Festival Director

The Texas Tribune•Austin, TX

just now•$100,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Texas Tribune, the state’s go-to source for Texas politics and public policy news, is seeking a director of its annual Texas Tribune Festival in downtown Austin. The Festival Director will be fully embedded at the Tribune and will lead teams across the organization, as well as vendors and contractors, in the top-to-bottom execution of the event. They will collaborate professionally with Festival production vendors, A/V vendors and the in-house cross-departmental Festival team to bring the Tribune’s vision and programming to life. They will ensure sound management of events and the consistent achievement of Festival goals, budget management, and adherence to timelines. This role requires exceptional event production skills and the ability to lead across the organization — bringing teams together, driving decisions, and building strong relationships with colleagues, vendors, and partners at every level. This is a permanent, full-time staff position, and the Tribune is seeking to fill this role immediately. Compensation will depend on experience and qualifications; the minimum salary is $100,000.

Requirements

Exceptional project and time management skills, strong writing and communication skills, and demonstrated experience overseeing multi-day event production
Experience leading and coordinating staff, contractors and others across cross-functional teams
A demonstrated aptitude for developing, building and stewarding internal and external stakeholders
Experience managing event budgets and resources with accountability and transparency
History of being organized and detail-oriented, highly effective at juggling multiple projects on time and on budget
Strong discretion and courtesy when dealing with all Tribune contacts, as well as internal and external relationships
Demonstrates a high degree of adaptability to continually changing environments
Willingness and ability to adapt to increased demands during Festival planning/production
Energized by working in a fast-paced, mission-driven journalism environment
An interest in Texas politics and policy and a belief in the Tribune's mission

Nice To Haves

Proactively identify key milestones and dependencies, identify resource constraints and decision points early, and escalate issues with clear recommendations to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.
Lead collaborative discussions, synthesize input efficiently, and make informed, timely decisions to keep projects moving forward.
Balance diplomatic relationship-building with direct conversations, and hold vendors and colleagues across the organization accountable for delivering results and meeting deadlines.
Lead through influence and credibility rather than org-chart authority.
Maintain composure under pressure and make sound decisions when plans change.
Willingness and ability to adapt to increased demands during Festival planning/production

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end planning, production and execution of the Texas Tribune Festival, leading the Tribune’s cross-departmental Festival team and holding the organization accountable to strategic goals, audience priorities, revenue targets, and production timelines.
Project manage the process, ensuring regular production meetings that have agendas and include all necessary participants.
Build an event that reflects the Tribune’s mission, brand standards and editorial vision.
Work with the Tribune’s outside production partner and oversee and direct the production and A/V vendor(s) for the Festival, including panel recording, livestreaming, venue management and event production.
Build and execute a speaker communications strategy to ensure all Festival participants are prepared and properly briefed on their session(s).
Work with the Senior Director of Events and Live Journalism on internal reports and communications of Festival updates, needs and progress toward goals, including leading weekly cross-departmental meetings, vendor meetings and text-based progress reporting.
Work directly with the Tribune’s internal and external design and production resources to develop and execute an excellent visual and experiential design experience.
Ensure the Festival has adequate accessibility opportunities and features for the virtual and in-person events.
Monitor event expenses to ensure all Festival team members keep within their allocated budgets and that the event does not exceed the total budget.
Partner with the Tribune sponsorship team to achieve Festival revenue goals by developing and executing on sponsorship opportunities, activations and presence at the Festival, including video elements, onsite activations and virtual platform presence.
Manage all Festival onsite teams (virtual and in-person) in tandem with Festival production vendor(s), including hiring and managing additional onsite staff as needed.
Work directly with the Tribune’s production and audience engagement teams to oversee live and post-production strategy and execution.
Work directly with the Tribune’s Marketing and Communications team to execute the Festival marketing and campaign strategy, as well as oversee any onsite or production-related needs of marketing and PR teams.
Work with the Senior Director of Events and Live Journalism and other team members on post-event analysis, data collection and reporting for internal teams, including reports to the Tribune’s senior management team. Assist the sponsorship and revenue teams with external reporting needs.
Work with the city of Austin for event permits as necessary.

Benefits

Medical, vision and dental insurance
A cellphone stipend
20 days of paid time off each year
Up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, plus four weeks of additional job protection
401(k) matching
Support for professional training and attending industry conferences
Remote work flexibility

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