Events Director

Chicago Artists Coalition helps people connect with opportunities including calls for artists, jobs, and available studio space

The Events Director plays a pivotal role in leading the Events Office at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. This position is key in the planning and execution of more than 300 annual performances, campus events, and facility rentals. This position serves as a key operational partner across departments—coordinating technical, staffing, and logistical support—and ensuring high-quality service and professionalism throughout the lifecycle of each event.

The Director works closely with Programming, Production and Operations teams to assess the operational feasibility of proposed performances, providing input on scheduling, resources, and production logistics. While not responsible for curating or selecting artistic content, this role supports the overall success of the season by aligning programming goals with Krannert Center’s operational capabilities.

Strong project management skills and a customer service mindset are essential, as the Director leads multi-layered event logistics and serves as a point of contact for artists, clients, vendors, and internal stakeholders. Office is located in a shared workspace; frequent evening and weekend work is required to support performances and events.

Supervision and Administrative Oversight

• Supervise full-time staff members in the Events Office; as well as oversee graduate assistants, student employees, and hourly/extra help workers.
• Lead the planning and delivery of Krannert Center events. The Events team provides support to all visiting artist series programming, conferences, meetings, festivals, etc., ensuring coordination of logistics, staffing, transportation, hospitality, and technical needs, and supports the needs of other center activities as necessary.
• Serve as a primary liaison and venue representative for visiting artists and clients, ensuring professional, timely, and responsive service.
• Develop event budgets in collaboration with team members and cross-departmental partners; monitor charges and oversee timely billing.
• Collaborate with Production Department to allocate technical resources including personnel and equipment, manage venue scheduling and build technical and artist event schedules.
• Collaborate with Building Operations to assign facility staff and shared physical resources to events.
• Maintain organized records of event plans, policies, and procedures.
• Assist in calendaring workflows for the Marquee Series and School of Music events.

Event Planning and Implementation

• Collaborate with Programming to assess the feasibility of proposed events, offering operational input on scheduling, production needs, and resource availability.
• Evaluate technical riders and event requirements to determine feasibility and alignment with center capacity; identify necessary staff and equipment resources, and ensure clear communication of decisions to all internal stakeholders. Work with artists and clients to plan room setups and create event layout documentation.
• Assign event staffing and tasks, including serving as part of the on-site team; act as lead coordinator for select performances, rentals, and high-profile engagements.
• Serve as project lead/production manager for large-scale festivals and events.
• Direct crews as needed and facilitate start-of-show procedures.
• Lead the creation and implementation of workflows that ensure alignment and mutual support among departments throughout all phases of event planning and delivery.
• Drive university vehicles to safely transport artists, management, and/or equipment between venues and locations.

Training and Communication

• Build and maintain vendor relationships (e.g., hotels, caterers, rental providers) to support event implementation.
• Manage staff payroll processes and ensure timely submission of event billing.
• Serves as communications hub for distributing artist needs and requirements to key KCPA and external constituents including Front of House, Marketing, Food Services, and Building Operations. In collaboration with primary stakeholders, develop and communicate…