Whale Arts Agency

Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education

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Community Meal Chef and Coordinator

April 16, 2021 By Whale Arts

DEADLINE EXTENDED to Wednesday 20th May 2021

Job Title:             Community Meal Chef and Coordinator

Accountable to:  Enterprise and Facilities Manager

Location:         WHALE Arts Centre, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh, EH14 2SA

Hours of Work:   14 hours per week (2 days a week – must be available on Fridays)

Salary:   £22,000 per annum year 1, £22, 660 per annum year 2, and £23, 339 per annum year 3 (£8800 year 1, £9064 year 2, £9335 year 3 pro-rata equivalent) for 3 years from May 2021 – April 30 2024.

Background of project

The post is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund for 3-years through our new community-led project ‘Grow, Cook, Eat, Repeat’ from May 2021 to March 31 2024.

Grow, Cook, Eat, Repeat is for local residents of all-ages in Wester Hailes.  It combines three interconnected strands of our existing work – our community garden, community meal and volunteering – into one cohesive programme which will put a 3-year structure in place to enable local residents to take the lead in developing their skills through volunteering in the garden, at the meal or other areas across the organisation. It will put local people at the centre of decision-making and follow their lead on how best to address food insecurity and improve the mental health and wellbeing of our community.

During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 WHALE Arts paused all regular programmes and activities and focused resources into food provision for Wester Hailes. We turned our popular Community Meal into a takeaway and delivery service and continue to develop and deliver the project safely and within government guidelines and following building risk assessments.

The community meal at WHALE Arts originally formed between 2017 – 2019 from the ‘Tasting Change’ project between local community organisations (Prospect Housing, WHALE Arts, SCOREscotland, The Health Agency and CHAI). We remain connected with local partners and will work closely with them to deliver important work to the community.

SUMMARY OF THE POST

The Community Meal Chef and Coordinator will continue to cook a delicious plant-based meal for 50-70 local people in the Wester Hailes community served at 1pm-2pm every Friday at WHALE Arts centre.

They are responsible for coordinating local community meal volunteers, cooking and serving the weekly meal and working closely with the community garden team to ensure that garden produce is transformed into healthy, delicious meals.

Our aim is that volunteers and participants will feel:

• Welcome, safe, included, accepted, supported.

• An increased sense of ownership and that they can make a valuable contribution.

• Less isolated and lonely.

• More skilled with better economic prospects.

• Healthy and well.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Food, nutrition and eco-sustainability

            Prepare, organise and cook a nutritious, plant-based and sustainable community meal for 50-70 local people every Friday

            Be responsible for ordering and stock management within the WHALE Arts kitchen pantry, storing useable fresh and dry store ingredients for the meal

            Ensure health and safety guidelines relating to the meal and related activities are adhered to at all times by staff and volunteers

            Liaise with the local partners and the building team including the Community Garden Coordinator, meal and garden volunteers and staff to maintain and implement nutrition and sustainability goals

            Implement sustainability work and controls to reduce food waste including but not limited to: regular composting from the kitchen, plan meals using Wester Hailes home-grown ingredients from the community garden

            Provide figures to track any relevant evaluation data for the meal and work with your line manager to develop and improve the meal further (e.g. food donations used in the meal, meals cooked, feedback from community)

            Work closely with the Enterprise and Facilities manager and the rest of the team to help implement relevant enterprise activities (e.g. pay-it-forward model trial for meal)

Supporting local community and volunteers

            Manage, coach, train and support 3-4 local community meal volunteers per year

            Support and supervise volunteers in line with our volunteer policy and procedures to achieve their volunteering goals and help deliver the community meal project

            Work closely with the volunteer coordinator to recruit, induct and support new volunteers at WHALE Arts

            Provide figures to volunteer coordinator for monitoring the project (e.g. volunteer hours, any other relevant data to monitor the project)

            Work closely with local community and your line manager to ensure ongoing input and feedback from community feeds is listened to and implemented

Other duties

            Undertake any other relevant duties within the role

Skills, qualities and experience required:

Essential:

