BBDD Director of Digital Archiving

Charm City Cultural Cultivation (Charm City) is a non-profit whose primary function is to build opportunities for cultural growth in Baltimore’s inner city by introducing and supporting initiatives for public programs in the arts, social engagements, leisurely activities, and educational advancement through informal gatherings. Charm City operates three key programs in and around Baltimore: The Last Resort Artist Retreat, Zora’s Den for Black Women Writers and the Black Baltimore Digital Database.

About Black Baltimore Digital Database
Black Baltimore Digital Database (BBDD) is a collaborative non-traditional project committed to the digital archival preservation, documentation, and celebration of Black life in Baltimore. Established in 2022, BBDD’s mission is to create digital archival spaces for Black voices by reclaiming Black humanity through stories, objects, memory, and the act of preservation. We endeavor to redress the problematic ways that Black people have been historically documented, omitted, and (mis)represented by institutions in and beyond the city by providing resources, training, and programming to empower black people to tell their own stories. BBDD is developing a replicable model of community-based digital preservation that encourages individuals, families, and communities to become active participants in uncovering nuanced historical narratives. We intentionally build mutually beneficial partnerships designed to expand the impact of this work.

Position Summary
The Program Director will support the planning and execution of BBDD’s programs and events. The role focuses on several areas of work, including:

Develop and implement programs to ensure their success (50%):

• In collaboration with Executive Director, articulate an expansive, community-focused vision for BBDD’s programming and impact on community storytelling and archiving in Baltimore

• Create programmatic quarterly and annual goals to guide programming rhythm

• Generate implementation plan for each program facet that establishes clear goals and milestones, deliverables and timeframes, resource needs (staffing, equipment, space, funding), and responsive budget

• Work with programmer and UX designer to develop strategies for content storage, retrieval, and content sharing

• Function as primary point of contact for programming collaborators – community members, community-based organizations, technical consultants, vendors, etc.

• Communicate proactively and respectfully with community members about their participation and contributions to ensure that contributors have a positive experience and programming stays on track

• Generate and implement creative ideas to scale BBDD’s programs and maximize organizational impact

Lead event planning and execution (35%):

• Coordinating operations and logistics for story circles, workshops, oral histories, and other in-person and virtual events; this includes coordinating collaborative events with other Charm City Cultural Cultivation programs

• Plan activities that provide compelling opportunities to showcase BBDD’s work, especially as it integrates with other Charm City programming, and create a welcoming environment for attendees

• Create and manage forward momentum for programs and events by preparing meeting agendas, generating notes and tracking and acting on follow-up/next steps, creating/using project dashboards, debriefs and evaluations

• Manage consultants and interns as appropriate

Contribute to BBDD’s operations and sustainability by (15%):

• Support organizational fundraising by contributing relevant program information including summaries of current/future activities, achieved metrics/outcomes, reports, etc. contributing to fundraising growth through other projects assigned by Charm City’s Executive Director

• With Community Education and Engagement Director, participate in conversations with community members, donors, contributors, and others invested in BBDD’s work.

• Pursuing professional development and other learning opportunities.

Who You Are
First and foremost, you are excited at the opportunity to shape a unique space focused on recording and preserving Black Baltimore, past and present. You sit easily in the middle of a venn diagram of community archiving, preservation, multi-generational storytelling, “live” documentation, and program administration. You are excited to lead a program that is community-centric and uses a low-barrier approach to engaging individuals and communities about digitizing their artifacts and sharing their legacies through story circles, talks, interviews, oral histories, and/or collections of their work. You have experience running programs and meeting milestones for short- and long-term projects/events. You use systems to organize your work, take a team-first approach, and leverage superb communication skills to work collaboratively with staff and other project stakeholders. You are excited by a work environment where things can change quickly and each day can look different. Most of all, you are eager to embrace a huge diversity of people and listen closely as they tell you how they live their lives and the stories/events/objects that are important to them. You are comfortable working across the gender spectrum, multiple generations, and a variety of religious and political affiliations.

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in library science, archives management and/or demonstrated work experience in a professional archival capacity and knowledge of archival principles, practices and techniques

• Experience or expertise in organizing collections, digitizing archival materials, metadata creation, and digital asset management

• Experience working directly with community members and organizations to inform, educate and digitize artifacts, including through one-on-one and group training, preparing, collecting, and storing sessions

• Possess strong oral and written communications skills

• Able to work autonomously and to prioritize daily tasks and responsibilities effectively

• Strong attention to detail

Location
This role requires a minimum of three to four days per week in-person, with the flexibility for remote work during the remaining days. The staff member will also attend in-person meetings with community members and partners throughout the Baltimore region, which can take place throughout the week. The schedule may shift to include additional days in-person as the program requires.

Candidates not currently located in the Baltimore region would be expected to relocate within 30 days of being hired.

Equal Opportunity
Charm City Cultural Cultivation, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse workforce. We strongly encourage and seek applications from people with disabilities; people of all gender identities and sexual orientations; people of color; and veterans.

How to Apply

• Email your resume and cover letter to gail@charmccc.org, subject line “BBDD Program Director [your name]”.