Usher / Audience Coordinator

BareBones Productions; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 4,000 - 5,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Snacks or meals at meetings

Access to small funds for needs

Job summary

BareBones Productions in Minneapolis is seeking an Audience/Usher Coordinator for the 2026 Halloween Extravaganza. Responsibilities include coordinating ushers, ensuring audience safety, and overseeing logistics for performances from October 24-31.

The ideal candidate will possess strong customer service and organizational skills, be adaptable, and able to collaborate effectively with various community members. This is a temporary independent contractor position with a stipend of $400.

Qualifications

• Experience and excellent skills in customer service.
• Experience collaborating with various community members.
• Willingness to learn and grow in equity, inclusion, and anti-bias.
• High standard of organizational and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate audiences and ushers during performances.
• Recruit, train, and supervise volunteer ushers.
• Ensure safety and well-being of audience members.
• Collaborate with diverse teams to enhance audience experience.

Skills

Customer service skills

Ability to collaborate with diverse community members

Adaptability and flexibility

Time management skills

Organizational skills

Technology skills (Google Docs/Drive)

Problem-solving skills

Negotiation skills

Communication skills

Job description

Black people, Indigenous people, people of the global majority, transgender people, and people with disabilities will be prioritized.

Description

BareBones Productions is seeking to hire an Audience/Usher Coordinator for the 2026 Halloween Extravaganza who will work individually and collaboratively with BareBones Co-Directors, artistic/production staff, and community members from the end of August, through September and October, and into the beginning of November. The Audience/Usher Coordinator will work with these communities to produce a public performance/ritual related to grief, death, ancestors, loss, and remembering, to be performed over four evenings around the date of Halloween. Performances will be located in Powderhorn Park at 3400 15th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN.

Qualifications

• Experience and excellent skills in the area of customer service.
• Experience collaborating with a wide variety of community members, including folks of various ages, races, cultures, genders, family structures, abilities, spiritual beliefs, and who speak a variety of languages.
• Willingness to learn, self-reflect, and grow in the areas of equity, inclusion, and anti-bias.
• Adaptability, flexibility, and strong time management skills.
• High standard of organizational and communication skills.
• Strong technology skills, including knowledge and experience creating, managing, and sharing Google Docs and using Google Drive for community intercommunication.
• Ability to work under pressure and a sharp eye for detail.
• Problem‑solving skills and ability to think on one’s feet.
• Negotiation skills, confidence, and decision‑making abilities.
• Adaptable, flexible, and strong communication, organization, and time‑management skills.

Must Work/Attend

• August 27: paid orientation meeting (aka “BareBones Buildup”). Collaborate with the 2026 Team to create protocols to address interpersonal dynamics, safety, workload fairness, communication, & organization.
• September-October:
  • Additional meetings as scheduled by the Co-Directors, Artistic Team, and Production Team, per protocols developed at BareBones Buildup.
  • Four educational workshops provided to the community by the BareBones Board, typically held within rehearsal time.
• October 24‑28: Tech week: work three out of five of these evenings from 4:00pm to 10:00pm, but need to keep all of these evenings available.
• Oct. 29, 30, 31, Nov. 1, and a rain date of Nov. 2 for performances.
• Oversee the safety & well‑being of audience members before, during, and after the show.
• Recruit, train & supervise volunteer ushers, including processes to ensure that audience members feel welcomed & questions, comments/concerns are heard and noted.
• Collaborate and communicate with Security Staff, Stage Manager, Site Manager, Merch tent coordinator, Medical volunteers, and Co‑directors to advocate for the best interests of audience members.
• Oversee the seating process developed by the Barebones Board and ensure that all usher volunteers assisting with seating are well‑trained to interpret seating schemes.
• Collaborate to coordinate accessibility services, including: developing seating areas for audience members with a variety of disabilities, creating signage for all accessibility seating and services, training volunteers to appropriately communicate with and provide service to audience members with disabilities, and collaborate with ASL interpreter and Audio Description staff (ASL and Audio available during one performance).
• Collaborate with staff to provide volunteer services for bike parking area.
• Ensure that all audience areas, including biffies, are clean & ready for use before performances.
• Assist with “closing” the house after performances, including delegating closing tasks to ushers.
• Participate in digital communication (email, text, phone) promptly.
• Prioritize the physical and emotional safety of every participant.
• Participate in a variety of clean‑up activities and final wrap‑up survey after November 4.
• As this is a temporary, independent contractor position, candidates are required to have access to materials and technologies necessary for the job.

Terms

Location Twin Cities Metro, Minnesota

Type Independent contractor, temporary

Category Art and Art Admin

Apply By July 1, 2026

Hiring Date Approx. July / August

Job Dates August 1 to November 15

Stipend $400

BareBones BuildUp Attendance Stipend $50

The BareBones Board/Hiring Committee wishes that we could pay more. We recognize compensation is more like symbolic appreciation rather than a livable wage. This show would not be possible without many people's in‑kind donations (love hours). In addition to the listed stipend, BareBones provides all staff with snacks or meals at most meetings, builds, and rehearsals, and access to request small funds for basic needs if needed to fully participate in BareBones duties.

Please Note: this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.