​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Phoenix Office of Arts and C​​ulture​​

Essential Details

• Position Details: Students work 4​00 hours from January 1 - May 30, 2023 at $16/hr (around 20 hrs/wk).
  
• Host Eligibility: Organizations must have receiv​ed a Nonprofit Arts and Culture Stablization Grant from POAC in 2021, be based in the city of Phoenix, and be able to provide equipment and physical workspace in the city.
  
• There are no requirements for supervisors.
  
• Supervisor Commitment: Supervisors spend 5 hrs/week managing their student workers and attend occasional orientations and trainings.
  
• Award Amounts: Organizations receive an all-inclusive grant amount of $8,000 to pay the student worker's salary, taxes, and fees, with any remaining funds to be used for administration.
  
• Student workers will receive a $500 professional development stipend at the end of their employment to further their professional education in the field.
  
• Application Materials: Applications consist of a few organizational questions, a job description, and a letter of acknowledgment from the organization's leadership committing to the program (acknowledgment letter email template here​).
  
• ​Multiple applications are welcome.
  
• Deadline: The deadline for organizations is August 15, 2022.
  
• More Info: ​Register for info sessions on Wednesday, July 20 or August 3 or contact the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture at 602.262.4637 or arts.culture@phoenix.gov.
  
• Apply: ​This application will not be submitted through MARGO. Please submit your application through Survey Monkey. Please note: the application must be completed in one session. You cannot save work in the portal.
• Find the application at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ArtCorpsOrgSpring23​​ or preview the application here​.
  
  

Submit your application

Timeline and Process​

Hours, Pay, and Commitments

Each student worker will work 400 hours over the Spring semester (from January 1 to May 30, 2023) in in-person, remote, or hybrid settings. Schedules are expected to accommodate​​ the student’s academic and personal responsibilities such as school or other part time employment. This averages to around 20 to 25 hours a week. 

For their work, each student worker will receive a wage of $16 an hour (before taxes) for a total amount of $6,400, which will be administered by the host organization through their existing payroll systems. Each student will also recieve an additional $500 professional development stipend once their employment is complete (see below). To this end, POAC will disburse an $8,500 award to each organization in two installments: $5,000 at the beginning of the programming and the remaining $3,500 within 45 to 60 days. Student workers should not receive healthcare, retirement, or other employment benefits from the host organization. Any additional hours or payments are at the discretion of the host organization.

Beyond the student worker's salary and professional development stipend, the rest of the grant award can be used for payroll taxes, equipment purchases, offset expenses, or other costs of hosting a student worker. No separate application is necessary. All organizations will receive an administrative stipend.

Focus and Impact

Through a combination of independent research, hands-on tasks, guided trainings, and collaborative work, students should be provided with a comprehensive introduction to arts and culture administration while focusing on a particular department or skillset. To maximize the student worker’s learning and make the most of their time for your organization, we recommend designing the position around a specific project, initiative, or program cycle that can be completed or administered from start to finish within the course of the employment period. We would also encourage you to think about how the position can be used to engage the public, impact the community, or directly benefit residents in the City of Phoenix. 

Supervisor Commitments

As a supervisor, your primary role is to ensure the educational quality of the employment experience, serve as a professional mentor for the student, and take care of your student worker as a human being. In this vein, you can expect to spend around five hours each week actively managing your student worker by responding to emails, reviewing materials, having conversations, and holding meetings. 

Additionally, supervisors will be required to fulfill professional and mentorship commitments, including:

• Supervisor Orientation Jan 5: A two-hour supervisor orientation in-person on Thursday afternoon, January 5, 2023.
  
• Student Welcome Jan 17: An optional two-hour welcome and general orientation for students on Tuesday afternoon, January 17, 2023.
  
• Supervisor Check-In Mar 9: An informal check-in to be completed virtually during early or mid-February
  
• Celebration May 19: A two-hour informal celebration on Thursday, May 19, 2022. 
  

Beyond gatherings, supervisors are also expected to complete entrance and exit surveys for the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, conduct at least one performance review for the student at the end of the semester, and furnish a letter of reference. POAC will provide active guidance, trainings, and other support throughout the process. Students will also participate in monthly check-in's, site visits, or other professional development opportunities. More details about trainings, orientations, and other processes will be provided at the appropriate time.

