WHALE Arts is currently recruiting for a Young Peoples Programme Lead apply here.
We’re Hiring: Young People’s Programme Lead
We are looking to recruit a Young People’s Programme Lead to develop and deliver our award-winning accessible, creative and cultural programme, in partnership with young people, local and national partners.
Job Title: | Young People’s Programme Lead |
Reports to: | Head of Programming |
Location: | WHALE Arts, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh |
Contracted Hours: | 21 hours a week – Flexible hours to meet the demands of the post, including evenings and weekends where required and particularly during school holidays. |
Contract: | Permanent |
Hourly Rate | £25,725 pro-rata |
Role Purpose
The Young People Programme Lead develops and delivers our award-winning accessible, creative and cultural programme, in partnership with young people, local and national partners.
Main Duties
- To oversee an exciting, engaging and responsive programme of creative activities for children, young people, schools and families – supporting people of all ages and abilities, with wide-ranging needs and aspirations.
- To co-ordinate the delivery team of freelance artists, volunteers, students, trainee artists and youth workers
- To develop and co-design high-quality, fun, creative projects with children and young people, in response to identified needs, working with partners to deliver programmes in line with WHALE Arts strategy and vision.
- To remove barriers to access, ensure safety, and support young people to take part in activities with WHALE Arts.
Scope of the Job
Strategy & Policy
- Work with the Head of Programming to develop the Young Peoples Programme.
- Meet the organisational aims and objectives, and our reporting outcomes quarterly and annually.
Finance
- Manage project budgets, receive invoices for processing, and make purchases in line with agreed budgets.
- Use WHALE Arts finance systems to plan, monitor and record project budgets.
Fundraising & Income Generation
- Ensure all project funding requirements are met, reports completed, and effective communication with funders is maintained.
- Research, develop and write funding applications to support our work with young people.
People Management – Staff, Freelancers, Volunteers
- Support and develop a team of Freelance Project Coordinators, Artists, Youth and Support Workers.
- Review and implement appropriate training and policies.
- Support volunteers working with Young People’s projects, ensuring best practice in safeguarding, clarity on roles and development opportunities.
Data, Evaluation, Reporting
- Ensure that all project monitoring data is captured, recorded and reported on effectively, for internal purposes and for funders.
- Evaluate projects using best practice, including participative methods of working with young people.
Facilities, Operations
- Work closely with the WHALE Arts team to ensure that Health and Safety and Child Protection policies and procedures are implemented at all times.
Projects & Programming
- Plan, develop and lead the delivery of WHALE Arts programme for children, young people, schools and families.
- Create, coordinate and lead participatory arts projects at WHALE Arts, monitored by outcomes, evaluation and accreditation while ensuring young people’s pastoral care and wellbeing.
- Maintain existing levels of accreditation and relevant outcomes across the youth arts programme.
- Ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget, with all appropriate monitoring and reporting for funders carried out appropriately.
- Oversee the facilitation of sessions, including room bookings, resource preparation, briefing artists, sessional staff and volunteers, ensuring the health and safety of participants and staff during sessions and evaluating sessions.
- Take an active role in the WHALE Arts programming team, contribute to strategy, organisational targets, planning and evaluation in addition to hands on support for colleagues when required.
Safeguarding
- Act as one of the organisation’s Child Protection Designated Persons, ensuring that all staff and volunteers are inducted through WHALE Arts’ Child Protection Policy and undergo a sufficient PVG check before working on our programmes with children and young people.
Marketing and Communications
- Marketing and recruiting participants for projects.
- Attending meetings to represent WHALE Arts at local, citywide and national networks and forums.
- Contribute to website, social media, newsletters and other marketing
Community and Network Development, Regeneration and Placemaking
- Understand the demographics, assets and needs of the community we work with and maintain excellent relationships with the young people, families, key community figures and arts providers.
- Nurture relationships with key community members, local organisations and providers to foster local commitment and support.
- Work with partners and others to co-design projects and programmes.
- Represent WHALE at forums and partnership groups
Other Duties
- To be a key holder, opening and securing the building out of office hours when required.
- Help with reception cover occasionally ad-hoc to support the team when required.
- To comply with relevant WHALE Arts Agency policies.
- To undertake any relevant training in relation to the post.
Job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, and the post-holder may, from time-to-time, be required to undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.
Person Specification
Essential
An effective project lead with at least three years of experience in developing and delivering arts projects.
- Formal qualification or significant comparative experience in art, youth work, teaching or similar subject.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to build rapport, engage and support children, families and young people.
- Trained in and with experience in Equal Opportunities, Child Protection, Risk Assessments and Safeguarding.
- Knowledge of the issues that affect young people living in areas of deprivation.
