Program Associate, NYFA Learning

New York Foundation for the Arts

Department: NYFA Learning 

Reports to: Learning Senior Program Officer  

Status: Full-time permanent

Location: Hybrid; 2 days a week in midtown Manhattan office in New York, New York

Compensation and Benefits: $50,000 (non-negotiable), subsidized Health/Dental/Vision insurance as well as full coverage of Life Insurance and Short-Term Disability. Three weeks paid vacation plus holidays. Pre-Tax Transit and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options.

About NYFA:

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is a 501(c)(3) service organization that empowers artists in all disciplines, as well as cultural workers, to achieve success on their own terms by providing critical support, resources, and opportunities. NYFA accomplishes this mission by offering financial and informational assistance to artists and organizations that directly serve artists, by supporting arts programming in the larger community, and by building collaborative relationships with others who advocate for the arts in New York State and throughout the country.

NYFA Learning

NYFA Learning serves as the organization’s front-line of professional development, serving artists and arts administrators across New York City, state, nationwide, and internationally, while fostering creative communities and networks. We provide a range of programs for artists, creatives and cultural workers, across three primary program areas:  

• Career Advice and Training:
• Professional development workshops, entrepreneurial training programs, and individualized career advice serving a statewide and global audience of artists and creatives:
• Artist as Entrepreneur: Intensive, 1 - 3.5 day program for artists of all disciplines conducted across NYC, NYS, nationally and internationally.
• Educational Partnerships: Held in partnership with arts organizations, arts councils, and colleges/universities around the world to provide creatives bespoke professional practices training.
• NYFA Coaching and Consulting: Offers one-on-one career advice with arts industry professionals online.
• Workshops: Online and in person sessions covering a variety of career development topics in the arts, including strategic planning, career panels, artist statements, marketing, fundraising, etc.
• The Profitable Artist: A comprehensive how-to guide to being a profitable working artist, currently in its 2nd edition (3rd edition forthcoming)
• Immigrant Artist Program: 

Career and well-being support for immigrant artists and artists with immigrant backgrounds. 

• Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program: Founded in 2007. A program pairs immigrant artists with professional mentors who can provide them with career guidance and broader access to the cultural sector in NYC & cities across the U.S.
• Immigrant Artist Program Newsletter: Monthly newsletter lists upcoming opportunities and events — of particular interest to immigrant artists but open to all — as well as profiles of an artist or arts/immigrant services organization.
• Immigrant Artist Resource Center: Programming centers on helping immigrant artists with the development and presentation of their works and fostering communities and a sense of belonging while providing support for their overall well-being, including one-off events, 1-on-1 supports, and Resource Directory.  

• Leadership Initiatives:
• Intensive, durational training programs that support cultural workers and arts administrators at the management and executive level: 
• Emerging Leaders: This year-long program helps manager-level arts administrators from NYC and the surrounding area navigate the field and optimize their contributions to it.
• Executive Leaders of Color: A program that provides six months of free leadership development and community support to 18 executive-level arts administrators from BIPOC communities in NYC.
• Community Arts Leaders: An annual statewide program that offers 45 nonprofit arts organizations insight into strategies to optimize their organizations and individualized support to address an immediate area of growth. 

For more information, please visit NYFA's professional development page.  

Learning actively engages internal and external stakeholders, working across departments and establishing partnerships. This supports our goal of building creative communities through education and offering access to tools, resources, and networks. 

Position Objective

NYFA Learning is seeking a Program Associate who will play an active role in supporting our professional development programming, working across the department to support a range of programs and activities. This position is an ideal training opportunity for candidates looking to establish an arts administration career path and understand the field of professional development. The program associate may be involved in helping prepare and support specific events, such as online and in-person* workshops, and assist with planning, outreach, and meetings within our programs, such as our online Workshops, Artist as Entrepreneur program, Leadership Initiatives and the Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. 

Reporting to the Learning Senior Program Officer, the program associate will join a small team, working under specific program areas to serve our constituents. We encourage discussion and dialogue enabling different perspectives to inform our content, curriculum, and programmatic approach. The Learning team values colleagues who are pro-active, eager to co-create and brainstorm ideas, and a willingness to navigate complex situations with diplomacy, patience, and good humor. Based on the candidate's stated long-term career goals, NYFA Learning will work to provide related growth opportunities within their position.

