St. Louis Art Place Initiative
Engagement Coordinator (Hourly Consultant)
Summary
It’s an exciting time at St. Louis Art Place Initiative (API)! We just streamlined the way we work with artists interested in our Homes for Artists Program and we’re building green spaces and art spaces for the first time. We’re looking to do deeper engagement with potential homeowners, the community, and donors so we need to find someone who loves interacting with people, discovering what they want and need, and then connecting them with resources. If you get energy from people-ing in this way, and are a highly organized and independent worker, keep reading.
This is a contract role for approximately 10 hours each week, at a rate of $20 – $25/hr, commensurate with experience. Working hours and days are flexible, but need to be spread across at least 3-4 days. Candidates must reside in the St. Louis area, but have the flexibility to work from the office or remotely. In time, API seeks to expand this role into a part-time or full-time position.
Candidates should send a cover letter, resume, and three references to info@stlartplace.org by January 30, 2026. The anticipated start date is sometime in February. No phone calls please.
Who we are
St. Louis Art Place Initiative (API) is a non-profit organization that does arts-based community development–currently in the neighborhoods of Gravois Park, Benton Park West, and northern Dutchtown. API’s mission is to build wealth for artists through homeownership and transform vacant land into cultural assets with communities.
API has an Executive Director and a team of consultants that help it meet its goals. With such a small staff, API requires all staff to be self-starters who can work independently to meet deadlines using a variety of online tools for clear communication across all projects. Using weekly check-ins and annual, quarterly, and monthly goal-setting, API creates structures to assure constant progress toward achieving its mission. Find out more about API at stlartplace.org.
What you’ll do
The Engagement Coordinator will report to the Executive Director and also collaborate with API’s other consultants to carry out the following responsibilities:
Homeowner Engagement – 40%
- Engagement
- Conduct daily follow-up tasks to progress current artists within the Homes for Artists pipeline
- Conduct phone calls and send emails to potential homebuyers
- Schedule, plan, and lead introductory Homes for Artists workshops
- Liaise with API’s communications consultant for Homes for Artists related social media posts and e-communications
- Systems Building
- Regularly update workflows, and their documentation, to continually improve service to artists within the pipeline
- Lead, assist, or advise on technical/app updates for the pipeline according to your expertise
- Lead or assist with partnership recruitment for the pipeline
Community engagement – 40%
- Plan and lead general community engagement activities (door-knocking, meetings, surveys, etc.)
- Plan and lead Art Makes Neighbors community art events
- Lead community engagement part of creating the cultural asset land trust
- Lead community engagement part of creating a community art space and garden
Donor engagement – 15%
- Assist with donor cultivation communications (emails, thank you notes, phone calls, etc.)
- Assist with fundraiser event planning
Other project assistance – 5%
- Assist with homeowner engagement and community engagement website updates and newsletter content
- Assist with minimal administrative tasks
Requirements
Top Candidates MUST HAVE the following characteristics:
- Experience
At least three years of experience in community engagement, customer success, intake coordination, community planning, arts-based community development, community arts programming, or related work that required regularly serving people
- Project management skills
- Excellent at project management–stays on top of multiple projects, is able to prioritize tasks and plan backward, anticipates obstacles, identifies and involves stakeholders appropriately, uses resources wisely
- Excellent at time management to meet deadlines
- Ability to effectively manage up to the Executive Director to keep tasks moving
- Self-management skills
- Very organized
- Able to work very independently–after collaboration to define goals and deadlines, enjoys working independently to meet them; has personal systems that allow them to do so with minimal help from anyone else
- Problem-solving orientation
- A self-starter who takes initiative to find solutions
- Results-orientation–has a track record of achievement and producing results (rather than getting lost in process)
- Perseverance and tenacity–perseveres despite obstacles and enjoys finding creative solutions when presented with obstacles
- Communication skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to work across lines of difference
- Patient, courteous, and professional in interpersonal communication and correspondence
- Event planning skills
- Able to plan and execute events from concept through post-event follow-up, including but not limited to coordinating event logistics, venue selection, catering, audiovisual needs, registration systems, accessibility considerations, and volunteers
- Able to develop and manage budgets and track expenses to meet event spending goals
- Able to manage relationships with vendors, sponsors, partners, and internal stakeholders, including contract negotiation, timelines, and clear communication before, during, and after events
- Tech skills
- Already skilled on variety of platforms (such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, Asana, Slack, and Adobe/Acrobat)
- Able to easily learn new apps and technologies
- Agile, adaptable, pragmatic
- Comfort in a “startup” environment where major systems are continually being built while work in the present still must progress
- Rapidly adapts to changing priorities without loss of momentum; able to let go of original approaches to pivot, focusing on outcomes over attachment to prior work or process
- Able to switch into a pragmatic, “good enough” mode when strategic pivots need to occur
- Values
- Committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
- Alignment with API’s values
Stand-out candidates In addition to meeting the requirements, stand-out candidates might have some of the following “nice-to-have” characteristics:
- 5+ years of experience in community engagement, customer success, intake coordination, community organizing, community planning, arts-based community development, community arts programming, or a related field
- Experience in a start-up environment
- Experience with doing customer success or customer service work
- Experience designing workflows using a variety of apps
- Intermediate technical skills
