Partnerships & Events Coordinator

POSITION DESCRIPTION 

Position Title: Partnerships & Events Coordinator 
Reporting to: Partnerships Manager                    
Role type: Full time 
Term: 6 months (ideally to start 4 Feb 2025)    
Hours of Work: 5 days per week, Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm with an understanding that Festival work will require some out of hours work which is considered for in the renumeration. This role is based in The Rocks, Sydney. 
Renumeration: $60k pro rata + superannuation contribution

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The Sydney Film Festival (SFF) is one of the longest running events of its kind in the world.  
The annual June Festival brings the best new films from Australia and around the world to audiences in Sydney. As well as 200+ features, shorts, retros, and documentaries from over 70 countries across 400+ sessions at around twelve Sydney-wide venues across 12 days. The Festival celebrated its 71st Festival in 2024 and will return 4 - 15 June 2025.  
The Festival hosts several awards to recognise excellence in filmmaking, including the Official Competition, Documentary Australia Award for Australian Documentary, Sustainable Future Award, First Nations Award and Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films (which are Academy Award eligible) incorporating fiction, animation, and screenplay categories.  
SFF also presents the Travelling Film Festival (TFF), taking mini festivals to 15 venues across regional NSW, the Northern Territory and regional Queensland. SFF receives funding from federal, state, and local government, corporate sponsorship, and philanthropic donations. 

OVERVIEW OF THE POSITION 
SFF is run by a small, passionate team of about 16 core staff and swells with seasonal staff to over 40 for the delivery of the Festival between February and August. As a not-for-profit organisation, the Festival relies on its government and corporate partners and growing donor community to deliver its program annually.

Corporate partnerships are particularly important to SFF, providing cash and significant contra support which the Festival relies on enormously for production, venue hire, media, hospitality and other services. Similarly, SFF has an increasing cohort of patrons and is building a broader philanthropic program to support a donor pipeline for the Festival’s future endeavours and financial security.  

The Partnerships and Events (P&E) Coordinator will provide a vital support role across the partnership program and partnerships and philanthropy events. The role provides an opportunity for a hardworking and dedicated person with experience in event coordination, partner or donor relationship management, and with a passion for the cultural sector, to develop their skills and experience within a small, hard-working and supportive team.

The successful applicant will demonstrate an appreciation of the importance of diverse income streams to cultural organisations and a willingness to contribute creative ideas and work hard to achieve excellent results that meet and aim to exceed partner and donor expectations.  
The P&E Coordinator will report to the Partnerships Manager to provide crucial support services in the delivery of high-quality events and partner communications.

The P&E Coordinator will take ownership of executing, tracking and reporting on all contracted partner deliverables. In addition, they will have the opportunity to manage a portfolio of smaller partnerships, through which they have the opportunity to further develop skills and autonomy in shaping agreements and in building and maintaining strong and effective partner relationships. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 
In collaboration with the Partnerships Manager, this role will be involved in the following areas:  

PARTNERSHIP DELIVERABLES
- Contract administration - orderly recording and filing of Partner contracts and contacts, 
entering individual Partner deliverables into tracking document.
- Manage and track year-round Partner deliverables (logo approvals, ticketing benefits, 
digital communications, acknowledgements, signage, advertising, activations, etc)
- Work regularly alongside the Digital Marketing team to ensure Partner content for eNews and social posts are delivered in a timely manner and content is acceptable. - - -
- Track approval with all Partners
- File and oversee timely delivery of all Partner TVCs and holding slides and work with Program Coordinator to ensure delivered content meets QC
- In collaboration with the Partnerships Manager, assist in ensuring Partner ticketing and 
admit one vouchers are accurately distributed

EVENTS:
With guidance and support from the Philanthropy and Partnerships Teams:

- Arrange timely design, printing and posting/emailing of invitations to a strict event 
schedule
- Manage RSVPs, reminders and attendance lists for all Partner events
- Contribute and provide support for a successful event delivery of all Patron and Partner 
events
- Record event attendance and details of guests for reporting purposes
- Manage and take ownership of contra beverage stock across all Festival events; ordering, allocations, freight and stock management 

COMMUNICATIONS
- Assist with design briefs and arrange printing and posting/emailing for new collateral as required by the Philanthropy team
- Maintain up to date Partner lists for all communications and invites to major Festival 
events
- Track Partner marketing activities to ensure the right assets are used when promoting SFF 

DATA, REPORTING & RESEARCH:
With guidance and support from the Team and in consultation with other departments: 

- Maintain detailed and up-to-date biographies and photos of Patrons, key Partner contacts and prospects and ensure all financial and bio information is kept up to date across SFF’s platforms 
- Work with other departments to consolidate data and utilise existing SFF templates to 
prepare post-Festival partnership wrap reports
- Track Partner deliverables as they roll out on SFF marketing channels - website, eNews and social media – and ensure all assets are saved in Google drive for reporting purposes post-Festival 

INTERN MANAGEMENT:
In collaboration with the Philanthropy Manager and Partnerships Manager: 

- Work with SFF’s Education Partner/s to administer intern recruitment process across all SFF departments 
- Work closely with interns to support their learning experience at SFF  
- Manage intern roster and availability in the lead up, during and post-Festival 
- Provide evaluation report on interns back to SFF’s Education Partner/s at the conclusion of each internship 

KEY SELECTION CRITERIA 

- Experience or strong interest in the business of partnerships and/or philanthropy, preferably within the Arts or Entertainment sector 
- Excellent oral and written communication skills 
- Event experience, either in hospitality or in other fundraising roles 
- Highly organised with attention to detail in managing a high volume of partner deliverables 
- Confident and excellent interpersonal skills, with ability to deal with people at all levels of seniority 
- Demonstrated experience in event management with high level customer service, ability to apply discretion and understanding of the need to protect stakeholder privacy  
- Ability to work efficiently and calmly under pressure in a busy Festival environment 
- Ability to work individually but also as part of a team 
- Relevant tertiary qualifications in arts management, business, marketing, communications or equivalent are an advantage 
- Adept computer skills and proficiency in the use of a range of standard applications including Microsoft Office suite, Notion, Slack, Canva, Adobe Acrobat, etc.
- Desirable applications include experience with database management and mailchimp or similar 
- Flexible attitude to working hours in the lead up to the Festival with Patron and Partner events, as well as during the 12 days of the Festival.  

CORE COMPETENCIES 

- Team Focus: Is committed and skilled at working with and assisting others to achieve positive outcomes 
- Flexible: Demonstrates a willingness to take on new challenges roles and responsibilities and adapt positively to changing working conditions and priorities 
- Self-Starting: Highly motivated to achieve, shows initiative and acts proactively to deliver excellent results without directive supervision 
- Interpersonal: Skilled at building rapport, understanding others needs and developing 
effective working relationships 

To apply:
Please send your CV and cover letter addressing the selection criteria and your suitability for the role to Partnerships Manager, Judy Gilfeather-Zhu via email [email protected]   
Applications close 5pm Sunday 5 January 2025.  
Interviews to commence shortly after application closing date. 
SFF is an inclusive workplace and encourages applicants of all abilities and backgrounds.