Director of People & Culture
Asian American Arts Alliance, Ashland, OR, United States
Oregon Shakespeare Festival via TOC Arts Partners
Rolling
Posted
Apr 23, 2026
This is a unique opportunity to join one of the nation’s leading cultural institutions at a moment of meaningful transition and renewal. The Director of People & Culture will lead a team with the goal to help stabilize, strengthen, and reimagine the employee experience, supporting both the people and the art at the heart of the organization. The Director of People & Culture will serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, responsible for shaping and stewarding a people‑centered culture within a highly collaborative and uniquely complex theatrical environment.
This is a pivotal moment for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Following a period of leadership transition, evolving labor dynamics, and recovery from the pandemic closures, the Festival is experiencing an exciting time of revival. Audiences are growing; critical reception for the work is thriving; and the artistic vision for the future of the company is expansive and inclusive. The Director of People & Culture will play a central role in strengthening internal systems and fostering a cohesive and supportive workplace culture at a time when the impact of their work will be pivotal to the continuing success of the organization. This is both a stabilization and an impact opportunity—requiring a leader who can balance empathy with rigor, listening with action, and relationship‑building with operational discipline.
About the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) was founded in 1935 in Ashland, OR, and has grown from a three‑day festival of two plays to a nationally renowned theatre arts organization that presents a rotating repertory season of up to ten plays and musical productions. OSF productions have been presented on Broadway, internationally, and at regional and high‑school theatres across the country. OSF received the 1983 Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is one of the largest nonprofit theatres in the nation with three stages, including an outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival creates world‑class theatre, revealing a collective humanity through illuminating interpretations of new and classic plays, and inspiring a love of the art form for current and future generations. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Bond and acting Executive Director Javier Dubon, a team of over 500 theatre professionals produce thrilling theatrical experiences to audiences of over 130,000 from every state in the U.S.
The Director of People & Culture will be a visible, trusted, and relationship‑driven leader, responsible for fostering a people‑centered culture within a highly collaborative and uniquely complex theatrical environment. This individual will play a critical role in building trust, strengthening communication, and supporting a healthy, connected workplace, bringing a leadership approach grounded in empathy, transparency, and sound judgment.
Key Responsibilities
People & Culture Leadership: Lead all aspects of People & Culture, including employee relations, professional development, recruitment, compensation, benefits, and compliance.
People & Culture Leadership: Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on organizational health, culture, and people strategy.
People & Culture Leadership: Foster a workplace culture rooted in respect, inclusion, transparency, and accountability.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Provide thoughtful, human‑centered guidance on employee relations matters.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Help build trust through fairness, consistency, and clear communication.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Support a culture where staff feel heard, valued, and supported.
Labor Relations: Lead & support collective bargaining and union relationships across multiple bargaining units.
Labor Relations: Navigate ongoing labor dynamics with skill, credibility, and respect.
Labor Relations: Ensure compliance with applicable labor laws, with particular attention to Oregon‑specific requirements.
Operations & Infrastructure: Strengthen and streamline HR systems, policies, and procedures.
Operations & Infrastructure: Improve onboarding, off‑boarding, and overall employee experience.
Operations & Infrastructure: Ensure operational excellence while adapting systems to a complex, non‑linear environment.
Manager & Leadership Support: Provide guidance and training to managers to strengthen leadership capacity across the organization.
Manager & Leadership Support: Help clarify roles, expectations, and processes to reduce administrative burden.
Manager & Leadership Support: Support a more consistent and effective approach to people management.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Finance on payroll, benefits, and strategic planning budgetary needs.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Artistic and Production leadership to align with theatrical operations.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Contribute to a cohesive and aligned senior leadership team.
Key Priorities
Strengthen employee relations practices, ensuring a human‑centered, fair, and responsive approach to staff support.
Stabilize and enhance core HR systems and processes, including onboarding, off‑boarding, and policy clarity.
Support and guide managers across the organization through consistent, transparent, and accessible practices.
