Chief Producing & Artistic Operations Director

The University Of Chicago; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Chicago's Court Theatre seeks a Director of Producing to serve as chief producing executive and operational partner to the Artistic Director. The role leads producing strategy, budgeting, contracts, and collaboration with university and community partners.

This senior leadership position guides long-range production capacity planning, season planning, co-productions, touring initiatives, and financial planning to ensure artistic excellence and financial sustainability.

Qualifications

• Education: college or university degree in related field.
• Work Experience: 7+ years in artistic producing, theatre management, or artistic operations.

Responsibilities

• Leads multi-year producing strategies aligned with Court Theatre's artistic and institutional goals.
• Develops long-range production capacity planning and advises on production scale, staffing, scheduling, and priorities.
• Conducts feasibility analyses for productions, commissions, festivals, touring initiatives, and strategic projects.
• Develops Court Theatre's long-term production pipeline for touring, remounts, co-productions, publications, and scholarly engagement.
• Owns the institution-wide producing calendar and coordinates production timelines across departments.
• Maintains production, event, and programs portfolios, balancing budgets, staffing, facilities, and capacity.
• Supervises artistic operations staff, including producing personnel, company management, literary fellows, interns, and project-based producers.
• Develops workflows, production documentation, and post-production evaluation processes.
• Leads producing relationships for co-productions, touring, commissions, and partnerships.
• Negotiates producing agreements and MOUs with external partners in collaboration with the Managing Director.
• Represents Court Theatre in meetings with donors, artists, and external partners.
• Cultivates national and international partnerships expanding Court Theatre's artistic impact.
• Collaborates on budgets with Finance, Production, and Engagement leadership.
• Forecasts production costs, contingencies, and long-range financial planning.
• Oversees contracting and negotiations for guest artists and producing agreements.
• Ensures compliance with labor agreements, University policies, and industry practices.

Skills

Leadership

Budgeting

Contracting

Cross-functional teams

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in related field

Arts administration or theatre degree

Job description

The University of Chicago's Court Theatre seeks a Director of Producing to serve as chief producing executive and operational partner to the Artistic Director. The role leads producing strategy, budgeting, contracts, and collaboration with university and community partners.

This senior leadership position guides long-range production capacity planning, season planning, co-productions, touring initiatives, and financial planning to ensure artistic excellence and financial sustainability.