Queen’s University is embarking on a search for its next Director, Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (“The Isabel”).
Located on Lake Ontario immediately west of the Queen’s University campus, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts contains a 567-seat Concert Hall, a Rehearsal Hall, a Black Box Studio Theatre seating up to 100, a 92-seat Film Screening Room, an Art and Media Lab, as well as rehearsal and teaching spaces, offices, and event areas. Designed by Snøhetta/ema Architects, with Arup Acoustics and Theatre Projects Consultants, the Isabel was made possible through the generosity of Drs. Alfred and Isabel Bader, with additional funding from the Canadian Government, the Province of Ontario, and the City of Kingston. Opened in 2014, the Centre will celebrate its tenth season in 2024-2025.
The Isabel’s vision is one of an arts campus where student and community performance, education, creativity, and training blend to give rise to an inspirational cultural presence. Along with the University, community partners in the Kingston region include the adjacent Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, the Kingston Symphony, New Music Kingston, and Theatre Kingston.
Queen’s is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.
Ne Yonterihwayenhstahkwa’kó:wa nene Yonontí:yo akáowenk tká:yen tsi niyohwentsyà:ke tsi nón:we ne Rotinonhsyón:ni táhnon ne Ratirón:taks thatinákere
Gichii Ogiimaa Ikwe gichii-gakina’amaadii’igamig owedi ayaamagad Anishinaabeg idash Naadaweg gaa dan’akiyaad
Reporting to the Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), the Director is responsible for the artistic leadership of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. The Director leads the Centre’s artistic and cultural programming with innovative vision and creative inspiration. The Director also provides high-level management and business accountability while serving the university and community through creative and imaginative collaborations. A critical responsibility of the Director is providing leadership in all areas of equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization at the Isabel. The Director works with a diverse and committed administrative team, who bring valuable experience in artistic operations and management that have broadened to embrace innovative digital and multi-platform contexts resulting from the recent pandemic restrictions.
As the ideal candidate, you are deeply committed to the priorities of equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization in the arts. Your career demonstrates this commitment and contains progressive roles in cultural leadership from within a performing arts facility along with a track record in programming and arts venue management. You bring a successful track record in managing a complex institution along with the ability to lead an administrative leadership team to meet strategic, financial and operational goals. Your passion for the cultural sector is evident through your commitment, articulation and support of how arts facilities, including music, theatre, film, and the visual arts, can play a role within the life of a university and its community.
You have excellent communications skills, which you will leverage to represent the Isabel to diverse audiences in a myriad of settings. You are a skilled relationship builder, and engage and maintain relationships with a broad range of partners, both inside and outside the University. In collaboration with the University’s Advancement team, the next Director will help to cultivate, solicit and steward major gifts from individual donors, corporate sponsors, and foundation and government funders. A relevant graduate degree, such as in the arts, arts management, or not for profit administration, would be an asset.
About Queen’s University
One of Canada’s leading universities, Queen’s has a long-standing reputation for academic excellence, research, student experience, student leadership, and engaged alumni. Home to over 27,000 students, Queen’s boasts an undergraduate graduation rate of 93 per cent, diverse learning opportunities, a broad range of students’ services and supports, unmistakable school spirit, and a tight-knit global network of 159,000 alumni in 153 countries. Graduates from Queen’s University are part of an international community of lifelong learners and accomplished leaders. Queen’s University is highly ranked in Canada for student experience, taking an inclusive approach, and offering learning beyond the classroom; this experience includes a variety of student clubs, as well as a robust international exchange program with more than 220 partners. Queen’s has also made a formal commitment to the health and wellness of students, staff and faculty by joining universities from around the world in adopting the “Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges”. Queen's also became a signatory to the “Scarborough Charter On Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion” in Canadian Higher Education, committing Queen's to implementation of the Charter's various action items and to full accountability to a sector network of signatory institutions.
To apply or explore this leadership position at Queen’s University further, please contact Jane Griffith (jane@griffithgroup.ca) and Sam Walton (sam@griffithgroup.ca) or visit www.griffithgroup.ca/director-isabel-bader-performing-arts-queens-univer....
The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen’s is strongly committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and encourages applications from Black, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples, women, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQIA+ persons. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.
The University will provide support in its recruitment process to applicants with disabilities, including accommodation that takes an applicant’s accessibility needs into account. If you require accommodations during the interview process, please contact Jane Griffith at Jane@griffithgroup.ca and hradmin@queensu.ca. Every effort to accommodate candidates will be made in a way that is equitable and respectful of their additional professional, community, and personal responsibilities.
