We are pleased to present the first instalment of Pet Peeves, a series in which grunt’s Gallery Assistant, Hedy Wood, investigates grunt gallery’s staff by interviewing their pets. We will post a new instalment of Pet Peeves each month. Enjoy!

It had honestly never occurred to me that there might be a pet without a peeve until I went to Dan’s place. I mean, who has a cat that is so content, he doesn’t destroy the furniture? Or wake you up in the middle of the night by sitting on your head? Or sit beside the food bowl, yelling? Well, apparently DAN has that cat! Apparently, everything is all just super duper all the time over there!

It’s not exactly that I am obsessed with finding fault with grunt staff, but really, there has to be something wrong with them. At work they are kind, inclusive, courteous and professional, while also managing to be fun…..and good looking. I mean, Come ON! Gah! How is that interesting?

No, there has to be something else going on and I figure those pets are the ones that know. Surely they are harbouring some kind of secret grudge? They’ve got to be peeved about some terrible thing the staff is doing. I just need to get to the bottom of it.

Boris and I met at the beginning of March at Dan Pon’s east end apartment. (Dan has been grunt’s archives manager for the last 3 years, and was involved with the gallery for 4 years before that in a variety of capacities. He also works as a librarian at Langara College and West Vancouver Memorial Library. He probably barely has time to even feed a cat.)

Boris is a lanky, handsome, debonair black and white cat. He also appeared to be a bit shy, but totally charming, hmmmm, I did not see how this was going to help with my particular mission. But I put my phone on record and commenced with the interview, optimistic as always, and with a pocketful of cat treats on hand.

Me: So Boris, tell me how you and Dan met.

Boris: Well, about six years ago, I had fallen on some difficult times and I was temporarily living in a shelter down in Seattle. I had been living with a big gang of cats outside a warehouse, but that situation was about to end, and I fear, all of our lives with it!  Dan and his partner were in desperate need of a feline rescue, and of course, I was looking for better accommodations, so I caught their eye when they came into the shelter. Long story short, they ended up terminating their vacation in order to bring me to their home in Canada. People just do not realize the amount of effort we cats put in to rescuing them. I had to lure them all the way to Seattle, AND disrupt their vacation.

Me: Yeah, ok, good, that’s nice, what a sweet story. But what I really want to know is do you have any complaints about Dan? Here have a treat.

Boris: Actually, there is literally almost nothing wrong with Dan. I mean he works a lot, and he could be here, spending time with me and doing things for me, but that’s about it.

Me: So, would you say everything here is all perfect and completely GOOD?!It’s just NICE and PLEASANT all the time?!!!

Boris: I have to say that I do worry a bit about Dan’s hearing. I mean how loudly does a cat have to YELL before he realizes that I need something? What if I’m hungry, or need to go outside, or the litter box is in bad condition? Sometimes I have to yell at him for ten minutes or so before he responds! But he is really so excellent in every other way, I’ve got no complaints at all.

Me: F WORD! What about snoring? That can be very annoying, or excessive gassiness and farting? Or stupid nick names? He can’t be THAT perfect!

Boris: Sometimes they call me Flatfish, which has to do with my elegant, low slung hunting posture, but I kind of like that. And no, no particular gassiness that I have noticed….

Me: Come ON! There’s got to be SOMETHING!! You’ve been together for what? Six years now?

Boris: My word, you certainly are a very persistent person, dogged almost…..all right then, I do think it would be very nice of them to get me a little kitten buddy…..there, I said it! Oh, and they might want to do something about the condition of my scratching post, it’s a tad shabby…I don’t say these things as complaints at all, more like helpful suggestions….

Now, I have to say that by this point in the interview, I was beginning to grind my teeth. My own good opinion of Dan was completely unaltered, and Boris was ready to get out for a bit on his neighborhood patrol. And what kind of dirt had I dug up? Absolutely zero, zilch, zip nada! Everything was just a little too good around Dan’s and it was getting on my nerves. Definitely it was time to leave.