- Experience in supporting children and young people from disadvantaged areas/Multi-Ethnic communities/facing challenging life circumstances /disabilities and additional support needs
- Great teamwork and collaboration skills.
- Ability to work with a range of partners on projects.
- Experience in leading a team of staff, freelancers or volunteers.
- Experience in co-designing programmes with and advocating for young people.
- Experience in project management and administration including monitoring and evaluation, budgets, report writing, IT skills and information sharing.
- Organised and adaptable, able to manage multiple activities, whilst responding to the needs of young people.
- Willing and able to work flexibly to meet the needs of the post.
Desirable
- Knowledge of Wester Hailes
- Ability to deliver creative sessions
- Knowledge of marketing and social media
How to Apply for the Post
Apply by email to recruitment@whalearts.co.uk attaching:
- An up-to-date CV detailing relevant education and employment experience.
- A cover letter stating why you want this role and why you think you’d be great at it and demonstrating how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role, including the duties and the person specification. (max 3 pages A4). If you wish you may apply via video (no more than 5 minutes) or another method of your choice.
- Details of two referees, including at least one previous employer.
- A completed equal opportunities monitoring form
Please let us know if you need any additional support to take part in the application process.
Closing date: 9 am Tuesday 27th August 2024. We will be holding interviews in the week of the 2nd of September.
WHALE Summer Programme
Summer is here and we have four weeks of exciting creative activities taking place for young people. Have a look at our 2024 Youth Summer programme here!
WHALE Arts Appoints New CEO
WHALE Arts are delighted to announce the appointment of Kate Griffin as our new Chief Executive, replacing Leah Black, who leaves us in July 2024 after 6 years at WHALE.
Kate brings a wealth of experience and insight to the role, having held the posts of Interim Chief Executive since August 2022 and Head of Programmes prior to that. She has worked for more than twenty years across the creative sector, with a focus on national arts programmes and creative education.
Dr Andrew McNiven, Chair of Trustees, WHALE Arts
Kate’s expertise in the challenging and exciting field of community arts, her excellent interpersonal, management and strategic skills, and her deep understanding of Wester Hailes, allied to her ability to advocate for this community at regional and national level ,will, we feel sure, enable her to provide excellent opportunities for our participants and our community. On behalf of the WHALE Board, our members, participants and staff team, we wish her all the best in her new role.
We would like to thank Leah Black, our outgoing Chief Executive, for her excellent work as WHALE Chief Executive since 2018, and especially during the pandemic. WHALE Arts ability to adapt and work in supporting our communities during this difficult period was outstanding and widely recognised. We wish Leah good luck in her new exciting role leading Foundation Scotland’s Regenerative Futures Fund.
Kate Griffin, CEO, WHALE Arts said:
I’m absolutely thrilled to be appointed as WHALE Arts’ CEO. I’m looking forward to working with the team, participants, members, volunteers and Board at WHALE Arts to continue our award-winning work as the creative heart of our community
WHALE Arts Successfully Completes Community Asset Transfer Process
WHALE Arts, the community-led cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes, is delighted to announce the formal completion of a Community Asset Transfer for the land upon which their purpose-built arts centre was built in 2001.
Established by local people in 1992, WHALE Arts provides a wide range of creative opportunities, classes and workshops for the people of Wester Hailes, as well as hosting several other community-facing organisations and services, including: Sistema Scotland Big Noise Wester Hailes, Starcatchers – Scotland’s Arts and Early Years organisation and SCORE Scotland.
Their current community-owned building opened to the public in 2001, however the site itself has, up until now, been held on a 25-year lease from City of Edinburgh Council. The land which has been secured also includes WHALE’s community garden and a small, adjoining woodland area, all of which has now been brought into community ownership, thanks to a grant of £125,000 from the Scottish Land Acquisition Fund.
The organisation celebrated the successful completion of the process last Wednesday, 29 May 2024,with a ribbon cutting ceremony with members of the community who had taken part.
Interim WHALE Arts Agency CEO Kate Griffin said:
We’re thrilled to have completed the Community Asset Transfer process and are very grateful for our partners’ support to make it happen. Working together the WHALE Arts team, our Members, volunteers and artists look forward to seeing our award winning projects developing and thriving in our space at the creative heart of our community.
Securing this land for the whole community successfully completes a five-year process that began in the spring of 2019, during which WHALE Arts has consulted extensively with community members, local partner organisations and a range of other stakeholders, to ensure that all aspects of the transfer process aligned fully with the aspirations of the community.
There will be a public event to mark the completion of the CAT process at WHALE Arts from 11.30am – 1.00pm on Wednesday 29th May, so please join us for a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony with some light refreshments, and help us to celebrate the start of a new and exciting chapter in the story of this community-led (and now fully community-owned) creative powerhouse.
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