Festival Director

The Texas Tribune the states go-to source for Texas politics and public policy news is seeking a director of its annual Texas Tribune Festival in downtown Austin.

The Festival Director will be fully embedded at the Tribune and will lead teams across the organization as well as vendors and contractors in the top-to-bottom execution of the event. They will collaborate professionally with Festival production vendors A/V vendors and the in-house cross-departmental Festival team to bring the Tribunes vision and programming to life.

They will ensure sound management of events and the consistent achievement of Festival goals budget management and adherence to timelines.

This role requires exceptional event production skills and the ability to lead across the organization bringing teams together driving decisions and building strong relationships with colleagues vendors and partners at every level.

This is a permanent full-time staff position and the Tribune is seeking to fill this role immediately.

Compensation will depend on experience and qualifications; the minimum salary is $100000.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end planning production and execution of the Texas Tribune Festival leading the Tribunes cross-departmental Festival team and holding the organization accountable to strategic goals audience priorities revenue targets and production timelines.
• Project manage the process ensuring regular production meetings that have agendas and include all necessary participants.
• Build an event that reflects the Tribunes mission brand standards and editorial vision.
• Work with the Tribunes outside production partner and oversee and direct the production and A/V vendor(s) for the Festival including panel recording livestreaming venue management and event production.
• Build and execute a speaker communications strategy to ensure all Festival participants are prepared and properly briefed on their session(s).
• Work with the Senior Director of Events and Live Journalism on internal reports and communications of Festival updates needs and progress toward goals including leading weekly cross-departmental meetings vendor meetings and text-based progress reporting.
• Work directly with the Tribunes internal and external design and production resources to develop and execute an excellent visual and experiential design experience.
• Ensure the Festival has adequate accessibility opportunities and features for the virtual and in-person events.
• Monitor event expenses to ensure all Festival team members keep within their allocated budgets and that the event does not exceed the total budget.
• Partner with the Tribune sponsorship team to achieve Festival revenue goals by developing and executing on sponsorship opportunities activations and presence at the Festival including video elements onsite activations and virtual platform presence.
• Manage all Festival onsite teams (virtual and in-person) in tandem with Festival production vendor(s) including hiring and managing additional onsite staff as needed.
• Work directly with the Tribunes production and audience engagement teams to oversee live and post-production strategy and execution.
• Work directly with the Tribunes Marketing and Communications team to execute the Festival marketing and campaign strategy as well as oversee any onsite or production-related needs of marketing and PR teams.
• Work with the Senior Director of Events and Live Journalism and other team members on post-event analysis data collection and reporting for internal teams including reports to the Tribunes senior management team. Assist the sponsorship and revenue teams with external reporting needs.
• Work with the city of Austin for event permits as necessary.

Qualifications

• Exceptional project and time management skills strong writing and communication skills and demonstrated experience overseeing multi-day event production
• Experience leading and coordinating staff contractors and others across cross-functional teams
• A demonstrated aptitude for developing building and stewarding internal and external stakeholders
• Experience managing event budgets and resources with accountability and transparency
• History of being organized and detail-oriented highly effective at juggling multiple projects on time and on budget
• Strong discretion and courtesy when dealing with all Tribune contacts as well as internal and external relationships
• Demonstrates a high degree of adaptability to continually changing environments
• Willingness and ability to adapt to increased demands during Festival planning/production
• Energized by working in a fast-paced mission-driven journalism environment
• An interest in Texas politics and policy and a belief in the Tribunes mission

Ideal candidates

• Proactively identify key milestones and dependencies identify resource constraints and decision points early and escalate issues with clear recommendations to ensure on-time on-budget delivery.
• Lead collaborative discussions synthesize input efficiently and make informed timely decisions to keep projects moving forward.
• Balance diplomatic relationship-building with direct conversations and hold vendors and colleagues across the organization accountable for delivering results and meeting deadlines.
• Lead through influence and credibility rather than org-chart authority.
• Maintain composure under pressure and make sound decisions when plans change.
• Willingness and ability to adapt to increased demands during Festival planning/production

Location

The person in this role will work from The Texas Tribune office in downtown Austin steps away from the Texas Capitol.

Benefits

This job is full-time and has the following benefits:

• Medical vision and dental insurance
• A cellphone stipend
• 20 days of paid time off each year
• Up to 16 weeks of paid family leave plus four weeks of additional job protection
• 401(k) matching
• Support for professional training and attending industry conferences
• Remote work flexibility

How to Apply

Submit your application by February 15 along with a résumé cover letter and a memo detailing your vision for the Festival Director position and how you would approach the work.

The Texas Tribune is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race religion color national origin gender sexual orientation age marital status veteran status or disability status.

We cant wait to hear from you.

About The Texas Tribune

Heres what you should know about the Tribune. From day one weve had disruption innovation and risk-taking in our DNA. Were ambitious as all get out but still have the punch-above-your-weight mentality of a scrappy start-up. We believe we can meet the demands of our audience and our own expectations for excellence without breaking the bank or our staff. We understand not everything is a story for us we have to make choices but were always looking to expand our boundaries.

Were nonprofit because the challenging economic reality for media these days obligates us to find a different way reliable and sustainable to fund serious journalism. Were nonpartisan because we live in the United States of Confirmation Bias and we dont need to be part of the problem. We dont need to be yet another source of information affirming the voices and perspectives that are already in peoples heads. At the same time nonpartisan is not non-thinking. We call B.S. when B.S. needs to be called.

The Texas Tribune seeks to ensure that its newsroom and its news coverage reflect Texas by including a wide range of perspectives from people of different backgrounds ideologies and experiences.

Learn more about The Texas Tribune here.