Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture > Get Involved

About the Organization:
Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture is a thirty-five year old not-for-profit organization that programs three main areas of activity:

1. Exhibitions programs
2. Visualeyez …a festival of performance art; and
3. Critical publications, including fifty3: a magazine about visual culture.

These activities produce fourteen visual art exhibitions; Visualeyez the only annual performance art festival in Canada; and four issues of the stand alone magazine fifty3 as well as other catalogues and monographs. There are also many other one-time events such as artist talks, lectures, panel discussions, workshops, presentations, video and film screenings, performance art and literary events. All of these events further our goal of stimulating discourse around and about contemporary visual culture in the greater Edmonton region.

There are two different jobs:

Job One: OUTREACH ASSISTANT
This is a temporary position for a 14 week period. Funding for this position is provided by the Canada Summer Jobs Program and as such applicants must be between the ages of 15 and 30 years of age, inclusive; registered as a full-time student during the 2007/08 academic year and intends to return to school on a full-time basis during the next academic year; and is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a person on whom refugee protection has been conferred under the immigration and refugee protection Act. This position offers a rate of pay of $11.50 per hour worked and is based upon a 35 hour work week for fourteen weeks.

Latitude 53 wishes to provide an opportunity to a bright, articulate and driven individual to be an active participant in the coordination, implementation and evaluation of our programming initiatives for Summer 2008. We are seeking an individual to assist our organization in developing some new tools to have deeper impact with audience development and outreach. Specifically we are looking towards expanding our audiences within three target areas: youth (18 – 30); new Canadians and immigrants (particularly of Eastern European descent); and visible minorities (Asian, South-Asian and Aboriginal).

Work tasks and responsibilities
The Outreach Assistant will work with Latitude 53’s core staff with the smooth execution of the program initiatives, including, but not limited to three focal areas:

1. Visualeyez Marketing and Promotions Logistics and Outreach (May to July) – Festival dates: 18 -28 July. Specifically with the goal of expanding outreach and audience participation from the three target areas of this ten-day festival. Assisting Programming Officer with logistics and coordination; liaison with artists, Latitude staff, volunteers, sponsors and audiences during the festival – be the key staff for publicity, audience outreach initatives and media relations; evaluate effectiveness of outreach tools and activities; and post-festival evaluation and impact measurements.

2. Publicity and Audience Development initiatives (mid June to August). We have created an annual Draw-a-thon for three years, this year we want to enhance family participation from ethno-culturally diverse communities. Liaison with designer and Program Officer regarding print, digital and web site; assisting with creation of media packages/templates for future exhibitions, with ethno culturally diverse communities; and; disseminate of programming information and establishing new networks and linkages/partnerships from three focus communities; identify target communities for audience development and outreach; and evaluate existing tools and expand strategies for audience and community outreach.

3. Rooftop Series (June to August). Last year we created a new outreach program: the Rooftop Series that will happen for ten Thursday evenings during the summer, specifically targeted to 18 – 35 year olds. Building upon an audience project for one of the identified target audience growth groups through complementary programming and creating outcome measurement tools and goals for the project that will gauge the marketing and communications developed by summer staff.

Applicants should be familiar with non-profits artistic organizations, be enthused to work in a team environment, be a thinker who enjoys working outside of the box and and have experience as a volunteer.

The process
Applicants should send a resume and cover letter outlining their skills and suitablilty for this position no later than Friday, 16 May 2008 to:

Todd Janes, Executive Director
Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture
10248 - 106 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 1H5
If sending by email, please send as a word document (Mac O/S) or as a pdf.
todd.janes@latitude53.org

Job Two: COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

This eight-month internship is provided, in part, by financial support through The Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) and through the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Youth Employment Strategy. As such applicants must be between 15 and 30 years of age inclusive, a recent graduate from college or university and must be either unemployed or underemployed. This position offers a rate of pay of $12.60 per hour and is based upon a 35 hour work week for a period of eight months.

Position
The proposed project will provide the intern with concrete objectives and valuable experience in visioning, planning and creating a communications and outreach plan to develop a strategy for this not-for-profit cultural institution. By working on this project as the lead staff, the intern will be given the responsibility of conceiving and realizing an effective communication tool for audience development and awareness. The intern will effectively gain and use knowledge that will demonstrate the power of enhanced communication and outreach for a non-profit cultural organization. Latitude 53 will give this intern the freedom and support to develop his/her communication and marketing skills and encourage artistic experimentation in a strong team-oriented work environment.

This work will expand the intern’s knowledge and skills in creating an awareness of image branding for a not-for profit cultural organization, and will be an excellent practical project for the intern’s portfolio, providing long-term benefit. The intern will receive hands-on training in project management for an overall communications plan involving basic communications and new media technologies. This will continue to benefit her/him after the project has been completed. There are a number of challenges with the marketing of a non-profit cultural institution and the intern will gain valuable work experience that will provide them with the knowledge and confidence to become a strong cultural worker. In addition, the intern will develop strong interpersonal and key skills through working in a small organization and being treated as a integral member of the staffing component.

The intern will be the lead staff person on the areas of:

integrated communications plan for all aspects of Society’s programs and services;
development of enhanced membership drive;
creation and development of media and outreach campaign for Visualeyez… a festival of performance art;
developing enhanced communication and outreach plans for volunteers;
enhance the Latitude 53 brand and existing sub-brands; and
outreach and communications that will be key in increasing audience attendance, subscribers, and donations of volunteer energy and financial contributions to Latitude 53.

The candidate
The ideal candidate will possess the following:

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, or Visual Communications and Design;
Solid knowledge of the internet and electronic distribution networks;
Excellent writing and editing skills;
Superb written and oral communication skills;
Independent research skills;
Strong understanding of contemporary visual culture;
Solid awareness of community development strategies;
Ability to work in a team environment and be an independent leader;
Strong organizational skills; and
Excellent knowledge of PhotoShop, Freehand/Illustrator, QuarkXPress, FileMakerPro, Flash, DreamWeaver and Fireworks.

The process
Applicants should send a resume and cover letter outlining their skills and suitablilty for this position no later than Friday, 23 May 2008 to:

A sample portfolio or website portfolio can be included or other samples of your work.

LATITUDE 53 is a equal opportunity employer and we encourage applicants from all individuals who are qualified for these positions. Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.