Additional Stipends and Professional Development

To enrich and enhance the employment experience, POAC will provide a $500 professional development stipend for each student worker, which can be used to register for conferences, attend trainings, or other professional development opportunities.

Supervisors and host organizations will also have the opportunity to organize professional development workshops for student workers such as site visits, presentations, or workshops. Budgets are available to support each professional development opportunity. More information will be provided at the appropriate time.

Organizational Eligibility

ArtCorps is open to Phoenix-based organizations that received a Nonprofit Arts and Culture Stabilization Grant (funded by the American Rescue Plan Act) from the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture in 2021. If you are unsure whether your organization received a Nonprofit Arts and Culture Stablization Grant, you can review the list of eligible organizations​.

​Additionally, organizations must be able to provide the student with a physical space to work in Phoenix, a computer, and all other materials necessary for work. If the organization does not have a brick-and-mortar office or is working remotely, other options include a co-working space or the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. Please note: home offices cannot be used to provide student workspace. Please send us an email to explore options further.

While there are no requirements for individual supervisors, we recommend that applicants have been in their position for at least one year.

Student Eligibility​

To apply for a position, students must fulfill a combination of residency and enrollment requirements:

• Currently enrolled or recently graduated: Students must be currently enrolled in a degree program at an institution of higher education OR have graduated within the last 9 months.
  
• Degree programs may be in-person or online. There is no age requirement, nor is there any minimum number of classes or other enrollment status students need to take or meet.
  
• Institutional or individual residency: Students must be attending an institution of higher education with a physical location in Phoenix OR the student must live and reside in Phoenix.
• ​​​​Arizona State University: If you do not live in Phoenix and are attending Arizona State Univeristy, you must be taking a class or have your major based at ASU Downtown or ASU West. 
• Maricopa Community College System: If you do not live in Phoenix and are attending a Maricopa Community College, you must be taking a class or be registered at Phoenix Community College, Gateway Community College, Paradise Valley Community College, or South Mountain Community College.  ​
  

Graduate students are ineligible to apply. More information about student eligibility will be communicated to host organizations once positions have been approved.

Statements of Interest, Job Descriptions, and Supporting Materials

To host a student worker, all you'll need to do is submit a job description and supporting materials through our application form, which is divided into four parts: 

• ​Organizational profile: Basic contact information, a mission statement or description, and the size of your organization (your annual budget)​.
  
• Job description: A general summary or overview of the student worker position, a list of specific responsibilities, and any desired qualifications (200 words max each).
• Supervisor profile: Your contact information, a professional biography, an informal cover letter or statement of interest (250 words max), and an optional resume / CV.
  
• Demographic questionnaire: An optional set of demographic questions to help us ensure our programs are representative of the larger community.
  

Additionally, you'll also need a letter of acknowledgment from your authorizing official--an executive director, CEO, board chair, artistic director, etc--confirming their support for your application. The letter of acknowledgment is not formal, and can be a simple screenshot or pdf of an email. Feel free to use our letter of acknowledgment email template for this purpose.  

While the application is relatively short compared to other grants or programs, producing a thoughtful job description can still take some time, and the application is expected to take around 1 to 3 hours to complete. 

The deadline for applications is August 15, 2022.

Submit your application

Timelines and Processes

Once the application period closes, you'll receive an email fromPOAC confirming your submission. Then, after a brief review for fit and eligibility, student worker positions will be approved by September 1, 2022. 

Once the student worker positions are approved, host organizations will post the position on their website and begin recruiting. POAC will also post a centralized list on its own website to help promote the positions. 

Rather than applying through a centralized form administered POAC, students will apply directly to individual positions through each organization's respective website, email, or other process. Organizations will then be free to interview candidates September through November at their discretion. 

Once you're ready to make an offer to a student, all you'll need to do is have the student verify their eligibility by completing a simple online form. Once POAC has received the form and confirmed the student's eligibility, we'll send you an email so you can move forward with an official offer. Positions must be filled by November 15, 2022. Any organizations that are unable to meet the deadline will have their position rolled over into the next cycle of applications. Organizations that have had their positions rolled over twice will be required to reapply and forfeit their grant. 

Once positions have been filled, hiring and onboarding will take place over December. Orientations and trainings will begin in early January. Students can begin working as early as January 1. Students must begin their positions no later than January 30, 2023.

