WSA Opportunities

City Coordinator for British Art Show 8 in Southampton

Dates of Position:
June 2016 – Feb 2017 (exact dates to be negotiated)

Purpose of the Role:
To provide effective coordination of the Creative Outreach and associated in-house activity programme, in and around Southampton, for British Art Show 8, as part of Arts Council England Strategic Touring Programme.

British Art Show 8 (BAS8) is a Hayward Touring exhibition organised in collaboration with galleries across the cities of Leeds, Edinburgh, Norwich and Southampton. In Southampton the exhibition runs across two City Partner venues, John Hansard Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery: from 8 October 2016 – 14 January 2017.

The City Coordinators in each city will coordinate a specific Creative Community Development Programme including artist led outreach and ambassadorial projects, a forum for professional engagement and evaluation, and late night opening schemes. City Coordinators will administer a budget for all these projects with a clear focus on reaching pre-identified communities of low engagement.

Arts Council England is for the first time providing additional support from the Strategic Touring Fund to maximise the impact of this exhibition through an integrated programme of Creative Outreach and audience development activities. These include digital and community engagement projects, a dedicated City Coordinator, an Ambassadors Scheme and resources for selected BAS community collaboration projects outside the galleries.

In Southampton the Coordinator will be responsible for City Ambassador activity across the two City Partner venues and ensuring that said activity leads to an in-house audience development activity throughout the duration of the exhibition. Through working closely with designated staff at each site the Co-ordinator will ensure identified community groups have clear access to the artwork and resources at each location in-order to facilitate audience development activity.

Key Responsibilities:

Manage and monitor the delivery of the Creative Outreach activity both off-site and in-house,
comprising:

• City Ambassadors – Oversee the development of their community engagement projects and
  ensuring that Ambassadors connect to the exhibition content, programme on-site audience
  development opportunities and utilise the expertise across the City Partner venues.
• Artists’ Outreach Projects – Assist with two independent BAS artist commissions (by Ben
  White & Eileen Simpson, and Mikhail Karikis), specific community groups and City Partners
  to ensure these projects are delivered successfully.
• Work as part of British Art Show team in Southampton and contribute to wider British Art Show
  venue network including national partners and colleagues at Hayward Touring and Southbank
  Centre.
•  Be the single point of contact who oversees the Southampton creative outreach projects sharing
  information between the artists, community groups, relevant City Partners, Hayward Touring and
  Southbank Centre.
• Work closely with City Partners to understand exhibition content, become familiar with each
  venue and form relationships with pre-identified community groups.
• Edit and upload content and event listings related to the Creative Outreach activities to the BAS8 website in conjunction with City Partners’ Web and Marketing teams whilst the exhibition is in Southampton, ensuring a voice for all ambassadors, project participants and community groups through online written articles and features.
• Generate regular content for the British Art Show website with ambassadors and artists led projects, and contribute to ongoing web discussions to ensure the online voice is up to date, relevant and diverse. In particular, engaging with the ‘join in’ page and encouraging others to make contributions to British Art Show online presence.
• Support the City Partners to develop and manage a writer in residency scheme for the duration of the exhibition.
• Document all Creative Outreach activities, whether on or off-site in accordance with copyright laws, clearing copyright and obtaining relevant permissions and image captions and credits.
• Compile evaluation material from all Creative Outreach activities and contribute to the ongoing BAS8 evaluation process helping to manage and collate the impact of the Strategic Touring Fund.
• Administer the allocation of Strategic Touring Fund budget in relation to all Creative Outreach activities in Southampton.
• Work with City Partners on a late night opening event, as part of the Creative Outreach programme.
• Coordinate transport where appropriate to increase the reach and accessibility of all Creative Outreach activities.
• Contribute to the development of a symposium or equivalent forum that will form part of the professional engagement and evaluation activity of the British Art Show, to ensure that National partners, local institutions, audiences and community groups benefit from this nation-wide collaborative project.

Ambassadors Scheme:
The Ambassador Scheme is designed to develop new audiences with a focus on providing opportunities to build audiences from areas of least engagement, empowering individuals / organisations to generate their own community activity programme in relation to BAS8.

