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Help to ensure that La Peña remains a sustainable, thriving community arts space for generations to come!
La Peña is actively recruiting new community members to join our board of directors.
THERE IS NO DEADLINE TO APPLY, THIS IS A ROLLING APPLICATION PROCESS.
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To apply, complete the board application form (versión en Español).
Read our FAQs below or reach out to [email protected] with additional questions.
FAQS
What does the board of directors do?
La Peña board members are dedicated community volunteers who assume legal responsibility for the well-being of the organization. Board members convene regularly for board and committee meetings to offer expertise and make strategic and financial decisions about La Peña. Board members collaborate with staff on fundraising initiatives, strategic visioning, and defining priority areas for the short- and long-term.
Board members honor La Pena’s history of social justice through the arts and ensure that the organization continues to thrive and responsively extend that legacy in our rapidly changing world for another half-century and beyond.
The board’s leadership responsibilities consist of:
- Approving and participating in the development of the strategic direction of the organization
- Approving the governing policies of the organization
- Providing financial and legal stewardship
- Monitoring and evaluating organizational effectiveness in terms of our Mission and Values
- Hiring and evaluating the Executive Director (ED)
Board members do not make programming decisions or determine what staff are doing.
How often does the Board meet and what are the time commitments?
Currently the Board meets on the third Wednesday of every month. It is expected that Board Members will serve on at least one committee and attend events at the center. The time commitment is probably about six hours a month. The Committees at present are:
- Finance: The purpose of the finance committee is to ensure that La Peña is operating in a financially sustainable manner by balancing short-term and long-term obligations and goals and organizational values. The Finance Committee shall be responsible for general oversight of the monies and securities of La Peña, with authority to recommend investments and fiscal policies.
- Governance: Review and recommend updates to by-laws and board policies. Evaluate and recruit members of the Board. Make recommendations concerning personnel policies and serve in the final step of the Grievance Procedure. Oversees the executive director evaluation process.
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Who would be a great fit for the board?
We are looking for people who are responsible, organized, community-based, creative, who have integrity and are deeply committed to La Peña’s social justice values and the positive development of La Peña as an organization.
La Peña is committed to pursuing cultural equity throughout its programs, policies and culture. We view equity as essential to accomplishing our mission and as a process and goal that must be continually centered. We are committed to:
- Ensuring that decisions are made in a way that hears all voices and actively seeks out voices of the people that are least represented and most impacted.
- Centering and prioritizing communities that lie at the intersection of oppressions when determining how organizational and programmatic resources are allocated.
This commitment extends to our board recruitment approach, and we strive for our board to reflect the diverse experiences of the communities we serve. Here are some of the skills, strengths, and talents that we’re really looking to bring onto the board this year:
- Financial management and accounting (especially for non-profits)
- Construction/contracting, facilities management or architecture
- Deep connections to local art communities and social justice movements
- Digital media and audiovisual production
- Fundraising and investments
- Strategic planning
- Human resources
What is the board working on?
- Organizational health and viability: implementing new and better systems to advance efficiency, clarity and sustainability; reviewing and updating organization’s mission, vision and values according to current priorities and community’s feedback.
- Fundraising: in order to sustain our programs and develop a multi-year strategic plan.
- Programming: developing program evaluation criteria and evaluating overall programmatic impact; investing in infrastructure for technological and audiovisual adaptation.
- Community engagement: deepening our relationship with existing La Peña communities, strengthening La Peña’s volunteer program, developing new community collaborations.
- Archives: our fiftieth anniversary is coming up, and we are exploring strategies to activate and preserve La Peña’s archives in order to honor the organization’s legacy of solidarity and community action and make it relevant to current and future generations.
What is the application process like?
La Peña’s annual board recruitment process is underway. Interested community members are invited to submit a board application form (versión en Español) on a rolling basis.
- The Governance committee will review all applications once the application period ends. Some applicants may be invited to interview and others may be invited to join a board committee or La Peña’s volunteer program.
- Invited applicants will participate in an interview with at least two board members and one staff member. The interview is an opportunity for applicants to get to know the board and learn more about current projects and needs, and for us to get to know you.
- The board of directors will hold a vote following interviews, and selected applicants will be invited to join the board.
- Questions? Email [email protected].
What are the fundraising expectations of board members?
Individual board members commit to giving what is for them a significant financial donation. They may give this as a one time donation each year, or they may pledge to give a certain amount several times during the year. They also commit to actively engage in fundraising for La Peña in whatever ways are best suited to them. This may include individual solicitation, undertaking special events, attending fundraising events, writing mail appeals and the like.
The board has a goal of raising $2,000 from each board member each year through either a combination of personal giving, asking our circle of friends, hosting fundraising activities, etc.
Interested in learning more about La Peña?
What is La Peña’s Mission statement?
Rooted in the Latin American and Caribbean diaspora, La Peña Cultural Center collaborates with and unites communities by preserving and celebrating cultural traditions; producing creative new works; and nurturing global grassroots social justice movements with artists, activists and allies.
What are La Peña’s Values?
La Peña salutes all of the ancestors whose shoulders we stand upon, and we celebrate the sacrifices made by all of those who have sustained the organization since its humble beginnings in 1975. In order to both honor our history and continue to evolve and meet the needs of the community, we expect that all employees and volunteers uphold the following values:
- Social Justice: “No one is free when others are oppressed.” We stand in solidarity with all oppressed beings, and we work to actualize universal human rights for all.
- Radical Inclusion: We believe that a diversity of perspectives creates the most innovative and resilient community. We actively seek to build bridges between communities representing many races, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and ages.
- Respect: We honor the different stories, experiences and gifts of every being. We treat every being with the respect we seek for ourselves.
- Regeneration: We seek to give as much as we take and to live in balance with the natural ecosystem. We seek to maintain harmony with all our relations, and work to ensure the sustainability of this center; socially, environmentally, and financially.
Commitment: To uphold our values, we expect all paid and unpaid staff at La Peña to:
- Keep the facility operating and thriving
- Work cooperatively and collectively
- Respect La Peña, its resources and its staff as if they were your own home and family
- Actively create space for conversations in Spanish and other languages besides English
What is La Peña’s history?
La Peña was established in Berkeley, California in 1975 as a community space inspired by the “peñas” of Chile, which are community gatherings centered around music, food, drink, politics and culture where community members are in dialogue with each other around current issues.
La Peña was started by a group of Latin American & Californian allies as a direct response to the military coup in Chile that overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Dr. Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. As a result, it is estimated that at least 3,227 Chileans were killed or disappeared, and many more were tortured and exiled all over the world.
In 1975 La Peña opened its doors and became the center of the anti-Pinochet dictatorship movement in the United States – a space for community meetings, art activism and multicultural solidarity.
Since then La Peña has become the home, hub and catalyst for hundreds of diasporic communities promoting social justice and cultural understanding through the arts, education and community action.