Senior Arts Program Coordinator (The Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs)

Job Description:

Senior Arts Program Coordinator (The Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs)

Description

Our diverse and inclusive workforce of more than 7,000 employees play a key role in the success of San José, the heart of the Silicon Valley. All City of San José employees work together as one team to make San José a vibrant, innovative, and desirable place to live and work. Visit here to learn more about our One Team Leadership Values and Expectations, including quality and excellent customer service and here to learn more about San José.

The City of San José is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants for all job openings will be considered without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful under any federal, state or local laws. The City of San José is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at 408-535-1285, 711 (TTY) , or via email at [email protected] .

About the Department

The City Manager’s Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs (OEDCA) has three integrated divisions:
Cultural Affairs: Arts, Sports, and Entertainment - Fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and creative city by advancing cultural expression, supporting artists and arts organizations through grants and technical assistance, promoting access to sports and entertainment, commissioning and preserving public art, producing/coordinating outdoor special events and destination marketing, and stewarding City-owned convention and cultural facility assets and partnerships.Economic Growth and Business Development - Accelerating San José’s economic vitality by driving business retention, expansion, and attraction; supporting real estate and catalytic development; strengthening Downtown as a thriving urban center; and advancing commercial corridor revitalization and small business success across San José’s diverse neighborhoods.Workforce and Talent Development - Building a resilient and inclusive workforce by connecting job seekers to training, education, and career pathways; delivering supportive services that reduce barriers to employment; and partnering with employers to design hiring initiatives that align with regional industry needs and economic opportunity.
OEDCA’s mission is to catalyze equitable job growth, investment, entrepreneurship, cultural vibrancy, and talent attraction and retention in San José while strengthening the City’s fiscal health. In support of its mission, OEDCA focuses on five key areas:
Retain/ grow jobs and revenue and promote innovation from large and medium-sized businesses in key sectors such as manufacturing and artificial intelligence.Foster small business resilience and create thriving business districts.Accelerate a thriving Downtown.Activate San José as the South Bay's hub for sports, arts, and entertainment.Prepare residents to participate in the local economy through training, education, and career support.

Position Duties

This position is in the Public Art Program within the City of San José’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) and serves as a senior-level professional responsible for leading complex, multi-phase public art projects, contributing to the stewardship of the City’s public art collection, and supporting major program elements. The position reports to the Public Art Program Director and works with significant independence in planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating public art projects and initiatives throughout the City.

The Senior Arts Programs Coordinator performs advanced professional work requiring independent judgment, strong project management skills, aesthetic literacy, and the ability to coordinate complex relationships with artists, fabricators, contractors, consultants, City departments, engineers, community stakeholders, advisory bodies, and partner agencies. The position manages assigned public art projects through all phases of development: concept, artist selection, design development, fabrication, installation, closeout, documentation, and long-term stewardship.
Distinguishing Characteristics
The Senior Arts Programs Coordinator is distinguished from the Arts Programs Coordinator by the complexity, scale, visibility, and independence of assigned projects; the scope of stakeholder coordination and project team management required; responsibility for preparing higher-level analyses and recommendations; and the expectation to exercise independent professional judgment across all phases of project delivery without close supervision. While an Arts Programs Coordinator may support or assist on public art projects, the Senior Arts Programs Coordinator is expected to independently lead assigned projects from initiation through completion, managing all associated contracting, budgeting, community engagement, and interagency coordination.

The Senior Arts Programs Coordinator is distinguished from the Public Art Program Director in that the Director retains responsibility for overall program strategy, policy direction, budget stewardship, formal staff supervision, and final program-level decision-making. The Senior Arts Programs Coordinator advises the Director on project and program matters but does not hold program-wide administrative or supervisory authority.
Typical Duties
Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:
Project Planning and Initiation

• Leads assigned complex public art projects from initiation through completion, including temporary installations, capital improvement project integrations, collection-related projects, and other public art initiatives.
• Develops and manages detailed project work plans, schedules, scopes of work, budgets, deliverables, and timelines; monitors progress and recommends corrective action as needed.
• Identifies project stakeholders; coordinates early engagement with host City departments, architects, engineers, construction managers, and community partners to establish project parameters, location, and approach.
• Recommends project budgets and funding strategies; monitors expenditures, encumbrances, invoices, and contract balances; identifies budget issues and recommends corrective action.

Artist Selection

• Manages all aspects of artist selection processes, including developing qualifications criteria, writing and issuing Requests for Qualifications and Requests for Proposals, conducting artist outreach, recruiting qualified artists, coordinating selection panel logistics, preparing evaluation materials, facilitating interview processes, and preparing selection recommendations.
• Ensures artist selection processes comply with applicable City procurement requirements, Public Art Program policies, and Public Art Committee approval processes.

