Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer

Chorus America; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) seeks a seasoned CEO & Executive Producer to lead strategy, production, and financial sustainability in the Los Angeles region.

The role oversees staff, fundraising, audience development, external relations, and partnerships with the Board, delivering artistic plans within budgets and schedules.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible nonprofit management experience with significant senior or executive leadership experience.
• Experience in performing arts management strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success in fundraising including individual giving, major gifts, foundations and institutional support.
• Significant understanding of marketing and audience development for contemporary arts audiences.
• Strong financial management skills including budgets, financial reports, and internal controls.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for GMCLA and ensure programs advance its mission and financial sustainability.
• Develop organizational priorities, long-range plans, annual budgets and growth strategies with the Board.
• Recruit, supervise and evaluate senior staff and foster a collaborative culture.
• Maintain oversight of financial operations with professionals to ensure responsible budgeting and cash management.
• Balance artistic ambitions with financial realities and organizational priorities.
• Collaborate with artistic leadership to support production planning and resources.

Skills

Nonprofit leadership

Fundraising

Board relations

Financial management

Marketing & audience development

Public speaking

Staff supervision

Production knowledge

Community relations

Volunteer engagement

Job description

Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer

Salary: $140,000.00 - $180,000.00 Annually

Administrative

THE OPPORTUNITY

Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), one of the nation's most prominent LGBTQ+ performing arts organizations, seeks an experienced, dynamic, and entrepreneurial leader to serve as its next Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer.

THE POSITION

Reporting to the Board of Directors through its Chair, the CEO & Executive Producer is the chief staff executive of GMCLA and has overall responsibility for the leadership, management, financial sustainability, fundraising, audience development, external relations, operations, and production activities of the organization.

The CEO & Executive Producer supervises the Artistic Director, Development Director, and Administrative Manager, oversees production personnel, and manages relationships with contracted professionals and firms providing services to GMCLA.

The CEO works in close partnership with the Board of Directors to establish organizational priorities and long-range strategies and is responsible for translating those priorities into effective programs, budgets, fundraising initiatives, audience-development efforts, and operations.

As Executive Producer, the CEO & Executive Producer holds overall responsibility for the successful production and presentation of GMCLA's performances. Working in close partnership with the Artistic Director, the CEO ensures that artistic plans are supported by effective production management, appropriate resources, realistic schedules, and sound financial planning.

LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for GMCLA and ensure that the organization's programs and activities advance its mission while supporting long-term financial and institutional sustainability.
• Work closely with the Board Chair and Board of Directors to develop organizational priorities, long-range plans, annual budgets, and strategies for growth.
• Recruit, supervise, support, and evaluate senior staff, including the Artistic Director, Development Director, and Administrative Manager, while fostering a collaborative, accountable, and high-performing organizational culture.
• Maintain rigorous oversight of GMCLA's financial operations, working with bookkeeping, accounting, audit, and financial professionals to ensure responsible budgeting, reporting, internal controls, cash management, and long-term fiscal health.
• Ensure that organizational resources are deployed effectively and that artistic and programmatic ambitions are appropriately balanced with financial realities and institutional priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with artistic leadership, balancing artistic ambition with financial sustainability, production requirements, and organizational strategy while respecting the Artistic Director's responsibility for artistic direction.

FUNDRAISING, MARKETING & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

The CEO & Executive Producer serves as one of GMCLA's principal fundraisers and is responsible for building the contributed and earned revenue necessary to sustain and grow the organization. Working with the Development Director, Board, staff, consultants, and volunteers, the CEO will cultivate relationships with individual donors, foundations, corporations, government agencies, community partners, and other supporters.

• Lead the organization's overall fundraising strategy and participate actively in the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major donors and institutional funders.
• Build strong relationships with foundations and other institutional partners and identify new sources of contributed revenue.
• Work closely with the Board of Directors to strengthen Board participation in fundraising and donor cultivation.
• Oversee marketing, communications, ticketing, and audience-development strategies designed to maintain existing audiences while reaching new and increasingly diverse constituencies.
• Monitor ticket sales, audience behavior, pricing, subscription and single-ticket strategies, marketing effectiveness, and other indicators affecting earned revenue and attendance.
• Ensure that GMCLA maintains a compelling, contemporary, and consistent public identity across advertising, digital communications, social media, public relations, and institutional messaging.

COMMUNITY & EXTERNAL RELATIONS

The CEO & Executive Producer is the chief institutional spokesperson for GMCLA and an important public representative of the organization and its mission.

The CEO will maintain and expand relationships throughout Los Angeles and the broader arts, LGBTQ+, philanthropic, civic, business, and entertainment communities and will represent GMCLA at public events, fundraising activities, community gatherings, media appearances, and other opportunities as appropriate.

The CEO will also work closely with GMCLA's chorus leadership, particularly the Chorus Membership President and Membership Committee, to maintain strong communication and alignment between the professional management of the organization and its volunteer singer membership. This relationship is essential to preserving GMCLA's unique culture: an organization in which professional artistic and administrative leadership works in partnership with a large and deeply committed volunteer membership.

THE CANDIDATE

GMCLA seeks a proven executive who combines strong nonprofit management skills with entrepreneurial energy, financial discipline, fundraising ability, creativity, and a genuine enthusiasm for live performance.

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible nonprofit management experience, with significant senior or executive leadership experience.
• Experience in performing arts management strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success in fundraising, including individual giving, major gifts, foundation and institutional support, donor cultivation, and working collaboratively with boards on development.
• Significant understanding of marketing and audience development, including the rapidly changing environment for attracting, communicating with, and retaining contemporary arts audiences.
• Strong financial management skills, including experience developing and managing organizational and production budgets and interpreting financial reports.
• Demonstrated ability to supervise senior professional staff and outside consultants and to create accountability while encouraging collaboration.
• Experience working effectively with a nonprofit Board of Directors.
• Excellent communication and public-speaking skills and the presence and judgment necessary to serve as an institutional spokesperson.
• Experience developing relationships with community leaders, foundations, corporations, civic organizations, donors, artists, and other external stakeholders.
• An understanding of live performance and theatrical production is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of music and/or choral music is a plus but is not required.
• A demonstrated ability to work effectively with volunteers and an appreciation for the distinctive culture of a membership-based performing arts organization.
• A strong commitment to GMCLA's mission and to the values of equality, inclusion, artistic excellence, and service to the LGBTQ+ and greater Los Angeles communities.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The anticipated salary range for this position is $140,000-$180,000, commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the successful candidate.

• GMCLA offers a competitive benefits package, including employer-supported health insurance and participation in the organization's 401(k) retirement plan, as well as paid vacation, holidays, and other benefits consistent with GMCLA policies.