School Partnerships Manager for Strings

Organizational Background

At the Harmony Program, music changes lives every day. Through collective music-making, children from under-served communities explore new avenues and realize their full potential.

For over 15 years, the Harmony Program has distinguished itself by serving children in need, reaching them within their own communities, providing them with instruments and intensive, high-quality musical training, and helping to develop in them the life skills that support their healthy development — musically, academically, and socially. The Harmony Program also recruits and trains accomplished musicians as its teachers and provides them with formal professional development training, observation and evaluation, access to a network of their peers, and competitive compensation for their services, with the goal of instilling in them a long-term commitment to community outreach and education.

The Harmony Program is inspired by Venezuela’s national youth orchestra system, “El Sistema.” Committed to improving society through music, El Sistema has gained international acclaim for the breadth of its reach, the quality of its musicians, and the power of its positive influence on the young lives it touches. In the spirit of El Sistema, the Harmony Program emphasizes the influence of musicmaking on social development, encourages learning through ensemble playing, fosters a supportive community for program participants and families, and requires of all involved a high degree of commitment to daily music study.

Jobs, Duties, Responsibilities

The Harmony Program is seeking a full-time School Partnerships Manager for Strings to support our school- and community-based programs. This Manager will be one of three School Partnerships Managers, reporting to the Executive Director and comprising an integral team within a ten-person administrative staff.

The Manager will be responsible for overseeing a portfolio of school partnerships, ensuring effective learning environments for our students there, and supporting their musical as well as social-emotional development.

The priorities of the Manager include but are not limited to the following:

• Maintaining and developing long-term relationships with select partner schools and community-based organizations;
• Helping to design violin, viola, cello, and/or bass classes for after-school and in-school settings for students in grades K-8;
• Oversee instructional programming, schedules, and budgets, in consultation with school/community partners;
• Developing strategies to support strong student participation and retention;
• Assessing the quality of instruction in our classrooms and tracking student outcomes;
• Setting high expectations for quality performances at the end of each semester;
• Collaborating with other Harmony Program staff in encouraging student progress toward summer camp and ensemble participation and scholarship opportunities.

Qualifications

Interested candidates should have the following qualifications:

• Minimum of three years of project management or teaching experience;
• Advanced degree in music performance (violin, viola, or cello) and/or music education preferred;
• Proficiency on a string instrument;
• Excellent project management, budgeting, and organizational/operational skills;
• An ability to work collaboratively with others;
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral;
• Solid time-management skills and experience in handling multiple deadlines;
• Technological proficiency, primarily with Google Suite;
• Positive, professional, and engaging demeanor and enthusiasm for the organization’s mission;
• Spanish language skills helpful but not required.

This is a full-time salaried position based in New York City. The annual salary is $75,000 per year.

Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to HR@harmonyprogram.org. Please include “School Partnerships Manager” in the subject line. Competitive salary and benefits package.