Job title Assistant Community Producer
Responsible to: Community Producer
Responsible for: Assisting the Community Producer to manage freelance artists and project staff
Location: Office base in Narberth but working across the county of Pembrokeshire
Salary: £21,840 FTE (£13,104 pro rata based on 21 hours per week)
Hours: Part-time (21 Hrs per week)
Some evening & weekend work will be required
Annual Leave: 5.6 weeks including Bank Holidays
Contract: Fixed term 12-month contract from start date
About SPAN Arts
We work with volunteers, artists, performers and producers to cocreate projects and experiences that enrich the lives of people living in rural areas, tackle social inequality and improve health and wellbeing.
What does SPAN Arts do?
SPAN Arts engages rural communities in meaningful community arts experiences across Pembrokeshire for both Welsh and English-speaking communities.
- We co-create, co-commission and co-curate a diverse range of high-quality creative engagement, events and performances
- We work in partnerships to deliver an ambitious and vibrant programme of community arts and health engagement
- We are supported by a vital and well-established volunteer programme
What difference does SPAN Arts make?
- Reduces rural isolation, loneliness, and deprivation
- Boosts health and well-being
- Nurtures local and emerging talent
- Offers content for Welsh-language audiences
- Helps build more connected and resilient rural communities
Management
SPAN Arts is managed by a paid Director with strategic support from a Trustee Board of volunteers drawn from the local community.
We are a small but dedicated team, alongside the Director current employees are: Finance Manager, Digital Marketing and Design Assistant x2, Volunteer Officer, Community Producer, Development Officer, Project Officer and freelance project staff.
Main Purpose of Job
You will work alongside the Community Producer to deliver the Listen to Your Art programme collaborating with our community, partners, volunteers and artists to create this cohesive programme of creative engagement, performance, learning and celebration under the following themes:
- The Welsh language
- Our environment
- Youth creative expression and talent development
- Community wellbeing
Duties and Responsibilities
Programme Delivery Assistance:
- Working closely with the Community Producer, SPAN team, community, artists, and volunteers assisting to conceive, develop and deliver arts participation, performance and engagement projects and events
- Assisting the Community Producer to collaborate and cocreate with local people to ensure work that reflects the social diversity and needs of the area
- Assisting the Community Producer to support the development of creative engagement opportunities that have local relevance and national/global resonance
- Assisting the Community Producer to develop SPAN’s understanding of, and place in, the local community through providing opportunities for direct engagement and collaboration
Engagement and Reach:
- Work collaboratively with SPAN’s marketing staff to break down barriers to engagement and build strong and appropriate communication with our diverse audiences
- Assisting the Community Producer to grow SPAN’s profile as a bilingual organisation, encouraging and promoting projects and events in both Welsh and English
Staff and Volunteer Management:
- Assisting the Community Producer to coordinate with freelance project staff and artists
- Work with the Volunteer Officer to assist supporting and managing event and programme volunteers
Evaluation and Learning:
- Assisting the Community Producer to cocreate and deliver effective and appropriate evaluation strategies to enable SPAN Arts and our supporters to understand our impact
Partnerships:
- Assisting the Community Producer to develop new partnerships and maintain and grow existing partnerships that enable SPAN to reach new communities of people and places and reduce barriers to accessing our work, including actively seeking out new opportunities for SPAN to partner with colleagues from across the sector and beyond
- Assisting the Community Producer to support the development of the local creative sector through participating in networks, actively engaging in sector support, and building relationships with artists and creative companies
General
- Share learning both internally and externally
- Taking responsibility for own Health and Safety in the workplace
- Adhering to SPAN Arts policies and procedures, including Equality and Diversity policy
- Attending internal and external meetings appropriate to the role as required.
- Undertaking any other tasks as reasonably requested by the Community Producer, SPAN Arts Director and/or board of Trustees
Role Profile:
You need to be approachable, to be warm and exude joy in your approach to the work.
You will need some understanding of the local community and the nuances of how lots of distinct separate communities exist side by side (Welsh/English speakers, town and rural, emigrants/alternatives and born and bred, middle class and working class, people of colour and the white community, North and South, neurodivergent and neurotypical).
You need some understanding of the importance of and the place that the Welsh language has in West Wales, and ideally be bilingual (Welsh/English). You must be able to support diverse and adaptive engagement styles and have some understanding of inclusivity in reaching and engaging with diverse and distinct communities. You must have an awareness of or be willing to learn about the Race equality action plan, the new education curriculum, and the principles of cocreation.
You must have the openness and flexibility to come to the community with an open mind in assisting the Community Producer to build a plan and programme together and to adapt as needed. You need to be open to creating change, taking risks, and be able to understand the importance of building trust with artists in supporting them to create truly impactful work with the community.
Skills, Experience and Attributes
We are open to lived experience and transferable skills. You do not need to have done this job before somewhere else but have the ability, understanding and commitment to do it here.
To be great at this role you will need:
The ability to inspire people to get involved, from community members and volunteers to partners and politicians
Good communication skills, have the potential to build productive relationships with a wide range of people
A commitment to the difference the arts and creativity can have in a community setting
Some experience in making things happen, assisting the management of events, projects or programmes in arts, community, or voluntary settings
Good organisational skills, the ability to keep things on track, keep good records, and share information
Be reflective in the way you work to understand the difference you are making and seek to learn and adapt alongside, and in consultation with, the Community Producer
The potential to cope with change and adapt plans if needed to fit the needs of our community
A commitment to equality and diversity
A clean licence and access to a car
In a dream world, we are also looking for someone who:
Has some understanding of codesign and cocreating work with their community and has some experience working in this way
Is a fluent Welsh speaker
Understands the need for safeguarding volunteers, staff and community members as and when appropriate
Has assisted on public facing events in the past, and worked with ticketing/box office systems
Is connected to the community in West Wales and understands how the different community’s interplay
Role Overview
This is a fixed-term contract supported by Enhancing Pembrokeshire funding.
We can offer a hybrid working pattern combining home working with office-based periods of time to ensure a good work/life balance. We are very open to discussing job share proposals.
SPAN Arts is a Real Living Wage employer and complies with all employment legislation and statutory requirements as a minimum standard from which to build.
Key Dates:
Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 29th April 2024
Interviews: Week commencing 6th May
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by phone or email. While we will work to accommodate every applicant, please do your best to ensure your availability for this date.
Indicative start date: May 2024
SPAN Arts is an Equal Opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Disabled, D/deaf, those from Black, Asian and Global Majority backgrounds and people under 30 are currently under-represented in our team so we particularly encourage applications from people in these groups.
Please let us know if you need us to make any adjustments during the application or recruitment process and we’ll be happy to support you. You can contact finance@SPAN-arts.org.uk .