Director of Kids, Teens, and Family Programs (Arts, Sciences and Theatre Specialist)

Job Description:

Director of Kids, Teens, and Family Programs (Arts, Sciences and Theatre Specialist)

Description

Description

Director of Kids, Teens, and Family Education-Palo Alto Art Center

Are you passionate about art, community, and engaging young people and families in creative activities? The Palo Alto Art Center is seeking a dynamic Director of Kids, Teens, and Family programs to develop programs that engage the community through the arts. In this key leadership role, you’ll oversee a thriving program of art classes, summer camps, family workshops, school programs, and outreach activities that engage thousands of diverse participants annually.

In the process, you’ll collaborate with a committed team of staff, contractors, volunteers, and interns, ensuring smooth day-to-day operations while shaping the long-term vision of youth programs at the Art Center. This role blends hands-on operations with high-level strategy, offering the opportunity to make a significant impact in a beloved, community-centered institution.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• A strategic, detail-oriented planner with strong administrative and program management skills.
• A collaborative communicator skilled at working with artists, staff, and community members.
• A customer-focused leader who thrives in a public-facing, community-oriented environment.
• A creative professional with experience programming, implementing, and evaluating fee-based and free programs for young learners.
• Familiarity with municipal operations and a passion for making art accessible to all.

Key Responsibilities:

This specialized position provides leadership and long-range planning for Youth Education programs at the Palo Alto Art Center:

• Researches, plans, coordinates, implements, and evaluates a robust program of quarterly classes, workshops, and summer camps that generate more than $500,000 in revenue for the City of Palo Alto.
• Oversees a team that includes three regular staff (two .75FTE and one full time), six part-time staff and a range of contract instructors, providing training, oversight, and mentorship.
• Manages revenue and expense budgets, coordinating contracts and payments. This involves significant interface with the City’s purchasing department to process invoices, track payments and budget, ensure alignment with expense budgets and revenue goals.
• Utilizes the City of Palo Alto’s online class management program Civic Rec, entering classes, booking facilities, and monitoring enrollment.
• Creates and maintains safe classroom spaces, managing appropriate safety measures.
• Solicits, reviews, and selects new course and workshop proposals and engages contract instructors.
• Contributes leadership and support for the Art Center’s school programs, family programs and outreach. Coordinates free community programs, including Family Days and other outreach events, funded in part through the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation.
• Promotes youth opportunities through the City of Palo Alto website and through collaborations with the Art Center’s Marketing Coordinator.
• Provides exceptional customer service to the public.
• Collaborates with the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation (PAACF) in grant development, donor engagement, and in creating an annual Foundation budget for youth programs. Supports PAACF membership and individual giving opportunities.
• Ongoing interface and collaboration with colleagues working across the Art Center in administration, visitor services, exhibitions, adult studio programs, and volunteers.
• Can act as program area supervisor in the absence of the Senior Community Services Program Manager.
• Additional duties as assigned and required.

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Arts, Sciences, and Theatre Specialist is a classification found in the Arts & Sciences Division of the Community Services Department, which includes various positions in performing arts and visual arts, sciences, and cultural programs. It is distinguished from the Producer Arts (or) Sciences Program classification by its emphasis on the use of independent judgment in program planning, high level of expertise in particular industry and industry trends, and execution and directing the work of numerous staff, which may include but not limited to Producer, Arts, and Science Professionals, Educators, Instructors, Zoological Assistants, and/or other staff.

About the Palo Alto Art Center

The Palo Alto Art Center is your place to see and make art, activate your creativity, and expand your community. Created by the community, for the community in 1971, the Palo Alto Art Center provides an accessible and welcoming place to engage with art. We engage approximately 150,000 people every year through a diverse range of programs, including free-admission exhibitions, classes and workshops for all ages, school programs, and special events throughout the year. The Art Center staff work toward a vision in which art is embedded in the community, a part of everyday life. Our values:

• Art is essential for individual and community vitality.
• Seeing and making art is transformative.
• Respect for one another builds greater understanding, stronger relationships, and community.
• Creativity and innovation inform our public offerings, thinking, and work as an organization.
• Collaborative partnerships and practices are essential for fostering a more interrelated, vibrant City.

