Festival Box Office Manager

Location: Remote working & at Festival Site
Contract: Seasonal & Temporary

About Us

International Literature Festival Dublin (formerly Dublin Writers Festival, established in 1998) is Ireland’s premier literature festival which runs annually in May. The festival is a Dublin City Council initiative which receives funding from The Arts Council Ireland.

In 2020 and 2021, due to the impacts of the pandemic, ILFDublin presented a digital programme of events.

For 2022, the festival plans to return to its normal late spring dates and will run from 19 – 29 May 2022 celebrating its 25th anniversary. ILFDublin is considered Ireland’s foremost literary event, featuring writers from Ireland and all over the world in readings, discussions, public interviews and debates. The festival has welcomed luminaries such as Ai Weiwei, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jeannette Winterson, Mario Vargas Llosa, Michael Palin, Richard Dawkins, Naomi Klein, Neil Gaiman, Rebecca Solnit and the late Seamus Heaney amongst many more. (Visit ilfdublin.com for archived programming details.) ILFDublin also hosts inspiring talks and discussions all-year-round through its Off The Page series, previously featuring Kazuo Ishiguro, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Lewis, Elizabeth Gilbert, Caitlin Moran and Emma Donoghue.

Responsibilities:

The agreed duties of the Box Office manager are to ensure successful operation of the ILFDublin Box Office together with Box Office assistant(s) and rest of the Festival team.

These duties include but are not limited to:

• To oversee and ensure accurate event set-up on Ticketsolve (software ticketing platform) including seating plan, pricing structures and the setting up of offers and promotions
• To produce & distribute detailed sales reports as needed to internal and external partners. These to include sales via individual channel, by price band, by transaction date, by booking date and any other reports as available via the Ticketsolve box office system.
• Be proactive in identifying and implementing sales opportunities and initiatives
• To deliver excellent customer service when processing bookings and dealing with enquiries and feedback both face-to-face, via telephone (minimal engagement) and e-mail
• To encourage interest in International Literature Festival Dublin, promote Festival performances in the box office and to work closely with the Marketing Assistant and General Manager to achieve sales targets
• To accurately record financial transactions and to reconcile daily sales via reports
• To ensure customer data is captured uniformly
• To ensure the smooth running of temporary box office in venues which do not normally run a box office and to liaise with the venues on ticket handovers
• To manage and support the Box Office assistant(s).
• Ensuring adherence to current Covid-19 guidelines

Person Specification:

The International Literature Festival Dublin is team-driven, and the candidate should be comfortable working both independently and closely with others. The ideal candidate shall have:

• Experience of working in a busy Festival box office excellent organisational and creative problem-solving skills with the ability to handle a busy workload
• Excellent customer service, communication and interpersonal skills, with experience of dealing with customers both in person and on the telephone
• Strong IT skills and thorough experience of working with Ticketsolve ticketing system and potentially Boca ticket printers including set-up, although the festival is striving to go paper free for 2022 onward.
• Great attention to detail and numerical accuracy
• Willingness to work irregular and flexible hours
• Managerial skills – responsible, team player, strong leadership, effective conflict resolution skills

Applicants are invited to submit:

1. A CV outlining relevant experience
2. A cover letter indicating expression of interest and relevant experience with regards to the role and fee expectation

Application documents should be emailed to Boxroom Productions*, Creative Producer, Aimée van Wylick by email aimee@boxroom.ie by 5pm, Tuesday 1st March 2022.

Terms and conditions of employment:
This is a fixed contract running from 14th March to 29th May, 2022. Payment will be a fixed fee, payable at the end of the contract.

*Boxroom Productions is the appointed event management company producing ILFD2022.