, rights and royalties, as well as working with tour presenters and the American Federation of Musicians.
The Executive Director in collaboration with the Artistic Associates and the Board represents the Toronto Consort to the public, the media, donors, funders, and other community stakeholders. The Director must be able to establish and maintain effective working relationships with staff, artists, board members, artist managers, other arts groups, sponsors, educational institutions, volunteers, and the audience.
We seek an intuitive listener and synthesizer of ideas and possibilities, a person inspired to leverage their business acumen with a passion for the performing arts, helping to facilitate the Toronto Consort’s present success and future growth.
Compensation: $75,000 – $90,000. Help with relocation expenses could be discussed.
Other Information and Application Process:
Interested candidates are invited to submit a letter of interest, résumé, and a list of references by Friday, January 20, 2023 in confidence to:
Margaret Genovese
Senior Partner
GENOVESE, VANDERHOOF & ASSOCIATES
77 Carlton Street, Suite 1103
Toronto, ON
Canada M5B 2J7
(416) 340-2762
gvamargaret@aol.com
Preference will be given to qualified Canadian candidates.
For additional information see:
www.genovesevanderhoof.com,
www.torontoconsort.org. www.EarlyMusic.TV
The Toronto Consort does not discriminate against any person based on race, color, gender identify or expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, familial or marital status, veteran status, non-job-related disability or any other basis protected by applicable federal, provincial, or local laws.