About African Leadership Academy and the Africa Career Networks

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting a new generation of young leaders who will lead the continent towards lasting peace and shared prosperity for all. Since our inception in 2008, we have worked to lay the foundations of this audacious mission by identifying and developing a group of exceptional young leaders who will work together to shape Africa’s future. Since 2012, the Africa Career Networks (ACN) program at ALA has enabled students and alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and African Leadership Academy (ALA) to access transformative early-career opportunities and accelerate their progression to impact. Partnerships with various foundations and supporters have allowed ACN to build 7 growing, pan-African career networks focused on key economic sectors - Education, Health, The Arts, Agribusiness, Infrastructure, Governance and Professional Services. Our network-theory-driven approach has facilitated powerful social impact collaborations among our young leaders and connected them to over 5000 internships and full-time job opportunities.

About AL for the Arts

African Leaders (AL) for the Arts seeks to create a career network focused on the Arts, and comprised of creative leaders, enablers, artists and youth who are passionate about this industry. We are committed to developing young talent on the continent and leading a conversation through the creation of a network of inter-generational leaders who are eagerly pursuing progress and excellence in this domain. Challenges facing Africa’s Creative industries include negative societal perception, the lack of advocacy and reform (being a predominantly traditional and informal community) and a limited understanding of the creative economic potential. The mission and vision of AL for the Arts are 1) to accelerate the development of the African cultural and creative economy by creating channels for our young leaders to share their work and create opportunities for our network to engage with industry leaders and key stakeholders (2) ignite collaborative connections, mentorship, and access to capital for ventures and initiatives with our young artists across the continent and globally and (3) weave together communities that build our collective capacity to tackle Africa’s grand challenges, as we accelerate the growth of our young artists and ignite creative collaboration.

Position Overview

We are looking for a dynamic AL for the Arts Program Manager within our ACN Programs team. The AL for the Arts Program Manager will be responsible for accelerating the career paths of our young leaders, through sector success and challenge programs, and professional development and by connecting them to a variety of internship and job opportunities within the Arts sector. This role has the exciting task of building a pan-African network of employers and partners in the Arts sector to grow and develop the network. He/she will engage with top employers in this space, to build relationships and place young talent in their organisations. The Arts program manager must engage network members by managing programs and events in which key industry players, professionals, thought leaders and our young leaders can participate. Lastly, the sector program manager will find ways of igniting and fostering collaboration where facilitated knowledge transfer and the exchange of ideas can inspire impactful creative solutions for Africa in the ALA community, including ALA’s Creative Arts Department and ALU’s Arts Society. The overall goal is to create a community engaged in the most important strategic challenges facing this sector and to help develop young talent in Africa.

Position Responsibilities

• Build Partnerships: Sustain existing and develop new partnerships with possible employers, program partners and potential funders. 
• Facilitate and coordinate a portfolio of programs for emerging talent and high-potential creatives. 
• Grow the Network:  by implementing the network engagement strategy that will enable diverse stakeholders to connect and collaborate consistently to innovate and improve the Arts in Africa. 
• External Communications: Manage all external communications.  
• Stakeholder Partnerships: Manage relationships with key partners and an Advisory Board. 
• Get stuck in: Participate in program design and delivery, providing coaching, program facilitation and other engagement as necessary for program success and as a means of engaging network members. 
• Supervisory:  You will support and supervise an associate and interns to deliver on the program work. 

Profile of the ideal candidate

• Demonstrate leadership: you identify, evaluate, and execute high-impact opportunities using entrepreneurial thinking. 
• Program Implementation Skills:  Ability to organise and implement events and programs that will contribute to, and build, the creative network.  
• Highly organized: Ability to plan and deliver on projects timeously. Good planning, priority and organisational skills, especially when under tight deadlines  
• You have a strong existing network in the creative space and are passionate about building and sustaining relationships and networks, especially in the Arts. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience with public speaking and publishing written work, and/or developing communication strategies and plans. 
• Communication and Marketing skills: Must have effective communication skills, both verbally and in writing. In practicality, this translates into report writing skills, grant applications, marketing blurbs, social media posts and newsletter writing. 
• Professional development skills: Ability to coach young, highly skilled, ambitious talent (potentially in their first job) with a strong growth trajectory and provide career guidance as needed. 
• Data Management and Analysis skills: CRM Data management, generating analytics that can be used for reporting. (Salesforce knowledge an advantage.)

Desired Experience

• Post Grad degree in the Creative Industries - related discipline
• 6+ years of experience working in or advising creative organizations. A passion for the arts with a creative background is a requirement for the role. Supervisory experience is a plus. 
• Management experience in an Arts-related field is a requirement.
• Must have industry knowledge and a broad understanding and knowledge of Arts development challenges and opportunities facing the African continent.
• An awareness about career opportunities and pathways in the Arts through the lens of leadership development and being passionate and eager to engage in continuous learning and networking in the field.
• Dedicated to shaping the future of the Arts sector in Africa.

Reporting: This contract role reports to the Director of Sector Programs
Start Date: 1^st March 2025
Location: Johannesburg, ALA Campus.