Theatre & Events Coordinator

The Kind Foundation; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Staff benefits

Job summary

The Kind Foundation in Christchurch is seeking a Theatre & Events Coordinator to manage enquiries, tours, quotes and bookings for The Black Box Theatre and Venues at Papa Hou. You will bridge client needs with venue capabilities, coordinating technical riders, AV, catering and staffing for events.

You will work closely with the hotel & hospitality team, ensuring smooth bump-in/out and client satisfaction across diverse events, from conferences to performances.

Qualifications

• Two+ years coordinating events, venue bookings or productions.
• Strong written and verbal communication with producers, technicians and clients.
• Experience with read-throughs of technical riders, run sheets and diagrams.

Responsibilities

• Respond to theatre hire and event enquiries and convert to bookings.
• Host site visits, prepare quotes and issue contracts.
• Coordinate technical riders with producers, stage managers and conference organisers.
• Liaise with AV suppliers and manage run sheets, bump-in/out and rehearsals.
• Coordinate catering, bar, front of house, security and cleaning for each event.

Skills

Event coordination

Venue bookings

Theatre operations

Communication

Tools

AV coordination

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 9th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

The Kind Foundation – Christchurch, South Island

Black Box Theatre and Venues at Papa Hou can host up to 300 people. It has a sprung hardwood floor, circus rigging, a retractable seating system, a large-format laser projector and a licensed lobby, and it sits directly opposite the Botanic Gardens in central Christchurch. In any given month it might host a dance season, a national conference, a comedy night, a school production and a product launch.

It is a proper theatre rather than a function room, and it is busy. Onsite catering and a café sit within the same building, so a hirer can run everything from a rehearsal week to a conference without leaving the site.

With increasing venue enquiries, we are seeking the right person with the drive, dedication and professionalism to ensure timely responsive engagement to progress enquiries to bookings.

About the role

As Theatre & Events Coordinator you are the person every hirer deals with. You will answer the enquiry, show them the space, work through what they need technically, put together the quote, confirm the booking, build the run sheet, sort the bump-in, brief the team and be there on the night. When it goes well, you will be the reason they book again.

It is a genuinely varied role. One morning you are going through a technical rider with a touring production, and that afternoon you are arranging catering for a two-day conference. You will work closely with our hotel & hospitality team.

The technical side matters

We do not have a dedicated venue technician, so you are the bridge between what a hirer wants and what the room can actually do. When a rider comes through, you need to read it and know straight away whether we can cover it.

The Black Box has a full lighting and sound rig, large-format projection, drapes and a cyc, and eight rigging beams for circus and aerial work. You need to understand it well enough to spot the gap between a rider and our spec before it becomes a problem, and to know when to call in an AV supplier. If you can operate the systems yourself, even better — there is plenty of scope to use that here.

What you will be doing

• Responding to theatre hire and event enquiries quickly and professionally, and converting them into confirmed bookings
• Hosting site visits, preparing quotes and issuing contracts
• Working through technical riders and requirements with producers, stage managers and conference organisers
• Knowing what is included in the hire and what needs to be brought in, and coordinating our preferred AV suppliers when a booking calls for it
• Building run sheets and coordinating bump-in, rehearsals, performances and bump-out
• Managing rigging, staging, seating configuration and drape requests with the venues team
• Coordinating catering, bar, front of house, security and cleaning for each event
• Managing the theatre calendar, deposits, invoicing and payment follow-up
• Being on site for key events and looking after the client while their event is running

What we are looking for

We are looking for someone who knows how a venue actually works, and who cares about getting the detail right.

• Two or more years coordinating events, venue bookings or productions
• A real working understanding of theatre technical practice — bump-in and bump-out, riders and plots, tech and dress rehearsals, staging, drapes and front of house
• Able to read a technical specification and hold your own in a conversation with a technical manager
• Excellent written and verbal communication, and the confidence to deal with producers, technicians and corporate clients alike
• Strong organisation, and the ability to hold several events in your head at once without dropping anything
• Calm on event days when something inevitably changes at short noticeComfortable with quotes, invoices and chasing a payment when you need to

Hands‑on experience operating lighting or sound, a background in stage management or production, or knowledge of rigging practice will all count in your favour. If you have been working event to event in theatre or live events and you are ready for a permanent role with regular hours, we would like to hear from you.

What we offer

• Permanent, full time, minimum of 30 hours per week, with evening and weekend work around events
• A remarkable venue to work in, and a calendar that is never the same twice
• Real scope to shape how the venue runs, and a clear pathway as the team grows
• Staff benefits across The Kind Foundation, including our fitness centres

Why it matters

The Black Box Theatre and Venues at Papa Hou is owned by The Kind Foundation, a charitable trust that has been part of Ōtautahi for more than 160 years. The Kind Foundation run early learning centres, youth programmes, outdoor education camps, fitness centres and community recreation facilities. Every event you coordinate helps fund that work. It is a good venue and it is a good reason to come to work.

The Kind Foundation is committed to providing a Child Safe environment for all children who come into contact with our organisation. All applicants must complete our pre-employment processes, including a pre-employment survey and Police Vetting.