Contracting and Procurement

• Drafts, negotiates, reviews, and administers artist agreements, consultant agreements, purchase orders, and related project contracts; monitors deliverables, insurance requirements, invoices, and contract milestones; prepares amendments as needed.
• Coordinates with the City Attorney’s Office, Purchasing, and other City departments to ensure compliance with applicable procurement requirements, contracting procedures, and project approval processes.

Design Development, Fabrication, and Installation

• Oversees and guides artist design development, ensuring the artist’s approved design intent is carried through fabrication and installation; exercises aesthetic judgment as necessary.
• Reviews artist proposals, design documents, fabrication plans, installation plans, construction schedules, maintenance plans, and related technical materials for consistency with project goals, City requirements, and public art best practices.
• Coordinates the integration of artwork with construction documents, specifications, and capital project schedules; reviews bid documents to ensure correct and complete documentation of artwork scope; consults with engineers, conservators, and other technical specialists as needed to verify structural integrity, code compliance, ADA requirements, and long-term durability.
• Manages artists, fabricators, installers, and other contractors through the implementation of each project; conducts site visits to construction sites, fabrication shops, and artists’ studios to monitor progress.
• Anticipates and resolves technical issues, stakeholder conflicts, and implementation challenges that arise in the course of project delivery.

Community Engagement and Public Information

• Develops and implements community engagement plans for assigned projects, including public meetings, stakeholder interviews, artist-community interactions, workshops, presentations, surveys, and outreach materials.
• Develops and distributes public information materials related to assigned public art projects, artist opportunities, and program initiatives.
• Represents the Public Art Program at project-related meetings, community events, workshops, and other assigned activities; presents information and responds to questions regarding assigned projects and program elements.

Advisory Body and Interagency Coordination

• Supports preparation of materials for the Public Art Committee, Arts Commission, selection panels, community meetings, and other advisory or review bodies; attends meetings as assigned and presents on assigned projects and program elements.
• Serves as a project-level liaison between the Public Art Program and City departments, artists, arts organizations, contractors, consultants, community groups, partner agencies, and members of the public.
• Coordinates assigned projects with interagency partners, including transportation agencies, utilities, and other public entities, to ensure alignment with capital project schedules and interagency obligations.

Collection Stewardship

• Coordinates the conservation, maintenance, repair, relocation, documentation, and long-term stewardship of assigned works within the City’s public art collection; ensures long-term maintainability of new projects through careful review of fabrication materials and techniques.
• Maintains assigned project records, artist files, contract files, collection documentation, image archives, and inventory information.

Program Support and Administration

• Conducts research and prepares analyses, memoranda, staff reports, presentations, and recommendations for review by the Public Art Program Director.
• Develops and recommends procedures, templates, tracking tools, guidelines, and process improvements related to public art project delivery, artist selection, community engagement, documentation, and collection stewardship.
• Supports grant, fundraising, partnership, and interagency opportunities by gathering project information, preparing draft materials, tracking deliverables, and assisting with reporting requirements.
• May provide lead direction and technical guidance to lower-level staff, consultants, interns, temporary staff, and project teams on assigned projects.
• Attends or participates in evening and/or weekend meetings, programs, activities, and events as necessary to fulfill the requirements of the position.
• Performs other duties of a similar nature or level.

Minimum Qualifications

(These qualifications are typically required. An equivalent combination of education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities sufficient to satisfactorily perform the duties of the job may be substituted.)

Education and Experience:

Any combination of training and experience equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, and four (4) years of responsible experience related to the applicable program.

Other Qualifications

Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (position requirements at entry and depending on area of assignment):

• Knowledge of principles and practices of non-profit arts management.
• Knowledge of principles and practices of grants administration.
• Knowledge of principles and practices of arts education delivery and management
• Knowledge of management techniques, contract negotiations and negotiations of other agreements.
• Knowledge of budgetary principles and practices.
• Ability to coordinate and manage multiple projects.
• Ability to supervise others effectively.
• Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, with diverse groups of people.
• Knowledge of the field of public art or construction management, including artists working in the public realm and contemporary trends and practices in the field (if assigned to Art in Public Places).
• Knowledge of integration of the public art component into the underlying capital project (if assigned to Art in Public Places).

Desirable Qualifications (likely to contribute to more successful job performance; can often be learned on the job):

• Knowledge of the City's structure and procedures as they relate to the City's arts goals and policies.
  • Ability to develop a variety of resources through fundraising, grants, and various other activities in providing broad base program support.
  • Ability to establish City and community support for meeting the goals and objectives of an arts program.
  • Ability to prepare detailed reports and financial statements.
  • Ability to develop budgets.
  • Ability to work both independently and as part of a team, including team leadership skills.

Competencies:

The ideal candidate will possess the following competencies, as demonstrated in past and current employment history.

