About Our Organization
About Luna Dance & Creativity
Luna was established in 1992 with a mission to bring creativity, equity and community to every child’s life through the art of dance. In spring 2022, Luna purchased a building for our permanent home and we are raising funds to renovate it as an ADA-accessible community dance hub in Berkeley, CA. Our extensive programs, now virtual and offsite, will return to in-person and onsite when we open the doors to our new space, May 4, 2024.
The world is dynamic and changing and there is a need for adaptation that comes from curiosity, paying attention, creativity, and agency. Luna situates learning at the center of all its work—the power of understanding, discovery, and knowledge lives with the learner and is co-constructed with others. Luna’s teachers do not pass on knowledge; rather, we partner with students to share the spiral of the artistic and human experiences of dance. Peter Senge, in his seminal work The Fifth Discipline (1990), defined a learning organization as one “where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.”
We believe it is every child’s right to dance. Each year we partner with multiple schools and organizations, and support hundreds of educators and teaching artists, in developing creative, high-quality dance programs for children.
Job Summary
Are you passionate about creativity? Do you thrive in a collaborative, grassroots environment where everyone pulls together to create equitable change? Do you enjoy holding the parts and whole of a particular project or learning activity? If you seek to apply your skills in service of social justice through the art of dance, Luna Dance & Creativity might be the place for you!
Luna seeks to hire a Professional Learning (PL) Manager to oversee the various activities of our PL Department. Since 1994, Luna’s PL services have convened teaching artists, classroom teachers, community workers, clinicians, and specialists to co-construct new understandings of what is possible in dance education. Our course catalog is broad and deep. The PL Manager will work with Luna’s Pedagogy & Evaluation Director to maintain high-quality program delivery. This position also coordinates Luna’s Summer Institute and facilitates or co-facilitates workshops.
Responsibilities
Apply for this position if
You Enjoy
- Project management. Manifesting high-quality work by fitting parts into wholes and holding a vision for how wholes fit into systems
- Being responsible for and responsive to the needs of diverse individuals
- Learning and growing in collaboration with colleagues
You Value
- Equity and inclusion
- Creative Process
- Critical conversations on dilemmas that may not have a sole answer
You have some of these
- Experience teaching children’s dance over multiple ages and situations
- Workshop facilitation, coaching, mentoring, or program development skills
- Familiarity with Luna’s pedagogy and practice
- Project management or program coordination or management experience
- Excellent communication and time management skills
- Openness to receiving feedback and confidence to ask questions
Over a typical semester, you might
- Teach two or three half-day workshops on Zoom
- Teach an onsite professional development workshop at a partner school
- Coach participants from the Summer Institute cohort of that year
- Co-host two or three Practitioner Exchanges and publish monthly newsletters
- Plan and promote PL activities for the subsequent semester
- Review, analyze, and summarize program documentation for quality assurance and grant reporting and work with PL team to plan, evaluate, and evolve PL offerings
As described above, this position is 60%. Luna aims to hire artist-educators as full-time employees, working 75-100% with benefits. This position can be adapted to full-time by adding teaching or administrative duties in other Luna program areas—to be discussed at the Interview.
Luna is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We seek to expand our capacity to serve by hiring faculty from previously underrepresented communities and diverse backgrounds.
Compensation: $68,000-75,000, commensurate with experience & pro-rated to position FTE
Job Qualifications & Requirements
Programs Manager/Professional Learning Team
In a small organization such as Luna, employees might hold multiple roles and those roles may shift as leadership opportunities emerge. The proposed position, Programs Manager–Professional Learning Team, may encompass program management in multiple program areas.
Managers oversee the day-to-day operations of their program area and supervise employees to achieve the objectives of a particular project or program area within a given time (course length, semester, fiscal year, etc.). Managers are responsible for noticing and communicating arising issues, shifts in how goals are being met, and stories of success to the directors and/or leadership team. They are on the front line of their program area and should be so familiar with their project area that they can alert directors to actions needed to minimize disruption, client dissatisfaction, and fiscal or human resource catastrophes.
The Professional Learning (PL) Manager manages all aspects of the PL department: workshops, institutes, communities of practice activities, and resources. They are responsible for planning and casting PL activities, maintaining relationships with current and former clients, data collection and management, and maintaining the department budget. PL Manager works with the Pedagogy & Evaluation Director to maintain high-quality program delivery. Currently at Luna, the PL Manager also serves as the Summer Institute Coordinator, facilitates PL workshops and activities, and may teach workshops at partner sites. Communicating PL activities and outcomes internally and externally, including to funders, is expected of the PL manager. Managers must be able to plan a project and manage the parts/details for quality and timeliness. Good communication and organization skills are essential requirements.
Direct Service/Facilitator
Direct service positions at Luna are the heart and soul of manifesting Luna’s mission. All direct service providers are responsible for upholding Luna’s pedagogical principles of creativity and equity within a constructivist, culturally responsive, and liberatory framework. Practitioners are expected to be curious, to ask questions, to share openly with the direct service team, to keep their practice developing through inquiry projects and professional learning, and to accept that uncertainty is part of the work. Practitioners at Luna are expected to document their work, participate in program evaluation, and be a part of the Luna team for whole-organization projects. They report to program managers. Requirements of this job are practitioner experience, a growth mindset, the willingness to share experiences/collaborate, honesty and vulnerability, and a love of children.
Applicants with the following qualifications will be considered until the position is filled:
- Experience teaching children’s dance over multiple years, ages, and situations
- Workshop facilitation, coaching, mentoring, or program development
- Direct knowledge of Luna’s pedagogy and practice
- Familiarity with some of Luna’s guiding theories: constructivism, culturally responsive teaching, situated learning, backward design, Vygotsky, improvisation, special education/disability equity
- Project/program coordination or management experience
- Excellent communication (oral and written) and time management skills
- Desire to be part of a team & evolve the department as you grow
Other Information
Equal Opportunity
Luna is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse team and inclusive culture. Luna encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, and veteran status.
How to Apply
Deadline to apply: This 2024-25 position is a rolling application process with the position remaining open until filled. The first batch of applications will be reviewed May 1st.
To apply: Please send a cover letter indicating why you wish to work for Luna, with your work history and qualifications for the position as a PDF to Sally OuYang souyang@lunadancecreativity.org