Social Media Contractor

Palaver Strings

Social Media Contractor

July 15, 2026 - September 15, 2027

ABOUT PALAVER STRINGS

Palaver Strings is a Grammy-nominated, musician-led string ensemble and nonprofit organization based in Portland, Maine. Our mission is to strengthen and inspire community through music. In our musician-led model, Palaver’s musicians share artistic and administrative leadership, guided by a passion for engaging new audiences, addressing social justice issues, and amplifying underrepresented voices. Equally committed to performance and education, Palaver presents a full season of live concerts and serves hundreds of students yearly at the Palaver Music Center in Portland.

THE ROLE IN SHORT

Palaver is in the middle of a strategic positioning process that will clarify its full story and sharpen our long term branding. In the meantime, summer is active, with performances, programs, and ensemble moments, and we don't want to go silent.

This role exists to document and distribute what's actually happening, build followers and the email list before the fall season, and create the content archive that the deeper storytelling work will draw from.

The scope is intentionally narrow: show what's real, grow the list, don't editorialize. The brief will evolve significantly in the fall once the positioning work is complete.

This is a now and not yet role. Now: documentation and audience building. Not yet: positioning led storytelling and donor narrative. A candidate who understands the difference, and is excited about both phases, is the right fit.

DOCUMENTATION

• Attend 10 performances and rehearsals over the eight week period
• Capture photo and short-form video content: performances, rehearsals, student moments, ensemble behind-the-scenes
• Build an organized content archive that the organization can draw from beyond this engagement

DISTRIBUTION

• Post consistently across Instagram and Facebook (frequency TBD, quality over volume)
• Write captions that reflect Palaver's voice: direct, warm, never generic
• Maintain a content calendar with upcoming events and post timing

AUDIENCE BUILDING

• Treat every post and event as a list-building opportunity
• Coordinate with Palaver staff on email capture at concerts (sign-up links, QR codes, CTAs in bio)
• Track email sign-ups generated per event or campaign

WHAT YOU WON’T DO (YET)

• You are not responsible for crafting Palaver's positioning or brand narrative, that work is in flight and will inform a future brief
• You are not managing donor communications or fundraising campaigns
• You are not the long-term social strategy owner, this engagement is explicitly scoped as a bridge

HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED

Primary

• Email list growth over the 6-week period
• Consistent, on-brand presence maintained through the summer (no silence)
• Content archive delivered at engagement close

Secondary

• Follower growth (meaningful but not the primary metric)
• Engagement rate on key posts

Not a metric

• Impressions, reach, or virality for their own sake

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• Genuine feel for music, arts, or community organizations, you don't need to be a classical music expert, but you need to care about what Palaver is doing
• Strong visual and editorial instincts at small scale, you know what makes a good photo, a real caption, a post worth making
• Comfortable working with limited direction, summer is active but Maya's bandwidth is limited; you should be able to operate with a brief and check in rather than require daily oversight
• Understands the difference between building an audience and chasing an algorithm

ENGAGEMENT DETAILS

Duration: 2 months, July 15, 2026 - September 15, 2026

Hours: Flexible ~10 hours per week

Rate: $300/week

Location: Portland, ME (in-person attendance at performances required)

Reports to: Maya French, Executive Director

A NOTE ON WHERE THIS GOES

Palaver is building toward a full lifecycle marketing system — email infrastructure, welcome sequences, and a sharpened social brief grounded in a positioning framework currently in development. The contractor who takes this summer role will have first visibility into that work and a natural path to a more strategic engagement in the fall if the fit is right.

To apply or inquire: Maya French, ***email_hidden***

PALAVER ANTI-RACISM STATEMENT

As Co-Artistic Directors of Palaver Strings, we affirm that Black lives matter and acknowledge that systemic racism continues to affect our community. Our mission is to strengthen and inspire community through music, and we believe that true community is not possible without sustained work to dismantle these oppressive structures. As performers, educators, and collaborators, we strive to create a culture of equity, inclusion, and accountability. One necessary part of this work is examining classical music’s legacy of exclusion and white supremacy, and the ways in which that legacy shapes our playing, decision-making, and ways of being together. Our work cannot end there, and must continue with concrete action to disrupt these systems and practices.

Palaver Strings values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.