VENUE MANAGER
Help Shape a Dynamic Home for Dance, Movement, and Community
Whim W’Him is a globally recognized contemporary dance company, known for innovation, artistic excellence, and work that resonates locally and internationally.
In 2024, we opened the doors to a Contemporary Dance Center housed in a thoughtfully renovated historic building in Queen Anne. The Center offers professional dance studios and flexible multidisciplinary spaces that serve artists, educators, and community members. This position plays a key role in ensuring the Center operates smoothly, safely, and accessibly for all who use it.
Whim W’Him is driven by values-led leadership grounded in generosity, connection, and inspiration. We’re seeking a Venue Manager (Facilities & Rentals) who is practical, organized, and people-centered, and who enjoys building systems and supporting a wide range of users in a dynamic, creative environment.
This position is grant-funded and supports the ongoing operations and public access goals of the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center.
ABOUT YOU
You’re comfortable working in a small, collaborative, fast-paced team and value transparency, accountability, and clear communication. You enjoy creating and maintaining systems, balancing multiple priorities, and acting autonomously when needed. You bring curiosity, care, and attention to detail to your work, and you’re motivated by contributing to a mission-driven arts organization.
We value diversity in all its forms and welcome a wide range of lived and professional experiences. Alignment with our values, reliability, and a commitment to supporting artists and community members are essential.
THE ROLE
The Venue Manager (Facilities & Rentals) is responsible for managing facilities operations and studio rentals at the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center. Core responsibilities include:
- Overseeing daily operations to ensure the Center runs efficiently, safely, and to a high standard
- Supporting outreach and marketing efforts related to studio rentals and identifying future rental opportunities and partnerships
- Administering the studio rental program, including maintaining an accurate rental calendar, preparing spaces for renters, processing payments, and providing on-site support as needed
- Serving as a point of contact for renters and partners, helping nurture a positive, welcoming experience for all users of the Center. Managing facilities systems including maintenance coordination, cleaning schedules, and vendor communication
- Tracking inventory and ordering janitorial and building operations supplies
- Responding to rental inquiries, providing accurate quotes and information, and maintaining clear communication with clients
- Creating and maintaining rental-related documents such as rental agreements, rental guides, and internal procedures
- Ensuring rental activities comply with organizational policies and facility guidelines
Your work directly supports Whim W’Him’s goal of increasing access to affordable, well-managed space for artists and community members while maintaining sustainable operations.
Download the full Job Description here.
EXPERIENCE & SKILLS
Relevant experience may include facilities or venue management, nonprofit or arts administration, operations coordination, or rental and scheduling management. Ideal candidates will demonstrate:
- Strong organizational and communication skills
- Experience managing schedules, calendars, and multiple priorities
- Comfort using digital tools such as Google Workspace and scheduling or reservation systems (e.g., Mindbody, Jammed, or similar platforms)
- Experience with inventory tracking, maintenance coordination, or vendor communication
- Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse range of stakeholders
Eligible to work in the United States.
LOGISTICS
- Ability to work nights and weekends based on rental and building maintenance schedules
- Willingness to drive to run errands as needed
- Ability to perform physical tasks including cleaning spaces, carrying boxes, moving furniture, and other site maintenance tasks
- Able to work onsite at the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center in Seattle
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
- $30/hour (commensurate with experience) at 20 hours per week
- City of Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Time
- Complimentary tickets to Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance programs
APPLY
To apply please follow this link. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Whim W’Him welcomes candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. Data shows that women and BIPOC candidates often hesitate to apply unless they meet every qualification; if this role resonates with you, we encourage you to apply.
Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
Whim W’Him is a Seattle-based nonprofit performing arts and dance education organization whose mission is to provide a platform, centered on choreography and dance, for artists to explore their craft through innovation and collaboration. The organization operates with a $1.3M operating budget and a staff of 10. Volunteers are engaged at every level of the organization.
The company is committed to high-caliber relevant art that engages and challenges audiences. Each season Whim W’Him performs in September, January, and May at Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, The Erickson Theatre Off Broadway, and Vashon Center for the Arts. We serve 10,000 individuals annually with our mainstage programs and outreach efforts. Whim W’Him needs to increase all earned and contributed revenue streams, and continue to develop a robust operational infrastructure and extensive networks of support. The organization needs to develop a stronger brand and reputation, expand its outreach opportunities, and further its name recognition nationally and internationally.
In January 2024, Whim W’Him opened the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center, a state-of-the-art facility that provides a home for the professional performing company and serves as an educational center and community center. Whim W’Him offers classes in dance, fitness, and wellness for all ages and levels. Additionally, the Center provides space for members of the dance community to utilize and has also hosted a range of events ranging from music groups to social service organizations.
LEADERSHIP
Olivier Wevers, Artistic Director & Founder
From ballet training in his native Belgium, Olivier learned the beauty, passion and discipline of the art. On coming to North America at age 19, he discovered the exhilaration of many new dance forms. As a principal dancer, first with Royal Winnipeg Ballet and later, for most of his dancing career, with Pacific Northwest Ballet, he acquired his strong conviction that dancers are the heart and soul of a company. As such they, and artists in general, must live at the very center of the process, their dignity, psychological and creative growth and safety deemed just as essential as their technical accomplishments.
During his years of performing in classical and contemporary works by choreographers from around the world, Olivier also discovered the thrill of making dances and how imaginative story-telling and movement exploration connect to caring about individuality and physicality. Creating dances fed his perennial curiosity. It became “my way to express myself and, during the process, to be able to learn more about the human condition, start dialogues, touch people and share ideas, reflecting on our times and our humanity.”
While still dancing with PNB and developing his own choreographic approach, Olivier became convinced that only by starting his own company could he create the works he envisioned in an artist-centered sanctuary where kindness, empathy, and collaboration are built into the very DNA. The result is Whim W’Him, with its yearly Choreographic Shindig for which the dancers choose the choreographers; emphasis on new works; transparent and candid leadership; ethical practices and equitable pay; commitment to diversity and social justice; and dedication to uncovering and nurturing new voices.