Community Manager

Time Status & Schedule: Full-Time (40 hours/week)

Compensation: $75,000 - $80,000

Term: 26 months (October 2026 — December 2028)

Job Overview

The Community Manager plays a critical role in building and sustaining meaningful, long-term relationships between The Triennial and communities across Boston toward its vision of a vibrant, open, and equitable city. Serving as The Triennial’s primary relationship-builder in the neighborhoods where Triennial 2028 will take place, this position develops trusted, reciprocal relationships with community organizations, residents, local leaders, artists, and other neighborhood stakeholders. Their work ensures that community knowledge and priorities inform The Triennial’s artworks, programs, and audience development.

The Community Manager builds and sustains neighborhood relationships, leads community-centered audience development, and supports programs and events. Based on feedback gathered in 2026 and 2027, the Community Manager plans and implements community experiences and reciprocal partnerships, co-leads an advisory group, and supports data collection in the lead-up to Triennial 2028.

The Community Manager reports to the Director of Engagement and works alongside the Public Programs Manager, the Triennial 2028 Curatorial team, artists, and partners. This is a contract position with the potential for renewal.

The Triennial is committed to partnerships that deliver tangible value to the communities it works with, not just its own programming. This includes compensating community members and organizations for their time and expertise, resourcing partner organizations where possible, and shaping Triennial 2028 programming around neighborhood priorities rather than institutional ones. The Community Manager is both a steward of these commitments in day-to-day relationship-building and an internal advocate for them, ensuring the organization follows through on what it promises to the neighborhoods where it works.

Job Mission‍ ‍

Strengthen the Boston Public Art Triennial's presence within Boston's neighborhoods by cultivating authentic partnerships, organizing alongside community leaders, and creating pathways for Bostonians to meaningfully engage with contemporary public art.

Key Behaviors

The Community Manager is:

• A trust builder who understands that relationships develop over years, not event cycles, and who keeps commitments to partners even when institutional timelines shift

• A translator who moves fluently between community settings and institutional ones, and who advocates in both directions

• Comfortable navigating conflict; approaches challenging conversations with openness, curiosity, and care.

• Collaborative and relationship-oriented; enjoys working with others and building strong relationships across communities and teams.

• Comfortable with ambiguity and change, able to structure their own week and adapt priorities without a fully defined path.

Metrics

The Community Manager succeeds when:

• A Community Organizing campaign is developed and implemented by January 2027

• 8–12 neighborhood partnerships are identified and established,

• 3–4 community partners are established within each Triennial location cluster

• 5—6 Community Advisors are selected

• Community feedback is documented and incorporated into Triennial 2028 planning

Primary Responsibilities

Build and sustain reciprocal neighborhood relationships

• Build and maintain meaningful, year-round relationships with neighborhood associations, community-based organizations, mutual aid networks, local leaders, artists, schools, resident groups, and other trusted community stakeholders across Boston.

• Attend neighborhood meetings, community events, and partner gatherings as a representative of The Triennial.

• Move relationships beyond event-based transactions toward ongoing, mutually beneficial collaboration.

• Translate community insights into actionable recommendations for programming (community happenings), partnerships, communications, and organizational strategy.

Lead community-centered audience development

• Develop grassroots and campaign-style outreach strategies that welcome audiences who may not traditionally engage with contemporary art or cultural institutions.

• Partner with the Communications team to shape neighborhood-specific outreach that reflects local languages, communication channels, cultural contexts, and trusted messengers.

• Support with the Director of Engagement on opportunities for collaboration throughout the year, including programming, outreach, artist engagement, and audience development.

Program and Events Support

• Support Community Listening Sessions by applying community organizing best practices and ensuring participants feel welcome, heard, and meaningfully connected to the process.

• Maintain an ongoing feedback loop with community partners, demonstrating how their input has informed Triennial decisions and work.

• Maintain relationships year-round, recognizing community engagement as an ongoing practice rather than project-based outreach.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in community organizing, community engagement, cultural organizing, grassroots advocacy, or neighborhood-based work

• Demonstrated experience organizing or supporting successful community campaigns, initiatives, or coalition-building efforts

• Existing relationships with community organizations, neighborhood leaders, mutual aid networks, or resident groups in Boston, particularly in Back Bay/South End, Roxbury, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, and Forest Hills

• Experience facilitating meetings, listening sessions, or public conversations with diverse stakeholders

• Strong understanding of Boston's neighborhoods, histories, and community ecosystems; lived experience in the communities this role serves is highly valued

• Curiosity about contemporary art and belief in its civic potential; deep art-world experience is not required

• Multilingual candidates strongly encouraged; [Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, and Cantonese]

How to Apply‍ ‍

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@thetriennial.org with "Project Manager" in the subject line. In your cover letter, we'd love to hear about complex projects you've brought from planning to completion, particularly any involving public space, multiple stakeholders, or creative collaborators. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Boston Public Art Triennial is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. Boston Public Art Triennial is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on the needs of the organization, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, family or parental status, or any other status protected by federal or local law. Boston Public Art Triennial will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these.