Managing Director

Overview

Position Summary
As a member of Art Yard’s senior leadership team and reporting to the Executive Director, the Managing Director will provide strategic and operational oversight at a pivotal moment in the organization’s growth. The Managing Director will ensure that Art Yard remains financially sound, well managed, and aligned with its mission as a multidisciplinary arts organization, playing a central role in shaping the systems and structures that support its artistic ambitions.

They will lead all finance and business operations, including budgeting, accounting oversight, fiscal compliance, and reporting to the Executive Director, Board, and regulatory agencies. They will steward Art Yard’s facilities, guide human resources functions, and ensure that visitor services reflect the organization’s commitment to hospitality, accessibility, and community engagement. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Managing Director will help translate organizational priorities into clear operational goals, foster cross departmental collaboration, and support the execution of programs, exhibitions, and festival events.

The Managing Director will play a key part in sustaining Art Yard’s creative culture and advancing its long term strategic direction, offering an exceptional opportunity to contribute to an innovative arts organization known for experimentation, community connection, and bold artistic vision.

Organization

Art Yard is a contemporary arts center dedicated to serving as an incubator for creative expression and a catalyst for collaborations that illuminate the transformational power of art. Founded on the belief that artistic exploration thrives in an environment of curiosity and care, Art Yard is both a physical campus and an animating ethos, a multidisciplinary hub where artists are invited to stay, work, and share their practice within a supportive community.

Facilities and Residency Context

Located along the Delaware River and just 75 minutes from both New York City and Philadelphia, Art Yard’s campus includes Art Yard Center, a state of the art exhibition facility with four galleries and a 162 seat theater; the five bedroom Creekside Residence and five apartment Bridge Street Residences for visiting artists; and Art Yard Workshop, a flexible space for exhibition preparation, events, and artistic experimentation.

Together, these facilities enable Art Yard to support artists at every stage of their creative journey, from early incubation to full public presentation.

Artists in residence receive far more than time and space. They are welcomed into a vibrant community, supported with meaningful stipends and state of the art technical resources, and encouraged to share their process through public talks, open rehearsals, and participatory workshops. Art Yard embraces experimentation as an essential part of artistic growth, fostering an environment where discovery and risk taking are celebrated.

The integration of residencies, exhibitions, performances, festivals, and community programs allows artists to move fluidly across disciplines and engage audiences eager to explore the creative process. Work developed at Art Yard has gone on to be presented at leading cultural institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Museum of Latin American Art, underscoring the organization’s role as a launchpad for ambitious artistic projects.

Since opening in 2016, Art Yard has earned a reputation for presenting exhibitions of international scope and for championing artists whose voices have been historically underrepresented. Its curatorial program foregrounds BIPOC, LGBTQ+, immigrant, disabled, older adult, and women artists, pairing this commitment with robust contextual programming. Regular convenings of artists, critics, scholars, and audiences deepen engagement with the themes explored in Art Yard’s exhibitions and performances.

Art Yard has also nurtured the development of its sibling nonprofit, Studio Route 29, located on the Art Yard campus. A leader in the Progressive Studio movement pioneered by Creative Growth in Oakland, Studio Route 29…