The Coordinator will lead on the Ambassador Scheme for Southampton, training six BAS8 ambassador individuals/ organisations in partnership with Southampton partner organisations and teams to develop concepts, engage with a range of audiences and manage and produce an event programme or project that will reflect their experiences during BAS8 and encourage new audiences to the exhibitions.

The ambassadors will be recruited from a broad spectrum of age, ethnicity and gender particularly targeting predefined areas of low engagement with the intention that project partners can build on these new and emerging audiences after BAS 8 with continued contact and further projects.

The Coordinator will be partially involved in the ambassador selection process and lead on developing the Ambassador Events Programme, managing the budget to include a clear focus on reaching pre-identified communities of low engagement that the Southampton partner venues wish to target.

The Coordinator will create, in conjunction with the ambassadors and the partner learning teams, a series of onsite events that attract new audiences of low engagement to the venues. Together they will create targeted marketing activity relating to these events which is separate and distinct from wider BAS8 marketing.

Artist Lead Creative Outreach:
Aims to address the physical and mental barriers to participation. We wish to target not just young people, but marginalised groups and an older generation who may feel disconnected from the visual arts due to lack of confidence or misconceptions.

The City Coordinator will work with City Partners and the identified artists to develop and deliver a comprehensive community engagement programme that supports artists to work in collaboration with identified communities of low engagement. The Coordinator will work with city partners to identify how these projects can achieve greatest impact in terms of sustainable community relationships for both city venues.

The City Coordinator will ensure that projects are carried out using best practice methods for community engagement and working with professional artists and their work.

Website management:
The City Coordinator will lead on city-specific content management for British Art Show 8 website. This includes generating and uploading content, making sure that the website is kept up-to-date with the latest information and documentation and ensuring new editorial content is added routinely.

• Commission, write and edit features relating to the Leeds showing of British Art Show.
• Generate and upload content on city events programme, from listing events to organizing documentation and uploading this documentation to the website, which will include a series of films.
• Project manage the Writer in Residence, from assisting with their selection process, to providing them with access to the Leeds events programme and uploading their written content.
• Manage the Ambassadorial website content, helping them develop a digital output from their projects and uploading this content to the website.
• Upload learning resources to the website and overseeing user generated content on the Join In Page.
• Write and edit clear, accurate and accessible copy, closely following British Art Show text and website style guides.
• Ensure that all images are used in accordance with copyright laws, clearing copyright and obtaining relevant permissions and image captions and credits.

Person Specification:
Essential:

• Excellent knowledge of both Arts and Community organisations, in and around Southampton.
• Experience of delivering community art projects in a range of settings.
• Interest and knowledge of Contemporary Art.
• Experience of working with young people and vulnerable groups.
• A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office inc Excel, Outlook and Word.
• Experience of managing project budgets.
• Experience of producing and editing content for the web.
• Experience of report writing and evaluation.
• Experience of organising and managing public events.

Desirable:

• Photography/filmmaking abilities.
• Experience of using digital channels to support activity and outcomes.
• Experience of managing a small team.
• Driving license.

Conditions & Contract:
City Coordinators and ambassadors will receive support from Southbank Centre’s Learning and Participation Team and a named member of staff at each Partner Venue. The selected candidate will undergo a DBS check prior to taking up the position. This will be a fixed term, self-employed freelance contract beginning June 2016 to February 2017. The successful candidate will be expected to work within the projected timetable. This role will include some national travel with occasional evening and weekend working.

Contract Fee:
Total project fee of £6000 plus a travel budget of £600. The exact days/hours are to be negotiated and there will be the requirement for flexibility at certain times depending on deadlines and workload. The post-holder will be required to work an average of 2.5 days per week with the ability to expand or contract these hours as necessary.

This project has been funded by Strategic Touring Funding from Arts Council England. This position will be contracted by Southbank Centre, on behalf of the partnership between Hayward Touring, John Hansard Gallery & Southampton City Art Gallery.

Application:
To apply, please submit a covering letter outlining how your experience is relevant for the role and a current CV, including two references.
Please email your application or enquiries to art.gallery@southampton.gov.uk
Closing date for applications is 12pm on Monday 23rd May 2016
Interviews will take place in Southampton on Tuesday 31st May