As a public arts organization with an ambitious growth plan for the next five years, STEPS is looking to expand our Board of Directors!

Role: Up to five Members at Large for Board of Directors

Start Date: January 1, 2023

Application Deadline: Monday, August 8, 2022

About STEPS

STEPS envisions a world where artists and communities co-create meaningful, welcoming and safe public spaces. We are a Canada Revenue Agency registered charity that engages and empowers artists and communities to transform public spaces into vibrant places. We are a national organization, with staff currently based in five provinces, facilitating public art programming and professional services from coast to coast.

The Opportunity

As a public arts organization with an ambitious growth plan for the next five years, we are looking to expand our Board of Directors. The Board is the governing body of STEPS. The STEPS Board provides strategic foresight and accountability structures to ensure the organization’s success, stability and viability, involving staff in strategic planning. We employ a hybrid model through which the Board provides both strategic advice, but also serves as a limited working Board, where Directors have specialized expertise that can be leveraged by the organization’s executive.

The organization’s staff is comprised of deeply passionate, high energy and hard working people.  We are seeking up to five new Directors, equally excited about our mission and values. Members are elected on an annual basis, with the expectation that Directors commit to at least a two-year term.

At present, the Board meets four times per year, typically in the evenings Eastern Time for two hours. Board members attend the Annual General Meeting which usually takes place in the fall. Directors will also be expected to provide occasional advice and assistance to management between meetings as related to their unique skill-set and expertise, as well as participate in the organization’s fundraising efforts.

Our main office is based in T’karonto, the Ancestral Wendat territory and the shared territory of the Anishinaabeg and the Haudenosaunee, covered by The Dish With One Spoon treaty, and later, Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. In-person meetings will take place at STEPS’ administrative offices, a short walk away from Toronto’s Union Station at 39 Queens Quay East, with options to join via video conference or telephone for those who are not in the Toronto area or if public health guidelines require.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates for this opportunity will have the following qualifications:

• prior charitable governance experience 
• expertise in one or more of the following areas:
  ○ public art, cultural planning or placemaking
  ○ communications, marketing or media relations
  ○ employment, charitable or related law
  ○ charitable or foundation fundraising
  ○ business development
  ○ finance or accounting
• a commitment to the mission of STEPS
• comfort contributing to group meetings, including those facilitated virtually; email and phone
• availability to meet no less than quarterly, with some committee work between meetings
• enthusiasm to champion the organization within your networks and communities

Application Process

Interested parties are encouraged to apply here.

The selection process will make use of video conferencing as well as telephone and may include a multi-stage interview process. While we appreciate the interest of all applicants, we can only communicate with those shortlisted for an interview.

STEPS encourages applications from all qualified candidates that represent the full diversity of communities in Canada, including complexities of intersecting identities such as ability, class, gender, race and sexual orientation. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as: Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), Black, a person of colour, newcomer, Disabled, Deaf and LGBTQQIP2SAA+.

If you require accommodations to apply for this opportunity, please send an email with “STEPS Board App Accommodations” in the subject line to info@stepspublicart.org.

Image Credit: Equilibrium Mural by Okuda San Miguel and photography by Mila Bright