Guest and Student Services Associate

Guest and Student Services Associate

Reports to: Guest and Student Services Manager

Date: Last Revised 10/3/2023

Pay Range: $15/hr

The Opportunity

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VisArts) believes in celebrating and supporting the creative life of all people through art-making, exhibitions and community programs. They have been living out their vision – “Art for everybody! Creativity for life!” – for 60 years and have helped more than 40,000 individuals each year find and unlock their creative selves. VisArts offers more than 1,000 visual and creative arts classes annually in clay, wood, fiber, painting, photography, printmaking, glass, metal, drawing, writing, decorative arts and other visual media. They are currently looking for a Guest and Student Services Associate to join their customer service team.

The Guest and Student Services Associate is the first point of contact for the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and plays a vital role within the organization. They are responsible for delivering warm and welcoming customer service to everyone entering the building, handling incoming registrations and sales, ensuring the safe opening and closing of the facility, and fostering strong communication between the front desk and other staff departments.

Essential Functions

• Greets anyone who enters the building with great eye contact, a smile, and a verbal welcome. Works to answer all in-person questions and engage each person who comes in the door. Holds doors open, helps students unload art supplies and shows students to studios, as needed. Refers specific inquiries to the Guest and Student Services Manager or other staff members, as needed.
• Answers general inquiries both via email and over the phone, prioritizing incoming calls. Responds to e-mails within 24 hours and involves other staff as necessary. Listens and responds to all voice messages that come in during the shift, flagging or forwarding those that need to be addressed by other staff.
• Assists with teacher and student communication as needed: calls teachers if they are late to class, calls students and teachers if there is a building-wide emergency such as an inclement weather closing; calls students if a class has been suddenly cancelled.
• Ensures the safety policies and procedures are upheld, working together with other Guest and Student Services Associates. Safely opens and closes the building following opening and closing procedures. Alerts other staff as necessary to any security concerns. Completes incident reports, as needed.
• Welcomes and assists instructors by printing class rosters, making copies, checking enrollment, providing necessary forms, etc.
• Helps prospective students register for classes. Flags drops/transfers for manager. Uses ProClass notes and flags to communicate with manager and ensures that accurate records of registration processes and conversations are recorded in ProClass.
• Monitors open studio access appointments, assists individuals with signing up for in-person appointments, welcomes studio monitors and provides studio keys as per our studio policies.
• Sells and renews memberships, explaining the benefits of the membership program to anyone interested in registering for a class.
• Makes other sales including merchandise, supplies, class materials, event tickets, gallery pieces,
• Receives incoming packages and deliveries, moving items to their designated spaces to be managed by other staff.
• Welcomes visitors to the gallery and ensures individuals sign in and out, according to our safety policies.
• Keeps front desk neatly organized and clean. Maintains catalog stands, brochure holders and bulletin boards. Removes and recycles outdated posters, flyers, and rack cards. Empties front desk trash at the end of their shift.
• Submits maintenance or cleaning requests to the Director of Studios + Facilities via Trello.
• Sends a shift report at close-of-shift summarizing the shift and outlining any potential issues that have arisen and were not otherwise documented in ProClass.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent communication skills and willingness to work as part of a team
• Strong work ethic and ability to work in a fast-paced environment with a sense of urgency
• Professionalism
• Collaboration
• Job mastery and continuous learning
• Service focus

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, etc.

Physical Demands

This is largely a sedentary role; however, some movement is required. The ability to walk, lift boxes and stand for long periods of time is required.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

This is a part-time, hourly position. You must clock in and out at the beginning and end of your shift. Night and weekend work may be expected.

Travel

None anticipated.

Required Education and Experience

• High school diploma
• Clerical experience
• Personal connection to the arts

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the team member for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EEO / AA Statement

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all team members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. In addition to federal law requirements, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.