Navigate and strengthen labor relations within a highly unionized environment, fostering productive relationships with union partners.
Improve communication and cohesion across a large and physically dispersed organization.
Establish strong cross‑functional partnerships, especially with finance and senior leadership, to ensure alignment and shared decision‑making.
Provide proactive leadership, anticipating organizational needs and mitigating challenges before they arise.
Compensation
The salary for this position is $135,000 – 155,000.
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Flexible spending account options.
Employee assistance program.
Free/discounted show tickets.
Local discounts.
Group and voluntary life insurance.
Requirements
Demonstrated leadership experience in People & Culture / Human Resources, ideally in a complex, mission‑driven organization.
Experience in the performing arts, theatre, or similarly collaborative creative environments strongly preferred.
Deep knowledge of labor relations and collective bargaining, ideally within unionized environments.
Strong understanding of employment law and compliance, including Oregon‑specific requirements.
Experience building or strengthening HR systems, policies, and operational infrastructure.
Proven ability to navigate complexity, balance competing priorities, and work across diverse stakeholder groups.
Track record of building trust and strengthening organizational culture.
A deeply human‑centered approach, leading with empathy, compassion, and respect.
A strong, visible presence that builds trust through accessibility, consistency, and authentic relationship‑building.
Emotional intelligence and steadiness, with the ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics with patience, good judgment, and a calm, thoughtful approach.
Humility and low ego, demonstrating openness, curiosity, and a willingness to listen and learn while fostering a culture of mutual respect.
A collaborative mindset, working in close partnership with leadership and staff, valuing shared ownership, and engaging stakeholders in decision‑making.
Clear and transparent communication, providing context, rationale, and follow‑through to build understanding and confidence across the organization.
The ability to balance compassion with accountability, offering warmth and support while making thoughtful, sometimes difficult decisions in service of the organization.
A genuine connection to the mission and art form, with an appreciation for the creative process and the role culture plays in supporting artistic work.
A commitment to consistency and stability, helping to build confidence in People & Culture through reliability, follow‑through, and sustained engagement.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Rolling
Posted
Apr 23, 2026
This is a unique opportunity to join one of the nation’s leading cultural institutions at a moment of meaningful transition and renewal. The Director of People & Culture will lead a team with the goal to help stabilize, strengthen, and reimagine the employee experience, supporting both the people and the art at the heart of the organization. The Director of People & Culture will serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, responsible for shaping and stewarding a people‑centered culture within a highly collaborative and uniquely complex theatrical environment.
This is a pivotal moment for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Following a period of leadership transition, evolving labor dynamics, and recovery from the pandemic closures, the Festival is experiencing an exciting time of revival. Audiences are growing; critical reception for the work is thriving; and the artistic vision for the future of the company is expansive and inclusive. The Director of People & Culture will play a central role in strengthening internal systems and fostering a cohesive and supportive workplace culture at a time when the impact of their work will be pivotal to the continuing success of the organization. This is both a stabilization and an impact opportunity—requiring a leader who can balance empathy with rigor, listening with action, and relationship‑building with operational discipline.
About the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) was founded in 1935 in Ashland, OR, and has grown from a three‑day festival of two plays to a nationally renowned theatre arts organization that presents a rotating repertory season of up to ten plays and musical productions. OSF productions have been presented on Broadway, internationally, and at regional and high‑school theatres across the country. OSF received the 1983 Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and is one of the largest nonprofit theatres in the nation with three stages, including an outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival creates world‑class theatre, revealing a collective humanity through illuminating interpretations of new and classic plays, and inspiring a love of the art form for current and future generations. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Bond and acting Executive Director Javier Dubon, a team of over 500 theatre professionals produce thrilling theatrical experiences to audiences of over 130,000 from every state in the U.S.
The Director of People & Culture will be a visible, trusted, and relationship‑driven leader, responsible for fostering a people‑centered culture within a highly collaborative and uniquely complex theatrical environment. This individual will play a critical role in building trust, strengthening communication, and supporting a healthy, connected workplace, bringing a leadership approach grounded in empathy, transparency, and sound judgment.