Job Expertise - Demonstrates knowledge of and experience with applicable professional/technical principles and practices, Citywide and departmental procedures/policies and federal and state rules and regulations.

Project Management - Ensures support for projects and implements agency goals and strategic objectives

Collaboration - Develops networks and builds alliances; engages in cross-functional activities.

Fiscal Management - Understands the relationship of the budget and resources to the strategic plan; complies with administrative controls over funds, contracts, and procurements

Teamwork & Interpersonal Skills - Develops effective relationships with co-workers and supervisors by helping others accomplish tasks and using collaboration and conflict resolution skills.

Supervision - Sets effective long and short-term goals based on a good understanding of management practices; establishes realistic priorities within available resources; provides motivational support; empowers others; assigns decision-making and work functions to others in an appropriate manner to maximize organizational and individual effectiveness.

Communication - Communicates and listens effectively and responds in an timely, effective, positive and respectful manner; written reports and correspondence are accurate, complete, current; well-organized, legible, concise, neat, and in proper grammatical form responds to statements and comments of others in a way that reflects understanding of the content and the accompanying emotion; asks clarifying questions to assure understanding of what the speaker intended, ensures consistent communication takes place within area of responsibility.

Problem Solving - Approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue; determines the significance of problem(s); collects information; uses logic and intuition to arrive at decisions or solutions to problems that achieve the desired outcome

Computer Skills - Experienced with common business computer applications including but not limited to: MS Outlook, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, and MS Excel.

Selection Process

The selection process will consist of an evaluation of the applicant's education, training, and experience based on the application, resume, and responses to the Job Specific Questions. You must answer all job-specific questions and complete the Education/Work History section of the application to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Submission of a resume, cover letter, and published document or a work product that best represents your writing style are required.

Only the candidates whose backgrounds best match the position will be invited to proceed in the selection process. Additional phases of the selection process will consist of one or more interviews, one of which may include a practical/writing exercise. Applicants should be prepared to provide a portfolio of writing samples, placed articles, and other demonstrated experience.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.

You will be prompted to answer job-specific questions during the online application process. You may answer these questions directly in the on-line application system or on a separate document and then cut and paste your answers into the appropriate spaces when prompted. If you have questions about this position or the selection process, please contact Lori Venzon at [email protected] or (408) 975-7269.

The Education, History, and Work History sections of the application must be completed, or the application will be considered incomplete and may be withheld from further consideration.

E-mail is the default method of communication with applicants. To ensure that you receive timely notification regarding your application status, please provide a current e-mail address when submitting your application. It is also recommended that you adjust any spam filters to ensure that you can receive e-mails from @sanjoseca.gov.

Additional Information

-Link to Benefits page

-California Equal Pay Act

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third-party job board application system. To apply, please complete an application via the City of San Jose’s website at www.sanjoseca.gov/citycareers. The application deadline is 3/31/2026. Please allow adequate time to complete the application and submit it before the deadline or the system may not save your application. If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email [email protected] and we will research the status of your application. Please contact Human Resources at (408) 535-1285, or [email protected] if you have any questions.

Additional Information:

Employment Eligibility: Federal law requires all employees to provide verification of their eligibility to work in this country. Please be informed that the City of San Jose will NOT sponsor, represent or sign any documents related to visa applications/transfers for H1-B or any other type of visa which requires an employer application.

You must answer all job-specific questions to be considered for this vacancy or your application will be deemed incomplete and withheld from further consideration. Applicants are expected to write their own essays/responses.

Please note that applications are currently not accepted through CalOpps or any other third party job board application system.

This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.

Please allow adequate time to complete the application and submit before the deadline or the system may not save your application. If your online application was successfully submitted, you will receive an automatic confirmation email to the email address you provided. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE CONFIRMATION, please email [email protected] and we will research the status of your application.

AI and the Hiring Process

We recognize that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming part of daily life and can be a valuable tool for learning, research, and professional growth. We encourage candidates to use AI responsibly as a support in preparing application materials, live assessments, and interviews. However, we value authenticity, accuracy and truthfulness. Application responses and interview answers must reflect your own knowledge, skills, and experiences. While AI can supplement preparation, it cannot replace the originality and judgment we look for in our employees. This ensures fairness, transparency, and equity for all applicants in the hiring process.

The City of San Jose offers a wide range of core health benefits including Medical, Dental, Vision, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Disability, and Savings Plans. Please visit the City's benefits pagefor detailed information on coverage, cost, and dependent coverage.

For information on the City’s Retirement Plan(pension for full-time employees), please visit the Office of Retirement Services website. You will be able to view information based on different Sworn/Federated job classification.

In additional to the benefits above, there is an additional perks siteto explore further benefits of working for the City of San Jose like paid leave, educational reimbursements, and holiday pay are specific to the job classification and union membership.

Closing Date/Time: 8/17/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$118,460.16 - $144,318.72 Annually