The Program Associate will work across NYFA Learning’s three primary program areas, in close collaboration with a small team. Responsibilities include: 

• Event & Programmatic Support
• Provide planning and live event support across all program areas, including:
• Assist in the planning and implementation of online and in person events, meetings, and public programs, including arranging catering and hospitality as needed. 
• In concert with Program Officers, help analyze and implement post-program feedback to ensure high quality offerings and iteratively improve programs.
• Review publicity materials and open calls.
• Conducted targeted outreach, such as panelist and guest speaker invitations, to plan workshops, panels, and events.
• Travel to co-facilitate Artist as Entrepreneur, Educational Partnerships, and/or Immigrant Artist Mentorship Program in creative communities across the state and country as needed, helping manage the event on site and ensure the participating creative cohort has a positive experience.  
• Administrative
• Ensure programs run smoothly by providing procedural and administrative support as follows:
• Process payment requests, update contracts, and issue invoices.
• Track the sales and manage mailing book orders of The Profitable Artist on a biweekly basis. Research ways to make this process more efficient, and contribute ideas to engage this national audience in programming. Support the development of the forthcoming Third Edition, including project management and reaching out to contributors.
• As needed, research tech platforms and advise the team on best practices to make administrative systems as efficient and effective as possible.
• Communications & Reporting 
• Manage communications with constituents (artists, cultural workers, partners) across NYFA Learning program areas, and prepare reports capturing their experience in the programs.  
• Oversee and manage general email accounts to communicate with NYFA Learning’s constituents in a timely and supportive manner, in collaboration with the team. 
• Handle internal communications with cohorts (IAP Mentoring/Leadership /Artist as Entrepreneur programs), such as notifying applicants of acceptance and answering participants’ questions regarding programs. 
• Support the application review and panel processes by attending and taking notes during panel discussions.
• Prepare materials to assist with reporting for funders, analyzing data affiliated with events and audiences (RSVP numbers, demographics, testimonials, etc), helping communicate the reach and impact of Learning's programming.
• Research & Partnership Cultivation
• Cultivate new and existing partnerships through outreach and relationship building; conduct research for monthly newsletter.
• Conduct research and outreach to support the Immigrant Artist Program, contributing ideas for programming and newsletter content informed by community needs and knowledge of the arts and resource landscape. 
• Assist in cultivating and maintaining relationships with partners. 
• Research and contribute to the ongoing updates of the Immigrant Artist Resource Directory.
• Field Educational Partnership inquiries, and assist Senior Program Officer in cultivating new partnerships/contracts offering bespoke professional development programming to their constituents. Conducting outreach and marketing campaigns to prospective new partners as needed.

Qualifications:

• At least two years of related experience.
• Background and interest in arts and culture, nonprofit management and/or arts administration.
• Interest in working with, supporting, and advocating for artists and cultural workers across all disciplines and career stages. 
• Interest in supporting immigrant artists and fostering communities.  
• Strong writing, communication, proofreading, and editing skills.
• Comfortable working with a variety of leaders, proactively communicating any project or capacity needs to the Learning team.
• Proficiency juggling overlapping programmatic timelines; comfortable multitasking.  
• Ability to take initiative, and proactively anticipate and communicate project needs in collaboration with a small team.
• Ability to prioritize tasks; works well collaboratively and independently with a small margin of error.
• Proficiency with microsoft office suite (word, excel, powerpoint) and google platforms (slides, sheets, docs). 
• Experience with submittable, MailChimp, CRM database (NEON and/or Salesforce), Zoom, and scheduling software (Acuity), is a plus. 
• Foreign language skills and/or interest in translation and language access programming, is a plus.
• Understanding immigrant experience is a plus. 

Office Policy

This role is hybrid; NYFA Learning works in person two days a week in our midtown office (located at 29 W. 38th Street, 9th floor NY. NY 10018), Tuesday - Wednesday. Employees may also choose

to work in person at our office (located at 29 W. 38th Street, 9th floor NY. NY 10018) Monday - Friday, but are not required to do so. NYFA’s CEO and Board hold the right to revise the remote work model at any time.

Some evenings/weekends may be required for events, with comp time available as needed. 

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to supporting a more equitable arts sector. NYFA’s offices are accessible. Individuals from all backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

To Apply

To apply, please email a cover letter and resume in one PDF to [email protected] with the subject line “Learning Program Associate Application” by Sept 8th date with an anticipated start date in mid-October.

09/08/2025