Executive Director Wanted

Skull directing traffic

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SNUFF PUPPETS EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

INTRODUCTION 

Australia’s foremost giant puppet theatre company is seeking expressions of interest for a new Executive Director. 

Intended to eventually be a co-leader of the company with company founder and Artistic Director, this position is a rare opportunity to join and shape the future of one of Australia’s most exciting companies. 

ABOUT SNUFF PUPPETS 

Snuff Puppets is a community of Melbourne-based artists, artisans and performers dedicated to the art and craft of giant puppet making and the theatre of puppetry. 

Since 1992, Snuff Puppets has been unleashing its giant puppet spectacles on millions of people worldwide. Our work is a collision of visual art, sculpture, design, engineering, sound, movement, performance and physical theatre. At the heart is our giant puppets – sometimes gorgeous; sometimes grotesque – and the unpredictable ways they are brought to life. 

From our home in Footscray’s Drill Hall, in Melbourne’s inner western suburbs, our artists and our works regularly travel to dozens of countries across five continents. Our People’s Puppet Projects have created more than 25 new works in partnership with communities worldwide. 

We specialise in performing for free audiences and non-traditional arts audiences; reclaiming streets and public spaces for creativity, art and humans. 

We collaborate with communities to create giant puppet roaming acts, community workshops, puppet performance master classes and main- stage shows, often in reclaimed public indoor and outdoor spaces. 

Our stages are the streets, parks, towns and villages that our audiences worldwide call home. We work with them to produce and perform our work, challenging and delighting audiences of all ages. 

Snuff Puppets are deliberately anarchic, rebellious and dangerous. Our work tackles difficult, awkward and taboo topics that challenge our audiences with irreverence; simultaneously causing discomfort and delight. We deliver visceral, electric performances that blur the traditional lines between audience and performer; creating other worlds that are unfamiliar, uncomfortable and, at times, unsafe and scary. 

Snuff Puppets’ aesthetic and our approach to theatre making are unique: the audience for our work has been invented simultaneously with the work itself. Snuff Puppets’ lofi, spontaneous, collaborative, devised, quick, experimental approach inspires creativity and allows us to leave behind the legacy of our art form and our approach in remote, off-the-beaten- track destinations globally. Snuff Puppets are ambassadors for a distinctive and recognisable Australian culture. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

After a period of reflection and research, Snuff Puppets is looking for the right person/people to work with us as we renew and regenerate. 

As we move into our fourth decade Snuff Puppets is well placed to look boldly and optimistically to the future. Our Four­ Year Plan: 2021-­2024 outlines our areas of focus and prioritises creative investigation. Research, development and artist training remain at the core of our practice, as we continue to evolve and connect with national and international markets and networks. 

Practically, the role will 

• Focus on finding/holding partnerships and fundraising initatives 


• Shape the articulation and context of Artistic Program 


• Create and deliver the pitch and rationale 


• Oversee budgets, long-term vision and strategy 


• Refine and evaluate our existing models 


• Oversee Marketing & Business Development 


Starting $65,000 per annum at 0.8FTE commensurate with qualifications and experience + superannuation, with the aim of becoming full time pending funding. 


HOW TO APPLY

Please send your CV and a cover letter of no more than two pages on how you are aligned with the Snuff Puppet vision, how you will address the role outline above and what you bring to the company to people@snuffpuppets.com by COB Friday 2nd August. Applicants will be notified of an outcome and shortlisted candidates will be contacted after Friday 14th August.

Printable PDF: Snuff Puppets Executive Director EOI