While I was grumpily riding the #4 back to my place, I thought about Meagan and her “protective” bulldogs and the way they vigilantly guard her house. That must be a terrible situation. Goody. I planned to call her as soon as I got home….

Position: Program Director
Location: grunt gallery
Reporting to: Board of Directors
Term: Full-time, permanent 35 hours/week. Evening and weekend work. Flexible schedule.
Start Date: May 1, 2019. As part of grunt gallery’s succession plan there will be a one year overlap between the incoming Program Director and the outgoing Program Director.

Application Deadline: February 28, 2019 @ 5:00pm PST

About grunt gallery:
Formed in 1984, grunt gallery is an artist-run centre located in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC. grunt gallery has built its reputation on innovative programs that showcase current and past work by contemporary Canadian and international artists. Working with a wide range of collaborators, grunt gallery confidently supports interdisciplinary projects, performance, media works, publications, websites, artist talks, research residencies, mentorships, publicly-sited projects and socially engaged initiatives alongside gallery-based exhibitions. grunt gallery continues to provide space for artistic agency, diverse perspectives, unruly practices and community connection.
URL: grunt.ca

Required Competencies:
Budget Development
Collaboration
Commitment
Communication
Creativity
Flexibility
Negotiation
Networking
Programming
Reliability
Tolerance
Grant Applications
Mentorship

General Description of the Position:
• The Program Director supports the organization’s mandate, public image and shares the overall mission and vision with the Board of Directors. The Program Director maintains the gallery’s relationships with donors, foundations, members, artists, patrons, stakeholders and the general public.
• The Program Director is the conceptual visionary of the organization, which includes fundraising and grant-writing, and should have extensive familiarity with local, national and international art communities.
• The Program Director is responsible for developing key connections to determine, develop and coordinate the annual programming of grunt gallery. In addition, the Program Director oversees work related to grunt gallery’s archivist and digital/physical archives—a key attribute to this work is activating grunt’s rich history and connecting it to ongoing programming.

• The Program Director works closely with the Operations Director to provide insight on overall direction and initiatives undertaken by the organization to ensure that key stakeholders and overall capacity of the organization, in consultation with the Business Manager, may be met effectively and collaboratively. The Program Director reports directly to the Board of Directors and is one of two senior members of the employee team.

General Responsibilities:
• Building grunt’s community reputation via networking, development and community engagement.
• Developing programming budgets and working with the Grant Writer to secure funding, through donors, foundations, public funding and private sources.
• Meeting regularly with staff and the Operations Director to ensure clear communication regarding programming, projects and development.
• Providing leadership and guidance to the curatorial committee to determine exhibition-based programming and projects.
• Liaising with artists to determine programming possibilities within grunt’s exhibition space and beyond the physical facility.
• Attending Board of Director meetings to provide programming and budget updates.
• Providing effective leadership and insight to the Communications Director to promote grunt’s history, programming and growing expanse of projects.
• Working with the Archives Manager to determine potential funding and programming to continue the development and operations of the archive.
• Evaluating annual programming in collaboration with grunt’s staff.
• Other duties as required.

Required Skills and Education:
• Ability to work collaboratively with permanent staff; project and/or contract and remote staff.
• Exceptional communication and coordination skills to ensure knowledge and comprehension of complex project planning can be effectively understood.
• Understanding grunt is a people-centred work environment that respects a variety of working styles, primarily independent, that thrives on communication to allow for creative autonomy and decision making amongst staff.
• Critically relevant curatorial experience with knowledge of diverse communities.
• Proven success with art programming and an excellent reputation within the art community, built on previous success, rapport with artists and the ability as act as a visionary.
• Excellent understanding of artist-run centres and non-profit policies and requirements.
• Proven ability to write grants.
• Strong working knowledge of financial development and reporting practices.
• A working intercultural skill-set to effectively work with a diverse group of staff, artists and community members, and a history of engagement with Indigenous and LGBTQ2 people.
• Preferably a post-secondary education in an arts related field.
• Confident problem-solving abilities. This applies to responding to unforeseen circumstances in a calm and strategic manner; plus, the ability to problem-solve issues that may arise with staff to maintain respectful relationships that encourages continued productivity.
• Must be highly organized, detail oriented, committed to quality and able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Ability to work flexible hours.
• Experience in public relations, media relations, communications and community outreach.
• Proven responsible financial management experience with demonstrated cost-savings and working within budgets.