Key Responsibilities
People & Culture Leadership: Lead all aspects of People & Culture, including employee relations, professional development, recruitment, compensation, benefits, and compliance.
People & Culture Leadership: Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on organizational health, culture, and people strategy.
People & Culture Leadership: Foster a workplace culture rooted in respect, inclusion, transparency, and accountability.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Provide thoughtful, human‑centered guidance on employee relations matters.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Help build trust through fairness, consistency, and clear communication.
Employee Relations & Culture Building: Support a culture where staff feel heard, valued, and supported.
Labor Relations: Lead & support collective bargaining and union relationships across multiple bargaining units.
Labor Relations: Navigate ongoing labor dynamics with skill, credibility, and respect.
Labor Relations: Ensure compliance with applicable labor laws, with particular attention to Oregon‑specific requirements.
Operations & Infrastructure: Strengthen and streamline HR systems, policies, and procedures.
Operations & Infrastructure: Improve onboarding, off‑boarding, and overall employee experience.
Operations & Infrastructure: Ensure operational excellence while adapting systems to a complex, non‑linear environment.
Manager & Leadership Support: Provide guidance and training to managers to strengthen leadership capacity across the organization.
Manager & Leadership Support: Help clarify roles, expectations, and processes to reduce administrative burden.
Manager & Leadership Support: Support a more consistent and effective approach to people management.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Finance on payroll, benefits, and strategic planning budgetary needs.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Artistic and Production leadership to align with theatrical operations.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Contribute to a cohesive and aligned senior leadership team.
Key Priorities
Strengthen employee relations practices, ensuring a human‑centered, fair, and responsive approach to staff support.
Stabilize and enhance core HR systems and processes, including onboarding, off‑boarding, and policy clarity.
Support and guide managers across the organization through consistent, transparent, and accessible practices.
Navigate and strengthen labor relations within a highly unionized environment, fostering productive relationships with union partners.
Improve communication and cohesion across a large and physically dispersed organization.
Establish strong cross‑functional partnerships, especially with finance and senior leadership, to ensure alignment and shared decision‑making.
Provide proactive leadership, anticipating organizational needs and mitigating challenges before they arise.
Compensation
The salary for this position is $135,000 – 155,000.
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Flexible spending account options.
Employee assistance program.
Free/discounted show tickets.
Local discounts.
Group and voluntary life insurance.
Requirements
Demonstrated leadership experience in People & Culture / Human Resources, ideally in a complex, mission‑driven organization.
Experience in the performing arts, theatre, or similarly collaborative creative environments strongly preferred.
Deep knowledge of labor relations and collective bargaining, ideally within unionized environments.
Strong understanding of employment law and compliance, including Oregon‑specific requirements.
Experience building or strengthening HR systems, policies, and operational infrastructure.
Proven ability to navigate complexity, balance competing priorities, and work across diverse stakeholder groups.
Track record of building trust and strengthening organizational culture.
A deeply human‑centered approach, leading with empathy, compassion, and respect.
A strong, visible presence that builds trust through accessibility, consistency, and authentic relationship‑building.
Emotional intelligence and steadiness, with the ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics with patience, good judgment, and a calm, thoughtful approach.
Humility and low ego, demonstrating openness, curiosity, and a willingness to listen and learn while fostering a culture of mutual respect.
A collaborative mindset, working in close partnership with leadership and staff, valuing shared ownership, and engaging stakeholders in decision‑making.
Clear and transparent communication, providing context, rationale, and follow‑through to build understanding and confidence across the organization.
The ability to balance compassion with accountability, offering warmth and support while making thoughtful, sometimes difficult decisions in service of the organization.
A genuine connection to the mission and art form, with an appreciation for the creative process and the role culture plays in supporting artistic work.
A commitment to consistency and stability, helping to build confidence in People & Culture through reliability, follow‑through, and sustained engagement.
#J-18808-Ljbffr