Costume Director

This is a Full Time Job

POSITION TITLE: Costume Director
REPORTS TO: Director of Production
WORK SCHEDULE: Full time, some evenings and weekends required.
WORK LOCATION: Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angles, and Culver City, and remotely
STATUS: Exempt
COMPENSATION: Salaried. Starting at $ 1,490.39 weekly, equivalent to $77,500.28 annualized.
BENEFIT STATUS: Eligible
DEPARTMENT: Production

POSITION SUMMARY
The Costume Director serves as the head of Center Theatre Group's Costume Department, providing leadership and supervision of the costume team made up of full time staff and overhires. The Costume Director is responsible for supporting the artistic vision of the director and designers as it relates to planning, budgeting, and managing costume elements and personnel for productions and artistic programming. Based on the production needs, the Costume Director will create and execute a plan to realize the costume design collaboratively and creatively, ensuring all costumes, crafts, and wigs are completed in a timely and fiscally responsible fashion.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Organize and oversee the costume department, including scheduling, follow-through on design deadlines, and coordinating and supervising the build process and maintenance of all costumes for each production.
• Guide costume designers through the entire production process from initial design conversations and research through the rehearsal, tech, and preview process, making suggestions and sharing ideas to solve problems, improve the product, and facilitate changes.
• Work with the creative team and Production Management to manage and maximize the artistic impact of financial resources by evaluating costume designs and creating costume plots to determine show needs and cost estimates for materials, labor, rentals, and outsourcing.
• Supervise and manage assigned budgets for costume materials and labor. Keep all financial records up to date, discuss with Production Management any possible overages, and ensure each production's needs are met and executed within the budgetary parameters while maintaining high standards.
• Attend all technical rehearsals and preview performances as required by Production Management.
• Acts as the liaison between Stage Management and Costume stakeholders including scheduling fittings, responding to rehearsal requests, and following through on production notes.
• Maintain and promote a safe work environment by following and enforcing all safety regulations, providing safety equipment, training employees on safe practices, reporting incidents, managing record keeping, staying up to date on safety issues and advising on safety related policy and decisions.
• Oversee the fitting process with tact, discretion, and diplomacy ensuring performers feel supported and safe.
• Hire, train and orient costume staff and designers to costume shop procedures and protocols.
• Foster the development of the costume team with formal reviews, periodic feedback, and training opportunities. Encourage the use of paid time off and ensure the department has the appropriate amount of staff to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
• Collaborate with all staff in the furtherance of Center Theatre Group's goal of being an anti-racist theatre working towards Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for all. Encourage and empower everyone to speak out against racist workplace practices and policies. Participate in organization-wide anti-racism work and incorporate an anti-racist lens into daily practice.
• Support the Education and Community Partnerships, Institutional Advancement and Marketing departments in furthering their work. This could include teaching workshops, leading tours, discussing behind the scenes activities, or taking on interns or apprentices.

Center Theatre Group provides a dynamic working environment in which duties and responsibilities may change. Employees are expected to be flexible and responsive to changes in the scope of their duties.

QUALIFICATIONS
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with people that are mixed across lines of differences such as race, gender-identity, sexual orientation, religion, ability, age, class, and immigrant status.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills and experience working with costume designers, actors, directors, and run crews.
• Ability to work independently, exercising judgment and discretion, while demonstrating initiative in the performance of all job duties allowing employees to work on their own and make decisions.
• Understanding of the production process from both a creative and technical viewpoint to negotiate a clear path to success for any given production. Ability to read and interpret research and drawings.
• Knowledge of costume history, period styles, garment construction, fabrics, textile techniques, and cleaning processes.
• Experience with budgets and expense tracking and ability to accurately estimate production costs and create and maintain budgets.
• Ability to remain centered and respectful during sensitive situations, guiding teams to consensus in a holistic manner.
• Aptitude and eagerness to learn new skills and processes necessary to manage varying projects.
• Comfort using computers and general knowledge of basic computer programs (email, word processing, etc.).
• With advanced notice, ability to work a flexible schedule including morning, evening, and weekend hours.