Callout: Participation Producer

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What's the job?

We are looking for an ambitious, experienced and capable Producer/Practitioner to coordinate the administration of our weekly participation offer and to be a lead practitioner in our Youth Theatre in Gloucester.

They will work closely with, and be managed by, our Director of Participation – Charlene Olaleye.

We currently have one Youth Theatre and two Dance Companies. From 2024, we will be increasing our youth theatre offer and require someone to lead a new Youth Theatre group who has experience in co-creating work with young people as well as directing for public performances across our youth theatres.

Job purpose and responsibilities

To plan, coordinate and ensure the smooth delivery of our weekly sessions, dance residencies, schools and group workshops, develop youth audiences and additional youth projects as required.

This role will of course evolve as much as the organisation evolves and is not static and there will be room for growth but it is imperative that the candidate will be able to operate in both artistic delivery and administration.

Main responsibilities include:

• To work with the Director of Participation to oversee the weekly groups and plan and devise participation activity
• To recruit freelance tutors and workshop leaders and ensure relevant administration e.g. contracts, DBS checks etc are completed to a high standard
• To ensure all requirements for delivery are booked and sourced e.g. room hire, equipment etc.
• To recruit and engage with young people to encourage them to take part in activities – with a particular focus on young people from Global Majority backgrounds
• To work alongside the Director of Participation to develop platform events and youth showcase
• deputise for Director of Participation when appropriate To work with the Strike A Light team to create marketing materials- print and online- for participation activity.
• To build mutually beneficial working relationships with schools, youth groups, community leaders and other partners
• To increase Strike A Light’s profile in the community and amongst young people in our key areas of the city, in particular Barton and Tredworth.
• To ensure the smooth day-to-day running of activities, working to health and safety and child protection best practice including registers, media release, accident and incident reporting, staff briefings.
• To be the first point of contact for parents/ carers, young people, tutors and others regarding Strike A Light’s weekly participation activity.
• To facilitate a positive, professional and creative atmosphere for young people taking part in participation activities
• Where appropriate, to deliver sessions for young people as part of projects and classes.
• To ensure activities remain in budget and working with the Strike A Light General Manager and Director of Participation to ensure that financial procedures are followed and income and expenditure recorded. To update and report to the Strike A Light team, and funders where required, regarding the weekly participation activity.
• To undertake robust, creative evaluation of participation projects and classes
• To observe and implement Strike A Light’s policies and procedures including equal opportunities, health and safety and child protection and safeguarding.
• Any other responsibilities the role and participation programme reasonably requires.

Fee: £12,000 PT (£30,000 FTE) depending on experience. We anticipate that this role will equate to approximately 2 days per week.

Contract: This role is offered as PAYE contract and is offered on a fixed term basis that has been funded until January 2027.

The person undertaking this role will be responsible for the administration of the weekly participation groups and growing the opportunities within them.

The participation strand is closely linked to a large percentage of our programmed work and we would expect the post holder to be present at some of the performances and support young people to engage as audience members on trips and workshops.

The post holder will need to manage their time and split their responsibilities between office based work and leading off site delivery. Termly evening working will be required.

The team currently work in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and remotely for the rest of the week. Working patterns can be discussed at interview

Who should apply?

Person Specification

Essential

• Passion for working with young people
• Experience of engaging and supporting young people taking part in activities
• A practitioner specialism in theatre
• Experience in devising and creating youth arts projects
• An enthusiasm for contemporary performance
• Experience of coordinating workshops and an understanding of the requirements of participants and practitioners in this setting
• Experience of working in partnership with community and education organisations
• Ability to manage and prioritise own workload and work with efficiency and initiative
• Ability to build positive, empathetic relationships with young people whilst maintaining a professional and appropriate role.
• Understanding of arts and/or education activity in a community setting
• Proficient IT skills
• Numerate, with experience of the day to day monitoring and recording of expenditure.
• Understanding of best practice when working with children, young people and vulnerable adults
• A positive, creative, flexible, hands on and can-do approach
• A commitment to diversity and inclusion
• A good working knowledge of the current UK contemporary dance and theatre scene, artists and practitioners

Desirable

• Knowledge of Gloucester community groups, organisations and potential partners
• Experience of working with young people from Global Majority backgrounds and an understanding of engaging with Global Majority communities
• A network of contacts across arts and education settings beyond Gloucestershire
• Experience of creating and managing project budgets
• Full clean driving licence

As per our child protection policy and Disclosure and Barring Service guidelines, the post holder will undertake a DBS check.

Why is it exciting?

You get to work with our brilliant Youth Theatre and Dance groups:

About Strike A Light

Strike A Light creates events that people thought couldn’t happen in their City. The diversity of Gloucester is reflected in the people and communities we work with from the producers, the artists, the young people and the audience. Continuing to diversify our core team is crucial and we actively encourage applications for this role to support this.

Our participation work has grown significantly over the last three years and is one of the core strands of delivery within Strike A Light. This year alone the young people we work with have created performances with ACE Dance and Music, Mulit-Story Orchestra, Ockham’s Razor, and have had opportunities to perform in a National Theatre Connections Festival and a Youth Dance Platform to name a few.

Bringing exceptional arts into Gloucester is vital to us for our audiences to experience rich and varied performances and alongside that we are intentional and passionate about growing the next generation of producers, artist, choreographers and performers from the city which we do through an array of opportunities including our Strike A Light in Schools program, weekly participation activities in youth theatre and youth dance, practitioner training, workshops and in the programming of exceptional work through a co-created program. We do this to create pathways for the young people of Gloucester to access the arts and to create a sustainable infrastructure of work for them to grow into.

If you are excited by what we do and you are already thinking of how you would build upon this work then this might be the role for you.

How to apply and key dates

How to apply

If you're interested in finding out more about the role, you can attend a free online info session with our Director of Participation, Charlene Olaleye, on Monday 23rd October 2023.

To apply for the role, please send a CV, along with an Expression of Interest including the following information:

• What involvement do you currently have with the creative sector working with young people?
• What excites you about your work?
• Of our 7 ingredients, which one resonates with you the most?
• This role involves both practical delivery and administration; please give an example of your experience that makes you the right person for this role

Please send your CV, Expression of Interest and a completed Equal Opportunities monitoring form (.docx) by email to Charlene Olaleye: charlene@strikealightfestival.org.uk by noon on Monday 12 November 2023.

Key dates

• Info session with Director of Participation: Monday 23rd October 1.30-2.15pm (» book now)
• Application deadline: Monday 12th November at noon.
• Stage 1 interview: Tuesday 21st November
• Stage 2 interview: Wednesday 29th, evening – paid practical session
• Start date: week commencing 15th January 2024

In line with our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy the successful candidate will be given a conditional offer, subject to references and a satisfactory DBS check.