Every Art Center staff and volunteer knows and understands their roles in upholding the mission, values, and vision. We operate with the highest level of professionalism on behalf of the Palo Alto Art Center, the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation, and the City of Palo Alto, with whom we share a long-term commitment to serve residents of and visitors to our diverse City.

Our tenets of organizational culture: inclusive, respectful, collaborative, and strategic.

Our key strategies in our strategic plan (adopted 2018) include: heighten community engagement; increase financial sustainability; increase leadership capacity.

The Palo Alto Art Center is owned and operated by the City of Palo Alto as a program of the Division of Arts and Sciences, Department of Community Services. The Palo Alto Art Center Foundation was founded in 1973 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial support and advocacy to the Art Center through a public/private partnership that allows us to enhance our reach and impact in the community.

To learn more about the Palo Alto Art Center, please click HERE.

Essential Duties

Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Assists in the operation of the arts and sciences programs and facilities.
• Directs the work of numerous regular employees including and Producers, Arts and Science Professionals, Instructors, Zoological Assistants, Educators and/or other staff.
• Administers, develops, institutes, plans programs and projects, and supervises specific areas of programming.
• Directs and administers programs staffed by other City classifications as specified above.
• Coordinates relations and facility use with community groups and community members.
• Directs productions, programs and/or class projects, as directed.
• Provides general coordination of events and outreach programming.
• Oversees pertinent budget and contracts.
• Participates in the recruitment, interviewing and contracting of regular and hourly personnel.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• A strategic thinker who can think and plan on a big-picture level, while also tactically managing administrative and logistical details.
• A demonstrated collaborator, who can work successfully with a broad range of diverse personalities to develop impactful programs for the public.
• An exceptional communicator and great listener.
• An organized administrator who can successfully manage schedules, budgets, deadlines, tasks.
• An entrepreneurial mindset that encourages revenue generation opportunities.
• A commitment to building and maintaining a strong team of staff and volunteers.
• A customer-service focus, with an interest in proactive problem solving.
• An understanding of youth learning and development, particularly through art.
• An ability to work successfully within a municipal ecosystem.
• A background in, or appreciation of, artistic and creative practice.

For full job description, please click HERE .

Minimum Qualifications

Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities which would typically be acquired through:

• Bachelor's Degree in Arts/Humanities/Theater/Sciences or equivalent. Master's Degree desirable.

and

• Three years of experience related to the position.

Supplemental Information

Working Conditions/Physical Requirements:

• Work in a ceramic/art studio environment; some lifting, stooping, climbing, flexible work schedule.
  

The Selection Process:

• Applicants will receive email recruitment status notifications. Governmentjobs.com account also has notification status updates.
• Depending on the number of qualified applications received, the examination process may consist of supplemental questions, online assessment, written examination, practical performance, oral examination, or any combination to determine which candidate will move forward in the hiring process.
• The screening process for this position typically may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.

Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have problems while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at (855) 524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday.

Benefits Highlights

• CalPERS Pension- Lifetime retirement income with up to 100% of your highest salary.
• Fully Paid Medical, Dental & Vision- Coverage for you and eligible dependents.
• Six Weeks Paid Parental Leave.
• Up to $10,000/year in Childcare Assistance.
• Generous Time Off- Up to 200 hours of vacation plus 13 paid holidays.
• Commuter Perks- Unlimited Bay Area transit with Clipper BayPass, including Caltrain, BART, VTA, MUNI, and more
• Memorandum Of Agreements between the City and its employee groups.

This position is represented by Service Employee International Union position (SEIU)

Compensation (SEIU): Comprehensive compensation plan, to learn more click HERE.

The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

See our Benefits at a Glance Bookletfor more details.
Learn more about our Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) between the City and its bargaining units, by clicking HERE.

Closing Date/Time: 2/25/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$109,075.20 - $133,348.80 Annually