Selection Criteria and Process

Submitting an application does not guarantee a student worker. While our goal is to host as many positions as possible, this is a competitive process, our resources are limited, and we are only able to award a limited number of positions each semester. In the event that the program receives more applications than our capacity allows, positions will be awarded based on the following criteria: 

• Representation and Diversity: ​Diversity and representation in regard to the larger arts and culture community, including but not limited to art form or discipline, professional department or focus, organizational budget and size, city council district, and demographics of supervisors.
  
• Organizational Value: The use of the student worker position to open capacity or advance a specific project or initiative within the organization.
  
• Public Impact: The measure of community engagement and public impact of any projects or initiatives advanced through the position.
  
• Professional Value: The personal motivation and professional impact of hosting a student worker upon the supervisor.
  

Selection Rubric

Specifically, applications will be evalauted on a nine-point scale ​according to the following rubric:

​​Category / Score	​3 Strong	​2 Moderate	​1 Weak	​0 Absent
​Responsibilities	​Detailed	​Clear	​Unclear	​Absent
​	​The application presents a thorough comprehensive, and detailed overview of the student worker position, provides a concrete list of specific tasks or projects, and identifies who the student will be working with.	​While the application presents a clear overview of the student worker position, specific tasks or projects could have been identified more concretely.​	​The application provides a vague or abstract overview of the student worker position that makes it difficult to tell what the student worker will actually be doing.​	​The application does not provide an overview of the student worker position or detail specific responsibilities
​Design	​Comprehensive	​​Focused	​Unfocused	​Absent
​	​The student worker is given meaningful and significant work across multiple areas or departments of the organization as a fully integrated member of the team.	​The student worker is given meaningful and significant work within a single area or department as an integrated member of the team.	​The student worker is given work that appears ancillary, insignificant, or unclear, such that it is difficulty to see how they are integrated into the organization as a member of the team.	​It is unclear whether the student's work will have any impact on the organization​
​Intent	​Sincere	​Intentional	​Unintentional	​Absent
​	​The supervisor centers the student worker by expressing a personal desire or motivation to mentor a young person in their  professional career in a persuasive and compelling manner	​While the supervisor expresses the desire or motivation to mentor a young person in their  professional career, it could have been more personal, centered, or expressed in a more persuasive or compelling manner	​While the supervisor does not express a desire or motivation to mentor a young person in their professional career, they express the motivation to host a student worker for other reasons such as professional growth or organizational impact​	​The supervisor's motivation or desire to host a student worker appears questionable, exploitative, or is simply absent​

Please note: Previous supervisory experience is not a criterion, nor are previous student worker or internship programs within the organization. All criteria will be evaluated through the statement of interest, the job description, and other application materials. If all criteria are met or equal, applications may be entered into a process of randomized selection.

Multiple Applications

While organizations are welcome and encouraged to submit and host multiple student worker positions, multiple positions will only be awarded if all applying organizations are awarded at least one position. For example: if 17 organizations applied, we would be able to award multiple positions. However, if 25 organizations applied, we probably wouldn't. This being said: as applications will be selected primarily on the basis of representation and diversity, submitting multiple applications for different professional depart​ments may increase the likelihood that your organization receives a student worker. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us to discuss further.

Returning Applications

If your organization is currently participating in the ArtCorps Student Worker program and you would like to extend or renew your student worker position, you do not need to fill out a new application. Instead, all you need to do is reach out to your point of contact with the Phoenix Offfce of Arts and Culture and let them know. More details will be provided at that point in time.

Submit your application​

Info Sessions

​To help individuals and organizations learn more about the program and prepare their applications, POAC will be offering virtual info sessions on Wednesdays, July 20 and August 3, 2022 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Phoenix MST on WebEx. 

Each info session will feature a brief presentation of the program and ample time for Q&A. Recordings of the presentation will be available after the info session upon request. More information and registration for info sessions will be announced soon.

Consultations and Feedback

If you can't make the info sessions, POAC staff also happy to provide individualized feedback on job descriptions through emails or one-on-one meetings. If you are requesting feedback, please allow at least one week for review. No feedback will be provided after August 1. 

Questions?

If you'd like to request feedback, schedule a meeting, or there's anything you'd like to discuss about the program before applying, reach out to ​the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture at 602.626.4637 or arts.culture@phoenix.gov​.

Submit your application
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