Business Ethics and the Workplace:
• The Program Director must promote and set the example for ensuring a friendly, courteous, respectful and professional workplace.
• The Program Director must maintain the confidentiality of all personal, private and professional information obtained within the course of their employment, in accordance with the grunt Privacy Policy.
• The Program Director must act in accordance with the grunt Workplace Relationship Policy, which prohibits the acceptance of gifts, loans or anything of value from any individuals with whom contact is had during the course of employment.

To Apply:
Please forward your cover letter outlining your interest in this position and relevant experience as well as a C.V. to Meagan  <meagan at grunt dot ca>
The preferred file format is PDF.

Application Deadline: February 28, 2019 @ 5:00pm PST. Only those shortlisted will be notified.

Remuneration: $52,000 – $58,000
This position is subject to a six month probationary period.

grunt gallery welcomes applications from members of visible minorities, women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, and others with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with diverse communities

grunt gallery is located on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples.

grunt gallery
#116 – 350 East 2nd Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V5T 4R8
604.875.9516
grunt.ca

grunt gallery’s Succession Plan for the transition of Program Directors

Program Director Glenn Alteen has worked with grunt since its inception in 1984 and in May of 2020 will retire after 36 years in the position. In early 2018 the board and staff of the gallery began activating our Succession Plan designed to provide as little disruption to the organization as possible during the transition of Program Directors. Our informed and active Succession Committee consisting of current and former board members and staff were tasked with addressing hiring in relation to leadership succession. After extensive work, the Committee has unrolled a timeline and hiring process for the transition. The Committee continues to refine this process on an ongoing basis and will address any succession planning issues as they arise.

A year-long transition period is being planned for the new Program Director in order to provide a seamless changeover and to download grunt’s programming and funding processes and allow for introductions to long-term artists, supporters and funders. grunt incorporated a Management Transition Reserve Fund into annual budgets since 2016 to facilitate this transition.

Formed in 1984, grunt gallery has built a reputation on innovative and dynamic programming: exhibitions, performances, artist talks, publications and special projects that showcase work by contemporary Canadian and international artists. grunt focuses on work and artists that would otherwise not be seen in Vancouver. We are proud of our ability to act as an intersection between various cultural groups based on aesthetics, medium or identity. With emerging programs such as the Blue Cabin Residency and the Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen grunt is expanding and developing its range, providing artists with new and exciting opportunities and audiences with unique and important experiences.

The Program Director job call will be released on Friday, January 18, 2019. You can access information from grunt gallery’s website grunt.ca and follow grunt gallery news through our monthly newsletter and social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Contact Us:

Meagan Kus , Director of Operations

email: meagan at grunt dot ca
phone: #604-875-9516

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From artist editions to exhibition catalogues, find what you’re looking for in our newly designed online bookstore store.

From artist editions to exhibition catalogues, find what you’re looking for in our online bookstore store.

Image: Architecture Reearch 6, Jawa El Khash.

Get Four Faces of the Moon, ARCTICNOISE and Journey to Kaho’olawe for $45 (regular $65)!

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The Making of an Archive book is now available for purchase at our bookstore! The book is edited by Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn, grunt gallery’s Curator Vanessa Kwan and Archives Manager Dan Pon, with contributions by Liz Park, Gabrielle Moser, Fatima Jaffer, Dan Pon and Tara Robertson, Maiko Tanaka and an introduction by Vanessa Kwan. The publication is designed by Chris Lee.

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