ABOUT US
Founded in 2001, Center for Cultural Innovation is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Grounded in its mission to support culture-bearers, creative entrepreneurs, and other individuals in the arts, CCI works – often with and through cross-sectional networks - to incubate new paradigms of cultural, economic, and political empowerment that can enable financial sustainability and financial self-determination for all.
Further information on CCI’s history and ongoing work can be found at www.cciarts.org and www.ambitio-us.org, its AmbitioUS initiative.
ABOUT “AmbitioUS” & OVERVIEW OF THE POSITION
AmbitioUS is an initiative of CCI to act as an experimental arm of the philanthropic sector. AmbitioUS is a set of activities to enact a new, values-based economic ecosystem; to afford ownership among those who have been excluded by conventional systems of for-profit and nonprofit support; to center on artists and cultural work that root enabling financial systems; and to act in common cause with others to help artists and all those who share their challenging gig conditions of low wages, unpredictable income, high debt, few assets, and little credit.
Launched in January 2019 after three years of research and development, AmbitioUS is a time-limited effort to take advantage of a moment of tremendous change. There are growing numbers of experiments with alternative economic models that aim to shift capital and ownership to build a more just, sustainable, and healthy world, some of which show real promise to create systemic change. CCI is a long-time service provider, intermediary, and ally of artists, and our unique arts and culture perspective manifests in AmbitioUS.
As a core member of the AmbitioUS team, the Program Officer will support the team’s work of ‘unconventional philanthropy’, through continued investment and grantmaking, conducting research on topics and organizations, contributing subject matter expertise, organizing stakeholder convenings, and ensuring that program milestones are met. At the midpoint, or ‘supernova stage’ of this time-bound initiative, building on the momentum with targeted execution is vital.
As such, the Program Officer will play a critical role of balancing operational effectiveness and acting as connective tissue for the network, in support of the Program Director. In doing so, this leader will act as the right-hand to the director, enabling her to focus on the strategic needs of the field, including those of AmbitioUS’s existing grantees and investees, and transferring the knowledge and practices gained through AmbitioUS’s work to movement leaders as the initiative closes out.
“The successful candidate will be a strong project manager and grantmaker, with a deep appreciation for the solidarity economy. Given the variety of organizations that AmbitioUS interacts with, the ideal candidate will bring a deep level of curiosity, learning agility, cross-cultural sensitivity, self-awareness, and communication skills.”
The Program Officer reports directly to the Director, AmbitioUS, and will collaborate across CCI as stakeholder partnership is key. The role can be based anywhere in the U.S., however candidates located in California (preferably Los Angeles or Bay Area) or Chicago, Illinois are preferred.