The Painted Bride Art Center is a nonprofit producing and presenting arts organization with over five decades of radical imagination and cultural stewardship.

Founded in 1969, the Bride emerged as part of the national Alternative Space movement, offering a vital platform for artists traditionally excluded from museums and commercial venues. The Bride has served as a cultural trailhead for underrepresented voices and continues to ask: What do artists and communities need now?

The Bride is a living, evolving platform for interdisciplinary creation, civic dialogue, and collective transformation. It creates the conditions for honest exchange, joyful disruption, and cultural reimagining.

What the Painted Bride is

The Painted Bride develops and presents boundary-pushing programs that center art as a catalyst for dialogue, reflection, and belonging. The Bride co-creates experiences with its community through a paid cohort of artists, thinkers, and community members.

The Bride is a creative collaborator, working with artists to workshop ideas, forge partnerships, engage communities, and bring new work to life. Programs span performance, visual art, jazz, social practice, civic ritual, education, and more.

Why the Bride?

The Painted Bride remains a place of purpose, poised to model a new kind of cultural institution rooted in care, co-creation, and collective wisdom. The next Executive Director will join an organization that honors its past while boldly inviting the future.

Mission

Painted Bride is an artist-driven organization supporting the conception, development, and presentation of socially resonant work by mobilizing the creative process with respect, integrity, and care.

About the Opportunity

The Painted Bride seeks a visionary leader to take charge of its historic legacy and shape its vibrant future as a uniquely artists-centered organization.

Artistic Vision and Programming

The Executive Director is responsible for establishing and implementing The Bride’s artistic vision, including developing strategic partnerships, artistic initiatives, and program goals.

• Develop strategic partnerships with a diverse pool of artists and organizations.
• Develop artistic initiatives and program goals in collaboration with the program committee.
• Advocate for artists and seek support for them in organizations at the local and national levels.
• Participate in local and national networks of like-minded arts organizations.
• Provide leadership to the Program Committee and Program Manager.

Strategic Vision and Leadership

Assess The Bride’s opportunities for growth and impact centered on its mission and align its artistic direction accordingly.

• Create and support a global ecosystem of independent and emerging artists in Philadelphia and beyond.
• Inspire and engage stakeholders as the chief spokesperson and ambassador for the organization.
• Serve as a committed, visionary, and accessible leader with a consistent and deep connection to the organization’s stakeholders.
• Proactively maintain knowledge about best standards and practices in the ever-evolving performance presentation and arts management fields.

Fundraising and Financial Oversight

The Executive Director serves as the chief financial steward of the organization, responsible for ensuring fiscal health, sustainability, and accountability.

• Develop and oversee fundraising plans that reflect emerging trends and opportunities in the arts and culture landscape.
• Build and nurture relationships with foundations and individual donors proactively.
• Oversee financial planning and well-being of the organization and ensure transparency, integrity, and accuracy in all financial reporting.
• In collaboration with the Board Treasurer and the finance team, develop and recommend a sustainable annual budget.
• Develop and execute fundraising strategies that align with the organization’s artistic mission and fiscal goals.

Community Engagement and Partnership Development

The Executive Director is responsible for developing strong relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, including audiences, other arts organizations, artists, the Board, local businesses, funders, and other relevant parties.

• Develop relationships with venues and partners for collaboration.
• Research, produce, and present programming with diverse organizations that share The Bride’s mission to nurture artists.

Team Management and Culture Building

Build upon a supportive workplace culture that values respect, collaboration, and innovation with structures that ensure accountability.

• Hire, support, and evaluate professional and support staff and external consultants.
• Execute forward-thinking policies that ensure a healthy workplace that embraces equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Supervise the operations, development, programming, marketing, and administrative teams.
• Encourage self-initiative, collaboration, and accountability among the staff and provide staff members with professional growth opportunities.

Attributes, Qualifications + Skills

The Executive Director must be a dynamic thinker and leader who brings bold ideas and a creative approach to strategic planning.

• The ability to develop and communicate an inspiring vision that engages stakeholders.
• Strong ties to the arts community, with a demonstrated ability to engage authentically with diverse audiences and partners.
• Skilled at bridging the needs of artists and funders with care, empathy, and professionalism.
• Minimum of 5–10 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit or arts sector.
• Proven ability to lead teams, fundraise effectively, and manage complex organizational structures.
• Demonstrated cultural competency and experience working within or alongside BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and underrepresented communities.

Salary: USD$110,000 – $120,000 / year

Benefits

The benefits package includes Health, dental and eye with dependent coverage; Retirement match at 5% of salary; Professional development for meetings, events, travel; Up to 4 weeks paid vacation annually.

To Apply: send your resume and cover letter to administrator@criterionsg.com