Whale Arts Agency

Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education

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Vacancy: Marketing and Communications Lead

04/06/2025 By Whale Arts

WHALE Arts marketing and communications Lead Job advert featured image graphic for website and social media with details on 14th July 9am deadline

We are seeking a creative, well organised self-starter to develop and deliver engaging content communicating the impact of our work and connecting us to our community, partners, artists and funders.

Permanent
Part-Time – 14 hours a week
£26,326 pro-rata
Based at WHALE Arts Centre, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

WHALE Arts is a community-led arts charity and social enterprise based in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh. Our vision is for a creative, thriving, resilient community. We provide access to inspiring creative opportunities, working in partnership with local people and artists to support community-led development through the arts.

We are seeking a creative and organised Marketing and Communications Lead to tell the story of WHALE Arts. Working closely with our team, you’ll lead on marketing and communications across the organisation, ensuring consistent, confident messaging and brand identity across digital and print platforms. You’ll support audience development, promote our programmes and events, manage media relations, and ensure our communications are accessible and inclusive.

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop and implement WHALE’s Communications and Engagement Strategy.
  • Create and manage engaging content for our website, social media channels, newsletters, and printed materials.
  • Support audience development and fundraising goals by expanding reach and participation.
  • Maintain brand consistency in messaging, tone, and visual identity.
  • Manage press and media relations, including writing and distributing press releases.
  • Work collaboratively with programme staff to ensure timely and effective promotion of events.
  • Use analytics and feedback to evaluate communications performance and inform strategy.
  • Lead on ensuring digital accessibility and safeguarding standards across communications.
  • Manage film/photography permissions, ensuring GDPR and safeguarding compliance.
  • Oversee marketing budget and maintain relevant databases and digital tools.
  • Collate audience data and support reporting and evaluation alongside the Front of House team.

We’re looking for someone who is enthusiastic about community arts and social impact, with a flair for storytelling, visual communication, and audience engagement. You’ll have experience in managing social media and websites, be confident in coordinating campaigns, and understand the importance of accessible, inclusive communication.

How to Apply

Click the links below to download the full job description and Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form:

  • Job Description
  • Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form

To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter (or max 5 minute video/audio statement) explaining your suitability for the role to recruitment@whalearts.co.uk by 9.00am on 14 July 2025. Interviews will take place on Wednesday 23 July.

For further information, please contact info@whalearts.co.uk (Kate Griffin), or call 0131 458 3267.

Filed Under: News, Vacancies Tagged With: vacancies, Wester Hailes, WHALE Arts

WHALE Arts to become one of Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funded Organisations 

03/02/2025 By Whale Arts

child smiling while taking part in athe kind of creative activity at WHALE Arts funded by Creative Scotland Multiyear Funding

WHALE Arts has been successful in its application to Creative Scotland for Multi-Year Funding for 2025-28. We will be joining the MYF Portfolio for the first time, which this time has seen 251 organisations across the country awarded funding.

WHALE Arts CEO Kate Griffin said:

We are extremely pleased and thankful that WHALE Arts has received multi-year funding from Creative Scotland to continue delivering our creative programme for our community. This support ensures that we can keep providing meaningful, inclusive, and inspiring opportunities for local people to connect, create, and thrive. With this investment, we look forward to deepening our impact, nurturing our artists and celebrating the creativity of our community.

Congratulations to our partners who also received funding! Starcatchers, Sistema Scotland Travelling Gallery, Art in Healthcare, Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, Manipulate Arts, Push the Boat Out, Tortoise in a Nutshell, Theiya Arts and our Creative Community Hubs partners Craigmillar Now, North Edinburgh Arts and Lyra. Looking forward to more collaborations 2025-2028!

Filed Under: News

Volunteering Opportunities for our Creative Arts and Wellbeing Programme  

31/01/2025 By Whale Arts

We are looking for some volunteers to support our Men’s Makers sessions and Open Studio sessions.


Open Studio Support

Open Studio is a space for people to come to try a new creative process or work on their own creative projects.

We are looking for a volunteer who will be there to help set up, chat to and support participants and help clear away afterwards.

Tuesdays, 9.30am-12.45pm and/or Thursdays 1pm-4.15pm 

More information: Creative Arts Programme Volunteer_Open Studio Support Role Description


Men’s Makers Support

Men’s Makers is a social session for men to come and develop their making skills. 

We are looking for a volunteer who identifies as male, to help set up, support the lead artist to run the sessions and serve up a meal.

Wednesdays, 10am – 2.00pm

More information: Creative Arts Programme Volunteer_Men’s Makers Support Role Description


To apply for either role or for further information please contact WHALE Arts: 

Email: volunteercoordinator@whalearts.co.uk 

Phone: 0131 458 3267 

Filed Under: News, Vacancies Tagged With: Edinburgh, vacanc9ies, Volunteering, Wester Hailes, WHALE Arts

WHALE Arts Appoints New CEO

22/07/2024 By Whale Arts

WHALE Arts Appoints CEO, WHALE new CEO Kate Griffin with board members Eunice Main and Allan McNaughton
Kate Griffin, CEO , centre, with Board Members Eunice Main and Allan McNaughton

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 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Edinburgh, Wester Hailes, WHALE Arts

WHALE Arts Successfully Completes Community Asset Transfer Process

27/05/2024 By Whale Arts

WHALE Arts successfully completes Community Asset Transfer Process Celebration

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.

WHALE Arts Sucessfuly Completes CAT

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. 

Filed Under: News

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WHALE Arts is …

... the cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes. We are a community-led arts charity and social enterprise, set up by local people in 1992. Our mission is to be the creative heart of a vibrant, thriving community.

WHALE Arts

30 Westburn Grove,
Edinburgh,
EH14 2SA
0131 458 3267
info@whalearts.co.uk

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Vacancy: Marketing and Communications Lead

We are seeking a creative, well organised self-starter to develop and deliver engaging content communicating the impact of our work and connecting us to our community, partners, artists and funders. PermanentPart-Time – 14 hours a week£26,326 pro-rataBased at WHALE Arts Centre, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA WHALE Arts is a community-led arts charity and social […]

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WHALE Arts Agency is a company limited by guarantee (SC180118) with charitable status (SC020305). Copyright © 2025