Arts and Culture Coordinator
Organization: City of Urbana, Illinois
Description
The City of Urbana is excited to announce an opportunity to serve as its next Arts and Culture Coordinator! This position requires a dynamic blend of professional administrative and logistical skills, process- and detail-orientation, organizational skills, AND a flair for public arts! Our ideal candidate will love work that involves project and program coordination and administration as well as the opportunity to influence Urbana’s thriving arts culture. The Arts & Culture Coordinator is responsible for a broad range of administrative and technical functions related to the promotional and administration of the Arts & Culture Program and its various events and initiatives, including staffing the Urbana Arts & Culture Commission, managing and administering the Urbana Arts Grant program; coordinating a variety of arts-related tasks for economic development, and overseeing and monitoring budgets, contracts, and invoicing for program initiatives. Examples of the primary duties of this position include the following:
Responsibilities
- Leads the City’s Arts & Culture Program.
- Serves as primary staff to the Urbana Arts & Culture Commission by providing staff reports, running meetings, and coordinating commissioners.
- Supports the Economic Development Manager in developing, implementing, and evaluating long-range plans, procedures, and policies for the Arts & Culture Program.
- Develops, negotiates, and monitors contracts with artists, arts organizations, or other organizations related to public arts programing.
- Monitors expenditures and budgets related to public arts programming; makes purchases and procures goods and services related to public arts in compliance with the City’s procurement policy and other applicable policies.
- Works with social media to prepares, distributes, and updates promotional materials for City-sponsored public arts installations, cultural events, and special programs.
- Maintains a current Urbana Arts & Culture page on the City’s website; identifies opportunities to showcase Central Illinois in regional and national public arts venues and publications.
- Prepares and submits accurate and timely reports, memoranda, research, and presentations to the Director of Community Development Services and/or Economic Development Manager for City Council, Urbana Arts & Culture Commission, State of Illinois, and Champaign County, as required. May present information to City Council and/or other boards and commissions as assigned.
- Promotes and administers the Urbana Arts Grant Programs, Percent for Art on Municipal Building Projects program, Arts & Culture programming at Urbana’s Market at the Square, City Hall art exhibits for “Artist in the Corridor,” and other City-sponsored programs.
- Assists in fundraising activities; seeks and prepares grant applications or proposals to support the Arts & Culture Program, as necessary.
- Administers all grant management and reporting directly and primarily related to the Arts & Culture Program.
- Coordinates the development of an Annual Arts & Culture Program plan.
- Serves as liaison between City, artists, and/or business organizations.
- Maintains various inventory databases and archives.
- Assists in the development, marketing and implementation of various development incentive programs related to the arts.
- Coordinates, promotes, and facilitates various public events, including public input sessions, exhibits, and workshops, as assigned.
- Responds to or assists in responding to information requests, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and general inquiries from the public, media, artists, other public art programs, and community partners.
- Collaborates with and supports other Economic Development staff on the promotion of local businesses, business-related events, and activities, and downtown Urbana.
- Assists the public with inquiries, requests, and/or problems in a friendly, respectful, courteous, and professional manner.
- May supervise volunteers, interns, or other temporary staff performing work related to public arts programming.
Minimum Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in business administration, planning, communications, arts administration, fine arts, public administration, or related field.
- At least two (2) years of professional experience working for a public or private agency with a primary focus on hospitality management, communications, public relations, arts education, program administration, business administration, urban planning, public engagement, marketing, or related.
- A master’s degree in a related field may substitute for one year of the required experience. Additional professional experience may be substituted for the education requirement on a year-for-year basis.
- Demonstrated experience with dynamic program assessment and evaluation, as well as artistic and cultural programming is strongly preferred.
Note: The word “experience” refers to full-time, paid experience; part-time experience including internships may be accumulated and pro-rated to meet the total experience requirements.
For a complete list of duties and qualifications, please refer to the job description.
Position Details
- Status: Full-Time; Non-Exempt; Civil Service
- Department: Community Development Services
- Work Location: Urbana, IL (on-site)
Compensation and Benefits
- Compensation Range: The starting annual salary (hiring range) is $67,729.01 – $88,047.70. The full annual salary range for this position is $67,729.01 – $108,366.40.
- Compensation Type: Salary
The city of Urbana offers competitive compensation and benefits to our employees. The City of Urbana provides its employees with a robust benefits package that includes the following options:
- Pay-for-Performance program
- Health insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois
- Dental insurance options through Delta Dental
- Vision, Voluntary Life, Short/Long-term Disability, Accident, and Critical Illness insurance options
- Flexible Spending Plan option
- Eleven paid holidays
- Generous vacation and unlimited sick leave accruals
Application Deadline
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, however the date of first application review will occur after Monday, November 9, 2026. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply prior to this date for priority consideration.
Questions may be directed to Tamra Lighty, Human Resources Coordinator, at: Jobs@urbanaIL.gov or call (217) 384-6293. The City of Urbana provides reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities; if you need information, please contact the Human Resources Division at the number or e-mail above.
About the Organization
The City of Urbana, founded in 1833 and the county seat of Champaign County, is a home-rule municipality situated in east central Illinois, approximately 135 miles south of Chicago and 45 miles west of the Indiana border. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the state’s flagship university, is located in both Urbana and Urbana’s twin city of Champaign. Urbana’s population is estimated at 38,336 and 11.9 square miles are within the City boundaries. The City is led by Mayor DeShawn Williams and operates under the mayor-aldermanic form of government. On average, Urbana employs 260 full-time personnel. For more information about the City of Urbana, visit: UrbanaIL.gov.
The City of Urbana Welcomes Diversity! We foster an environment that values and encourages mutual respect, inclusion of all people, and utilizing differences and similarities as an organizational asset. EOE.
