Communications Manager

About Us

As the advocacy and lobbying organization for arts and culture in Illinois, Arts Alliance supports the creative community by championing policies, securing funding, and building connections that help artists and organizations grow.

Our work ranges from protecting and increasing funding for arts and culture, including making that funding more accessible through 1:1 support in our Help Desk; improving the landscape for creative workers so they can build lasting careers; ensuring all K-12 students have access to quality arts education; and supporting research that shows the impact of arts and culture in Illinois.


Position Description
This position is 90% remote, with a requirement to attend occasional meetings at the Chicago office, annual staff retreats, and other Arts Alliance events. However, due to the nature of our work, we require all employees to be residents of Illinois during their term of employment with AAI.

The Communications Manager reports to the Director of Communications and will support digital platforms, social media, outreach, and advocacy campaigns, while ensuring timely updates, cross-promotion, and follow-through.

The ideal candidate will have the following characteristics:

• A belief that arts and culture are vital to strong local communities and that it is necessary to invest in them.
• Thrives working remotely and independently, while simultaneously being a key member of a dynamic, collaborative team.
• Ability to demonstrate grace and respect for themselves and others at all times, especially when under pressure.
• Ability to self-direct and move projects forward by recognizing when to involve other staff and leadership.

Hiring Process

Our interview process includes the following steps, with selected candidates moving to each successive step:

• Initial application
• 30-minute phone interview with the Director of Communications.
• 1 hour Zoom interview with selected team members.
• Skills and fit assessment (applicants will be compensated $150 for their time).
• Traditional interview with the Director of Communications and the Senior Director of Government Affairs.

Job Duties

• Support advocacy and rapid-response communications, including updating the Arts Alliance website, sending out action alerts via email and social media, and using Quorum advocacy software.
• Lead social media strategy for the organization, including monitoring trends and alerting teammates to relevant content.
• Oversee emergent advocacy campaigns from start to finish, ensuring communication loops are closed through follow-up emails, post-event surveys, and other touchpoints.
• Project manage 1:1 outreach efforts for campaigns and Arts Alliance programs, including gathering data and reporting on results.
• Lead the development and distribution of the monthly newsletter.
• Build relationships with partner organizations’ communications teams and manage cross-organizational promotion and outreach.
• Make basic website updates and ensure webpages are current and tidy.
• Assist in administrative tasks, including managing shared organizational email inboxes and replying to social media inquiries.

Skills and Experience

To be considered for this position, candidates must demonstrate the following:

• Strong writing skills, with experience drafting engaging and well-structured content for newsletters, social media, email campaigns, and the web.
• Experience leading social media for an organization, including developing content calendars, monitoring trends, and engaging with online audiences.
• Ability to manage projects from start to finish, including campaign planning, outreach tracking, and thorough follow-up.
• Commitment to cultural competence when working with diverse communities across Illinois.

The following can make your application stronger but are not required:

• Spanish proficiency (Reading, writing, speaking)
• Salesforce experience
• Proficiency with visual content creation tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, or similar platforms
• Experience with arts/culture/creative industries

Compensation
This is a full-time position with a salary range of $66,000 - $71,000 depending on experience.

We are open to structuring this position as either one full-time or two separate part-time roles depending on the needs of qualified candidates. We are also seeking a contractor to support our graphic design needs and are open to adjusting the position duties and compensation to include that work.

What to know about working at Arts Alliance

Advocacy work is fast-paced, and remote work can be draining. That work is much harder if the organizational culture is not a good fit. To ensure this is the right position for you, here are some things to know about us before you apply:

• We believe access to arts & culture makes communities stronger and healthier, and therefore advocating for the arts is a common interest shared by all residents of Illinois regardless of background or political affiliation.
• We believe public funding for the arts is a good thing.
• We believe the biggest contribution a person can make to stop the spread of COVID-19 is getting vaccinated – whenever there’s no medical or religious exemption.
• We encourage professional development, rest, and transparency about your capacity.
• We are a small organization where sometimes we need to help our co-workers during heavy workloads.
• We work hard, but we also support taking time away during the day to nap, run an errand, or do whatever you need to make remote environments work for you.
• We discourage working nights/weekends but understand that staff have different rhythms when they are most productive. Occasionally we need to adapt to urgent, politically-imposed, deadlines, but we balance them with time off.
• We cultivate a professional yet collegial work environment where sharing personal anecdotes, playlists, jokes, etc, is welcome.
• We encourage staff members to assume good intentions from colleagues during moments of conflict or confusion while being intentional about creating space for harm to be acknowledged and repaired.
• We acknowledge that individuals and organizations can perpetuate environments where discrimination goes unchecked. To ensure we have a shared language to address these challenges, staff members attend an Introduction to Systemic Racism training.
• We celebrate diversity and don’t seek to assimilate anyone into a broader “work culture.” We make space for people from different cultural, social, political, and religious backgrounds to share and influence the work we do by being their true selves.
• Finally, we recognize that we will always have work to do to improve our office culture and are looking for team members who will enjoy engaging in that process.

Arts Alliance Illinois values diversity and is committed to building an inclusive workplace that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We encourage Black, Indigenous or People of Color, immigrants, LGTBQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, people without college degrees, and anyone part of a group that has been historically discriminated against, to apply.

Priority Deadline: October 10, 2025

Application Close: October 20, 2025