AUDIENCE SERVICES COORDINATOR
Position Vacancy: OPEN IMMEDIATELY (open until filled)
Term: At-will employment, per Vermont and Federal Law
Employment Category: Part-Time, Hourly
To Apply:
Send a resume and letter of interest to Jamien Forrest, general manager at jamien@vtstage.org
https://www.vermontstage.org/work-with-us.html
Job Overview:
The Audience Services Coordinator is responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of services for Vermont Stage’s most-valuable resource, our patrons. The Coordinator works closely with the Vermont Stage team, and through the direction of our General Manager to build, foster, and continuously improve a world-class audience experience that complements the art on our stage(s). This role is responsible for the direct supervision and development of our part-time audience services team (front of house manager, box office staff, ushers, and volunteers). Coordinate and take-the-lead on all operational ticketing needs and user-interface during peak and off-peak times. Additionally, this role is responsible for the coordination and honing of our ticketing database, including regular reporting. This role is public-facing and the Coordinator will serve as the go-to resource for our patrons, professionally representing Vermont Stage, and remaining focused on providing world-class experiences.
Key Responsibilities:
Audience Services (approximately 70% of time) –
- Serves as the primary resource for incoming phone and email inquiries, and processes ticket orders in real time
- Appropriately documents special ticketing requests (seating, assisted listening, etc.)
- Coordinates Flexipass and Subscriber accounts and reserves tickets accordingly
- Maintains AudienceView software to make sure account information is up to date
- Proactively coordinates and initiates professional communication with patrons regarding audience experience, seating and patron requests/accommodations (accessibility requirements)
Performance Responsibilities (approximately 25% of time) –
- Coordinates the setup of the performance venue patron access area (lobby), and ensures effective load-in of box office materials and equipment
- Work with production team (stage management and audio technicians) to ensure that assisted listening devices are ready for each performance
- Coordinate with Marketing and Engagement Coordinator to ensure that signage and printed materials are prepared, printed, and posted at the performance venue
- Provide professional-level training, onboarding, orientation, development, and support of the part-time audience services team
- Coordinate the timely and professional-level engagement of event volunteers (ushers, etc.)
Other Duties/Responsibilities (approximately 5% of time) –
- Attend regular team meetings
- Provide reporting, as requested/needed
- Assists with administrative needs, as required
Professional Expectations:
- Work cooperatively and collaboratively with all Vermont Stage constituents
- Uphold the professional-quality that Vermont Stage is known for
- Provide world-class customer care and support
Outcomes:
- Through on-the-job planning, execution, and reflection/evaluation, elevate Vermont Stage’s audience experience to complement the world-class art on our stage(s) and serve as an industry model for patron care and support
- Create unique, professional, and nuanced patron “journey” from their first call (or click) until the moment they leave the theater, smiling
- Working closely with the Vermont Stage team, advocate and coordinate a synergistic and responsive interface between our patron experience/journey and organization-wide patron retention and engagement initiatives
Desired Qualifications for Knowledge/Experience:
- Relevant combination of experience and education
- Experience and/or a passion for customer service, data management, and online software platforms that support remarkable experiences for patrons
- Excellent customer service skills
- Ability to relate to diverse internal and external constituencies including staff, board, parents and children, service providers, public officials, and donors
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, with moderate guidance, and as part of a larger team
- An affinity for the performing arts, or direct experience is a plus
- Highly organized, detail oriented, reflective, eager to grow and learn, and a desire to provide top-tier service, everyday… everytime
- Calm and professional demeanor
- Solution-oriented
- Knowledge, intuition and curiosity on best-leveraging technology. Be the resident expert on ticketing, database coordination, reporting, and customer relations
Reports to:
General Manager, Jamien Forrest
Compensation and Benefits:
Currently, this is a part-time position filling up-to 20 hours per week. Hourly compensation is $17-$20 per hour (paid hourly, bi-monthly pay cycle – through timesheet reporting). Benefits include access to Vermont Stage productions and special events, a Vermont Stage office workstation (with appropriate technology), an opportunity to work with an established team of expert arts administrators and performing artists, as well as professional development opportunities that will enhance skill sets and advance Vermont Stage.
Working Conditions:
Internal- Work is normally performed in a climate controlled office environment, theater, or other public event spaces. Noise level is moderate and includes sounds of normal office equipment (people, computers, telephones, etc.). No known environmental hazards are encountered in normal performance of job duties.
Physical Demands:
Work involves standing and walking for brief periods of time, but most duties are performed from a seated position. Some stairs are present at the theater, but elevators are available. There is potential for eyestrain from reading detailed materials and computer work. Work normally requires finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination to operate computer keyboards at a moderate skill level. Repetitive motion injuries may occur.
Vermont Stage has made a commitment, in the words of our mission, to “create theatre that makes our community a better place by showing us what we have in common is more powerful than what separates us.”
Our mission informs all we do both onstage and behind the scenes. To that end, we are committing to the practice of anti-racism, anti-sexism, and to creating an inclusive space for queer, trans, and nonbinary people.
In pursuit of these commitments, below is a living document of our current and evolving efforts towards becoming an anti-racist organization and a better ally to other underrepresented groups. This list will grow and change as we develop additional action steps towards this goal.
Annually evaluating our internal policies and practices. We have revised our employee handbook to include more specific anti-discrimination language to ensure we are creating a more inclusive and equitable space for our staff and artists to do their best work.
Continuing to produce plays by, about, and with artists from underrepresented groups, including nonwhite artists, non-male artists, and queer, trans, and non-binary artists. Our Arts Innovation Fund, launched in 2013, was created to specifically pursue this goal.
Creating and promoting extra-curricular opportunities that foster our understanding of oppression and the artistic contributions of people from underrepresented groups. Our “Talkback Thursdays” program, launched in 2014, was created specifically to pursue this goal.
Annually evaluate our ticketing pricing and policies. We are currently revisioning our accessibility programs to ensure that underrepresented groups have affordable access to our shows.
We believe that theater is the art of empathy and it is through empathy that we will learn to understand and appreciate people for who they are. We believe profoundly in the power of theatre to heal invisible wounds, broaden our understanding of ourselves, and deepen our connections to each other.
It is our hope that our efforts will help create a more just place for artists to work and to do our part to “be the change” we would like to see in our community.