Glassblower
GlassRoots is hiring a part-time instructor to work in our hot shop and join our amazing teaching and artistic staff. This is a skilled artistic and technical work position which includes provision of instruction, and fabrication and repair of glass pieces in the hot shop.
 
We seek a self-motivated individual who can assist in the delivery of our artistic programs, offered to our target audience of disengaged youth and young adults as well as to the general public. The work involves instruction of youth and adult students in the hot shop, the operation of facilities required for the instruction, fabrication and repair of a wide variety of glass pieces.
 
On any given day you’ll be providing instruction to students participating in GlassRoots’ long and short term programs, teaching adults in recreational programs, and maintaining the hot shop. Additional responsibility includes the creation of sales and commissioned works.
 
The position begins as soon as March 1. This is part-time position, with growth potential, which will begin with 15-20 hours per week to assist with our growing demand.

Development Director
Reposted due to staff relocation  
We are seeking a skilled storyteller, fundraiser, and ‘donor-engager’ with the energy and creativity to take our development efforts to a new level. The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of experience with nonprofits, and a desire to work part-time (about 20 hours/ week), with anticipation that this position will grow to a full-time position within three years. The Development Director is responsible for managing our individual giving program, grants portfolio, and contributing to our overall message and communications efforts.
 
We’re moving to a space over 4x bigger than our current space later this year! During this year of transition, we see this position as a critical part of communicating our vision, impact and excitement, and enlarging our pool of supporters. We are at an important point of evolution for the organization with many opportunities ahead of us to engage new communities and expand our impact.

Our wonderful DD relocated and is finding distance working just isn't working. Lucky for our new hire, our present DD will help with onboarding.

Full job descriptions and application instructions are in the files below.  ​We are committed to the principles of equal opportunity and diversity and to attracting and supporting a staff and board who represent the rich diversity of the communities we serve. 

No phone calls please. Applications will be accepted until positions are filled.

Listen as Barbara discusses the organization's life-changing impact.
Click to listen (or read the transcript): "Glass arts is a vehicle for changing people’s lives.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
(NEWARK, NJ – January 9, 2020) The Newark City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, January 9, to provide funding to help complete the build-out of GlassRoots’ new space. Since its doors opened in Newark in 2001, the nonprofit has served 25,000+ people through its STEAM based, glass-art and entrepreneurial educational programs, classes and workshops designed for youth, young adults and adults, with at least 60% of participants Newark residents.
 
“GlassRoots is a community-based nonprofit organization working to ignite and build the creative and economic vitality of greater Newark, with a focus on underserved youth and young adults, through the transformative power of the glass art experience,” said GlassRoots CEO Barbara Heisler. “At the very heart of the organization’s work is the focus on engaging youth from our Newark community. We use glass art as a vehicle to promote the flame within them to create, to innovate, to reach and exceed their potential and to guide them towards educational and career opportunities that they may have not had access to otherwise. We are grateful that the Mayor and the Council see the immense value we bring to our city. We look forward to increasing our impact in our new space later this year.”
 
GlassRoots has provided programming to students in 41 of the 59 Newark Public schools in grades 5 through 12 (GlassRoots serves students 10 years and older) through its after-school youth entrepreneurial program, long-term in-school art residencies, summer youth leadership programs, summer extended learning workshops, craft school fellowships, and through STEAM-based educational field trips and workshops. Additionally, GlassRoots enjoys longstanding partnerships with several charter and private schools and community organizations, such as Philips Academy and the City’s Recreation Department. With a policy of ensuring that every Newark student is able to benefit from its programs, GlassRoots actively engages in both fundraising and entrepreneurial activities to subsidize its programs for secondary school students.
 
The $500,000 grant from the City of Newark will help fund the organization’s expansion later this year in the Newark Arts Commons, in the old St. Michael’s Hospital building, currently undergoing renovation in Newark’s Central Ward.
 
“We appreciate the City of Newark’s support for the work of GlassRoots. Our expansion as the arts anchor of the Newark Arts Commons will allow us to greatly increase the number of students and young adults we serve through school field trips, youth leadership and entrepreneurial programs, and college and career readiness programs. We are especially excited to announce the addition of a dedicated Scientific Glassblowing Workshop where we will offer a workforce development program that prepares young people for work in New Jersey’s scientific glass industry,”stated GlassRoots’ Board President, Roger C. Tucker III. “Further, we envision it becoming a community hub for education, creativity, innovation and partnerships with Newark’s citizens and institutions such as The Newark Art Museum, Rutgers University and NJIT.”
 
The Newark Arts Commons is a mixed-use residential and commercial property currently under development in the old St. Michael’s Hospital building, a long-vacant building constructed in 1867, at the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Central Avenue in Newark’s Central Ward. As the building’s arts anchor, GlassRoots will occupy over 18,000 square feet on the building’s lower levels. Its facility will include expanded studios for glassblowing, flameworking and glass fusing, as well as an artist WorkerSpace which will provide access and technical support to artist entrepreneurs, allowing them to earn income from the sale of their work. GlassRoots’ new headquarters will also include public spaces such as a café, gallery and conference center. Expanded classroom and studio space will allow for multiple school groups to visit at the same time, which is not possible in their current home at 10 Bleeker St. Other partners in the project include the City of Newark, New Jersey Community Capital, Hanini Group and Crawford Street Partners. 

Seriously, we are not actually changing our tagline, but we are serious about the importance of failure in human development.

Nobody likes to fail. But for a teenager, failure can feel like devastation. When your ego and identity are still forming, what might seem like a small failure to others can cause heartbreak and self-blaming for teens.

Whether it’s a rejection by someone they’re crushing on, a poor score on the SATs, or a loss in sports, teenagers take failure hard.

However, the truth is that failure can offer much greater life lessons than success. But first, teens have to learn how to face failure head on. Faculty at Stanford and Harvard coined the term “failure deprived” a decade ago, to describe college-aged students who seemed to have difficulty dealing with everyday struggles. Moreover, they connected this lack of resilience with the mental health crisis on American college campuses in recent years.

At GlassRoots, we know that failure is a risk for our students, but one that they will experience safely here.

Ella had worked on an intricate fused glass piece for hours. Finally satisfied, she loaded her piece into the kiln for firing. A day later, she looked at the cracked mess. Materials expand when they are heated and contract when they are cooled. Glass is no exception. When we melt two glasses together to form one, they must contract uniformly when cooling, otherwise, a tension (stress) develops between them, causing a fracture. We might have expected that Ella would react negatively or emotionally... after all, she had put in so much time and energy. But instead, she looked at the cracking as an opportunity for inspiration and melted the glass again into something new. “Whenever I make art here I enjoy it, and welcome the unexpected accidents. I’m surprised by what I’m able to see and learn.”

Just like the glass, Ella had learned how to manage her tension, her stress; her instructor was right next to her to guide her through the experience.

One thing we’ll never do is fail our students.

That’s why your support is so essential.

Will you give us your vote of confidence in the work we do, the impact we make, the transformation we support, by making an investment into the lives and futures of the young people we serve?

Today, we’re asking that you make a donation to help us continue to transform lives through the power of glass art.

Can we count on you to make a meaningful gift today? Students will continue to fail, but with your support, we’ll continue to be there for them when they do.

With thanks and gratitude,

Barbara Heisler, CEO