Business Director

The Profile
We are looking for a business director who can combine experience with a sense of curiosity; someone with personality and enthusiasm who motivates both the team and our partners. You must have excellent networking and communication skills. You are outspoken, team-oriented, and easily connect with partners, funders, and the public; you are the stable, structure-oriented individual who steers the internal organization.

The Position
We are offering you a leadership position at one of the Netherlands’ leading performing arts festivals. SPRING has earned a strong reputation both nationally and internationally through its two editions: the SPRING Performing Arts Festival in May and SPRING in Autumn.

The City of Utrecht, the Performing Arts Fund, and the Province of Utrecht are supporting SPRING through the end of 2024 with a multi-year grant. In collaboration with the artistic director, you will work on implementing the existing four-year plan and help shape the long-term strategy. In this way, you will strengthen SPRING’s unique position as an indispensable voice in the Dutch cultural landscape.

About SPRING
SPRING commissions new works in the contemporary performing arts, with a focus on cross-disciplinary art forms. SPRING supports both the growth and development of young, promising artists and the advancement of theater, dance, and cross-disciplinary art forms.

SPRING is a call for art that seeks contemporary forms to ask contemporary questions—art that doesn’t seek to please but dares to challenge, that is raw and beautiful, rich and confrontational, art that isn’t necessarily subservient but poses a question to society. SPRING is for an open and curious audience.

SPRING has a turnover of nearly €1.5 million and employs five full-time staff members (4 FTE). In the months leading up to and during the festival, SPRING also relies on approximately 25 independent contractors and 100 volunteers.

Role within the organization
Together with the artistic director, the executive director forms the organization’s management team. Both directors are jointly responsible for strategy and policy, as well as for maintaining relationships with stakeholders, including grant providers. They report directly to the board of trustees regarding the policies implemented.

Job Description
The Executive Director is primarily responsible for the organization’s business strategy and operations. The Executive Director plays a key role in SPRING’s mission to become even more deeply rooted throughout the city of Utrecht and to seek out partnerships with institutions and communities across the city.

Duties and Responsibilities

Finance

• Developing and implementing short- and medium-term business and financial policies, contributing to the development of long-term and strategic policies,
• Preparing the annual budget, overseeing the budget, and monitoring the management of sub-budgets,
• Preparing the annual management report and being responsible for the financial statements—prepared in collaboration with the auditor.

Client Relations and Fundraising/Partnerships

• Developing and implementing a fundraising plan for external financing and sponsorship, and in that context establishing and maintaining contacts with existing and potential funders (grant providers, foundations, and sponsors/partnerships)
• Document agreements with the festival’s external funders in contracts, implement them, and evaluate them
• Maintaining external contacts in Utrecht and throughout the Netherlands, including colleagues, sponsors, grant providers, foundations, and institutions. Political and general lobbying are key components of the job responsibilities.
• Ensure integration within the city and province of Utrecht and initiate collaboration with relevant parties
• Participating in various consultative bodies, including the Utrecht Festival Consultative Body, the Dutch Festivals Umbrella Consultative Body, Kunsten92 meetings, and similar forums.

Management and Business Policy

• Works with the artistic director to lead the team
• Develops and implements human resources policies
• Leads employees in accordance with established policies
• Enter into contracts with (freelance) employees and (inter)national artists/companies in accordance with current regulations

Audience development

• Works with the M&C coordinator to develop strategic initiatives for audience development, with the aim of expanding and diversifying the audience
• Works with the M&C coordinator to develop a framework for target audience policy
• Monitors revenue targets for sales and receipts

Skills and Qualities

• Relevant degree at the higher professional education (HBO+) level
• At least 3 years of relevant work experience within a cultural organization
• Demonstrable business acumen, experience in preparing and monitoring a budget, and maintaining or overseeing the bookkeeping
• A professional and structured approach
• A connector and team player with an understanding of cultural differences
• An articulate and clear communicator with a strong command of Dutch and English
• Creative, ambitious, proactive, and practical
• An interest in culture, dance, and theater
• Good knowledge of the city of Utrecht
• Flexible hours leading up to the festival

What we offer
A one-year contract with the prospect of a permanent position, 4 days (80%), salary in accordance with the CAO Podia scale 9 (€3,719 – €5,503).

For more information about the festival and the SPRING organization, visit www.springutrecht.nl.

SPRING is being assisted in this process by the executive search firm Colourful People. For more information about this position, please call Winfred Voordendag, senior partner at Colourful People, at 06-28284706. To express your interest, please submit your cover letter and resume via the Colourful People website no later than Sunday, June 26, 2022. Interviews will be held on Tuesday, July 19, and Friday, July 22, online if necessary. We aim to complete the process by August 1, 2022. The preferred start date is October 1, 2022, due to the handover from the current interim business director.

We are an organization for everyone, where we embrace the widest possible range of people. We believe that diversity is the foundation of creativity, relevance, and innovation. We therefore warmly invite anyone interested to apply. SPRING adheres to the Cultural Governance Codes, the Fair Practice Code, and the Diversity and Inclusion Code.