New York University/Tisch School of the Arts is accepting applications for the position of Chair of the Graduate Acting Department. 

The Graduate Acting Department, which is entering its sixth decade as one of the country’s most prominent MFA acting training conservatories, is looking for a creative, dedicated, and inspirational leader to continue, expand, and evolve its groundbreaking curriculum and programming. The department serves a student population of 48, full time faculty of 12, an adjunct faculty of 15, and employs a number of workshop teachers, guest directors, and guest playwrights. Among the Chair’s primary duties will be to:  in consultation with the faculty, guide the essential structure of the curriculum and programming; teach and/or direct; lead the recruitment of each year’s cohort; select, hire, and cast the annual production repertory of more than a dozen productions and projects annually; and supervise the departmental budget (in collaboration with Tisch administration, the director of Theatrical Production and the Chair of Design for Stage and Film).

Since the Program has a uniquely structured relationship with the Department of Design for Stage and Film that involves shared production and staff resources, the Candidate should be committed to enabling shared values in the production experience for both sets of graduate students in Acting and Design. 

In addition, the Chair will coordinate adjunct and full-time faculty assignments and hiring; take a leading role in fundraising and development activities; support and cultivate our thriving alumni community; and collaborate with peer programs, administration and university offices, reporting to the Dean and Associate Dean of the Institute of Performing Arts.

We are looking for a dynamic and ambitious individual who holds a deep belief in the importance of actor training and sees the actor as the center of the storytelling experience. Other qualifications include the ability to articulate the program’s values; a commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, belonging and accessibility, both in the composition of the acting cohort and in the larger discourse of repertory, curriculum, and performance styles. The individual should have established relationships with forward-looking, working professionals in a variety of theatrical and cinematic disciplines; and experience working within the administrative structure of an arts institution or training program. The Chair should be knowledgeable about the future of how technology will be affecting our industry. The Chair will be encouraged to continue professional activity. 

New theatre spaces to be shared by the Graduate Acting Department and Design for Stage and Film will be added and housed at 181 Mercer Street, a major new NYU University initiative opening in the Fall of 2022. We welcome applications from Candidates with experience in planning for and initiating the use of these new facilities.

Application Requirements: Candidates should provide a CV, a one-page (500 word) personal statement, and a diversity statement. Application deadline is October 30, 2020. 

About NYU Tisch School of the Arts

The founding of the Tisch School of the Arts (Tisch) was heralded as a “daring adventure.” Tisch today is one of the world’s preeminent centers of arts education for artists, scholars and creative entrepreneurs in performance, cinematic and emerging media arts. Tisch has evolved into the largest private arts school in the country with both academic and reputational top rankings across sixteen departments, with several degree programs that were the first to be established in the nation. Drawing on the vast resources of New York City and the outstanding global network opportunities of NYU, the proximity of outstanding professional artists and scholars to one another, who define their work as a blend between “theory and practice,” makes Tisch a unique and renowned institution. Tisch undergraduate students study in a creative risk-taking environment that combines the professional training of a conservatory with the liberal arts education of a major research university. Graduate students work intensively as colleagues-in-training with faculty who are professional artists and scholars in small, highly focused and renowned departments. New York’s fertile cultural community yields countless opportunities for research, internships and lasting professional relationships. Tisch alumni are leaders and change agents who excel in a range of fields spanning the globe. These elements provide an extraordinary creative laboratory to nurture the next generation of artists and scholars who are engaged with the stories and critical issues of our world. Their collective force provides the leadership and innovation to shape the future.

Our current students, alumni and faculty have won virtually every major award in the arts around the globe, including the Pulitzer Prize. They are leading their fields, and bringing groundbreaking diversity as evidenced by numerous Guggenheim, Bessie, Tony, Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe, Independent Film and Oscar Academy awards and nominations. We have the largest presence on and off Broadway, and in film, music, games and tech festivals around the world. Cutting-edge research in emerging media is at the top of the country. We leverage this breadth of excellence in collaborations across the School, and across the University, and with our wide national and international alumni network. 

NYU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a policy of equal treatment and opportunity in every aspect of its recruitment and hiring process without regard to age, alienage, caregiver status, childbirth, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, domestic violence victim status, ethnicity, familial status, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy, race, religion, reproductive health decision making, sex, sexual orientation, unemployment status, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels.

NYU aims to be among the greenest urban campuses in the country and carbon neutral by 2040. Learn more at nyu.edu/sustainability.