Shop and Building Maintenance Assistant

Wave Pool | Cincinnati, OH | In-Person | Start: October 2026
$17/hour | Part-time, 20 hours/week (expanding to full-time in the future)

The Role:
The Assistant keeps Wave Pool's community wood shop running and serving members, artists, employees, students, and neighbors, and helps maintain Wave Pool's building. The work includes day-to-day shop operation, care of the space and tools, assistance with classes and workshops, staffing membership open hours, and small building-related tasks, repairs and improvements.

Responsibilities include:

  • Staffing membership open hours: supervising safe equipment use, orienting new members, answering questions.

  • Maintaining the shop: cleaning, organizing materials and tools, tracking supplies, flagging equipment that needs repair or service.

  • Routine tool and machine maintenance: blade changes, sharpening, calibration, dust collection upkeep.

  • Assisting instructors during classes and workshops: setup, teardown, supporting participants.

  • Patching, small repairs, painting, and similar maintenance tasks around the Wave Pool building.

  • Assisting with gallery installation: exhibition install and deinstall, wall repair and painting between shows.

Qualifications:

  • Strong preference for artists with an active practice.

  • Basic knowledge of woodworking tools and shop safety. 

  • Fast learner.

  • Comfort working with people of varied ages and skill levels.

  • Reliability.

  • Interest in community-based creative work is a strong plus. This position is well suited for a recent arts graduate building a studio practice.

  • Basic handiness: comfort with patching, painting, and small repairs.

Compensation:

  • $17/hour.

  • 20 hours/week.

    • The position is expected to grow to full-time over the coming year, as funding allows.

  • Access to facilities for personal creative work, including woodshop, ceramics kiln, vinyl cutter, and tool library

About Wave Pool
Wave Pool is a socially engaged art center in Camp Washington, Cincinnati, championing artist-driven practices that extend beyond galleries and museums: listening deeply, collaborating broadly, and working with neighbors and partners through visionary approaches to world building. Our work pairs communities' wisdom with artists' sense of possibility, building relationships and collective practices around complex issues. Wave Pool operates a gallery, residencies and fellowships, professional development for artists, woodshop, ceramics studio, and community gathering space. 

Wave Pool is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, age, disability, or any characteristic protected by applicable law.

For more information about the position, reach out to Boris Oicherman, boris@wavepoolgallery.org, or come to his office hours at Swell Art Cafe, 4–6 pm Wednesday 8/26 or 9/2.

Application deadline: Sunday, September 13, 2026

SUBMIT YOUR RESUME HERE