Hugo House seeks Events Assistant & Community Support Specialist

Hugo House Mission:

Hugo House is a nonprofit literary arts organization located in Seattle with a 20-year history as the city’s hub for writers. In the fall of 2018, Hugo House moved into a new facility in the heart of the city, which has enabled dramatic growth in classes and event programming. One of the nation’s leading community-based centers for the literary arts, Hugo House has a vision to open the literary world to anyone who loves books or has a drive to write. Hugo House offers year-round creative writing programming for adults and youth, including everything from single-day classes to year-long workshops, readings and events, open mic nights, and summer writing camps.

Position Overview:

Hugo House is looking for an Events Assistant & Community Support Specialist to help facilitate high quality literary and arts events, including readings, panels, craft talks, and interviews featuring renowned writers, emerging and emerged writers, and talented new writers. The Events Assistant & Community Support Specialist will also help run Hugo House’s front desk, providing outstanding community support both in-person and virtually. The role will be a mixture of weekdays, evenings, and weekends for a total of 20-25 hours a week. This is an in-person position and cannot be done remotely, though there will be increased flexibility over time.

Responsibilities:

Event Assistance

The Events Assistant will work closely with the Events Curator in planning and coordinating Hugo House events from start to finish, including:

Coordinating travel and lodging for authors who are coming from out of town.
Attending and overseeing readings and events as needed.
Assisting presenters before, during, and after Hugo House events.
Supporting event programming & ticketing during events
Overseeing tech and setup for on and off-site events.
Coordinating book sales with partner bookstores.
Updating internal events calendar.
Coordinating and conducting set up, clean up, and major resets of space.
Acting as the Event Lead as dictated by Events Curator.

Community Support Services

The Community Support Specialist will provide excellent customer service to students, teachers, members, and all House visitors; assist with event and class production, as well as administrative needs; and maintain Hugo House’s COVID safety measures and ensure visitor comfort.

Complete 2-4 shifts a week at Hugo House’s front desk.
Greet visitors and speak to the mission and resources of Hugo House.
Answer phones and conduct customer service requests via phone, email, and in-person interactions.
Maintain building security and appearance, including daily opening and closing of Hugo House.
Set up classroom technology and provide tech assistance for teachers and students as needed.
Liase with registrar, operations team, and other team members to complete daily tasks.
Serve as office contact for those working from home.

Position Qualifications:

Experience in customer service.
Experience in planning and coordinating events.
Self-directed working style.
Comfortable working with the public.
Comfort in Microsoft Office.
Knowledge of contemporary writing and writers, including a deep and wide network of connections within the national literary community (preferred).
Entrepreneurial mindset, adaptability, creativity, and innovative thinking.
Capacity to work effectively with highly collaborative staff.
Outstanding written and oral communication skills.
Share Hugo House’s commitment to building an antiracist organization.