Operations and Project Manager Mobile Decolonial Do Tank

Job description

Contract Duration: 9 months (March 15 – December 15, 2025) (renewable in 2026 subject to funding confirmation)

Schedule: Part-time (3 days/week, 21 hours)

Work Location: Hybrid – remote and offices in Montreal (Elegoa/daphne)

Salary Range: $30 to $40 per hour (including HST) based on experience

Application Deadline: As soon as possible, until March 5

How to Apply: Candidates must submit a résumé and a cover letter highlighting their skills, experience, and motivation to the following email address: catherine.sicot@elegoa.com.

Email Subject: Application for Operations Manager – MDDT

Overview

Elegoa Cultural Productions is looking for a dynamic, creative, and collaborative individual to join its operations team and contribute to the management and sustainable development of an international artistic project predominantly featuring Indigenous voices – the Mobile Decolonial Do Tank (MDDT).

In 2024, Elegoa Cultural Productions, in partnership with daphne, an Indigenous artist-run center in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Strategic Innovation Fund to pilot the MDDT in France (La Rochelle) and Canada and to support its structuring as an independent organization.

In 2025, the Operations Manager will work closely with Elegoa’s Director/Curator and other MDDT members to further develop artist and curator projects in La Rochelle, which will be presented to the public in the French city in September 2027.

About Elegoa Cultural Productions & daphne

Elegoa Cultural Productions (Montreal, QC/La Rochelle, FR) is a social enterprise that supports the independent development of artworks and artistic dialogues. It fosters ethical intercultural encounters and encourages generous and socially responsible collaborations. Founded in 2012 by its current Director/Curator Catherine Sicot, Elegoa has worked in Canada, France, and Cuba. www.elegoa.com

daphne is an Indigenous artist-run center dedicated to supporting emerging, mid-career, and established Indigenous artists through exhibitions, programming, workshops, residencies, and curatorial projects. daphne fosters a culture of peace, nurturing respectful exchanges with peers and audiences, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike.

About the Mobile Decolonial Do Tank (MDDT)

The MDDT is an experimental initiative currently involving artists Barry Ace (M’Chigeeng Odawa), Adrian Stimson (Siksika, Blackfoot), curators Lori Beavis (Michi Saagiig-Anishinaabe/Irish-Welsh), Michelle McGeough (Cree Métis/Irish), and cultural producer/curator Catherine Sicot (Elegoa Cultural Productions). In its conceptualization phase, the MDDT also benefited from the independent contributions of Georgiana Uhlyarik (Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario).

The MDDT promotes contemporary Indigenous cultures from Turtle Island in Canada and abroad. It enables cultural and educational institutions to access expertise and knowledge keepers to ensure a firsthand interpretation of Indigenous cultural assets held in public or private collections, recommending their contextualization and/or repatriation. Beyond advisory services, the MDDT commissions international Indigenous contemporary art, organizes events, exhibitions, and other dissemination formats, and initiates decolonial interdisciplinary and intercultural actions. The MDDT develops partnerships and gathers production resources for its activities, ensuring fair compensation for its collaborators. https://elegoa.com/en/content/MDDT-mobile-decolonial-do-tank

Job Description

The Operations Manager will contribute to the development of the MDDT’s operational structure as an independent and sustainable organization. They will oversee multiple projects involving various stakeholders and work with MDDT members to deliver all project components on schedule. They will create and manage the budget, production, and logistics for all projects and develop a communication strategy to ensure broad international visibility.

This contract may transition into a permanent position for a motivated individual who recognizes the unique qualities of the MDDT.

Responsibilities

Operations Management:

• Contribute to researching the appropriate administrative model for MDDT’s future operations.
• Register MDDT as a chosen legal/administrative entity.
• Develop legal contracts for MDDT collaborators and partners, incorporating Indigenous worldviews.
• Manage daily administrative tasks and operations related to MDDT projects.
• Track project-related expenses and revenues.

Grant Writing and Fundraising:

• Assist in researching grants, foundations, private funds, and other funding opportunities.
• Contribute to grant applications, budget preparation, and support material development.
• Support fundraising initiatives and help secure funding for contract renewal.

Communications:

• Develop and implement communication and promotional strategies for MDDT events and programs on social media in English and French.
• Research and hire writers and designers to create a website and develop materials from project audiovisual documentation.

Project Management:

• Coordinate various artistic aspects of the project, including logistics, production, and travel arrangements.
• Develop and manage budgets for different projects.
• Create schedules and timelines, set priorities and realistic deadlines for projects over the nine-month period, and contribute to planning future phases.
• Develop archival systems for project audiovisual documentation.

Required experience and qualifications

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in business administration or equivalent training, with at least three years of experience in arts administration and/or project management.
• Excellent written and spoken English, with document editing skills; fluency in spoken and written French.
• Lived experience as an Indigenous person and/or deep knowledge and commitment to improving Indigenous relations.
• Initiative and creativity.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Strong organizational skills, with experience managing multiple projects and conversations simultaneously and prioritizing tasks effectively.
• Experience managing artistic project production processes, including logistics, schedules, budgets, and team communication.
• Proven ability to engage with various internal and external stakeholders while recognizing the uniqueness of this project.
• Strong alignment with the ethics of Elegoa, daphne, and the MDDT, which challenge traditional knowledge centralization and promote thought-provoking, convention-defying artistic projects that envision new possibilities.

Job posting period

Until 2025-03-05 at 16:13