●            Experience of menu planning and vegan/vegetarian cooking for large numbers

●            Ability to work in a calm and organised manner

●            Passionate about nutritious, sustainable food and able to communicate this

●            Able to work on own initiative and to work with others collectively

●            Experience or knowledge of working with volunteers in a similar organisation or environment

●            Good organisational and planning skills

●            Current Food Hygiene Certificate

Desirable:

•            Understanding of environmental and sustainability issues, especially around food

•            Knowledge of and passion for nutrition and plant-based cooking

•            Experience of working on a similar project before

•            Experience or knowledge of working at similar organisations in the community and charity sector either local or national

•            PVG is desirable, however this can be sought upon successful appointment

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Apply in writing or by email, enclosing/attaching:

●            An up to date CV detailing relevant education and employment experience. No longer than two pages.

●            A covering letter demonstrating how your skills meet the Essential and Desirable Skills criteria of the job description. No longer than one page.

●            Details of two referees, including your most recent employer.

The successful candidate will be appointed to the role subject to confirmation of PVG Scheme Membership.

Send applications to recruitment@whalearts.co.uk by midday on Wednesday 20th May 2021.

If you would like to speak to someone about the role please contact Laura Delahunt, Enterprise and Facilities Manager, by emailing us on recruitment@whalearts.co.uk or by phoning 0131 4583267 to request a call.

www.whalearts.co.uk

ABOUT WHALE ARTS

Since being set up by local people in 1992 WHALE Arts has firmly established itself as the cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes. As a community-led arts charity and social enterprise, WHALE Arts’ mission is to be the creative heart of a vibrant, thriving community.

WHALE acts as a conduit between our community and creative opportunities through the direct delivery of projects, programmes and events and by connecting our community with city and national cultural partners.

We are based in the purpose built WHALE Arts Centre a unique community asset that provides a range of high quality creative spaces for our community.  WHALE Arts operates as a social enterprise allowing us to generate income that supports our charitable work.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING

WHALE Arts Agency is committed to recruiting high quality candidates whose skills and experience are most suited to the job regardless of sex, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion (or beliefs), marital status, sexual orientation (or perceived sexual orientation), disability, age or political affiliation. Please complete the Equal Opportunities form enclosed with the application pack. This information is for monitoring purposes only, will be treated as confidential and will not be used in the selection process.

2021-Community-Meal-Chef-and-Coordinator-NCLF-funded-post-April-2021.docx

170321-Equal-Opportunities-Monitoring.docx

Filed Under: Vacancies Tagged With: Community Food, Edinburgh jobs, south west edinburgh, vacancies, WHALE Arts

Be part of WHALE Arts’ Community Asset Transfer

March 24, 2021 By Whale Arts

Above: The WHALE Arts building sits on land that the community could potentially own and extend out to ‘The Kickabout’ site

Although WHALE owns its building, it currently leases the land that the building sits on from the council. The lease ends in a few years’ time, and it’s time to make a decision: renew it, or take ownership of the site on behalf of the community. As well as the WHALE site on Westburn Grove, which includes the existing community garden, another possibility is to apply for a Community Asset Transfer extending to the kickabout next door and/or part of the surrounding area of woodland. If this goes ahead, WHALE would own, look after manage and develop these assets on behalf of the community of Wester Hailes, in line with its objectives as a charity. 

WHALE is working with Community Enterprise to find out what people want to happen at the WHALE Arts site. Keep an eye on our website for more information, project updates and other ways to take part. 

Voice your opinion by filling our survey now by clicking here: http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/whalearts

Background – What is Community Asset Transfer? 

A Community Asset Transfer is a process that recognises the benefits of community use and ownership by allowing community organisations to take over publicly owned land or buildings. Asset Transfer was implemented as part of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. Over the past several years, legislation and national policy in Scotland has developed to encourage and support the ownership of assets (buildings and /or land) by communities. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015; The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003; a joint COSLA/Scottish Government Statement 2008 and a Community Empowerment Action Plan in 2009. Further reading: – https://dtascommunityownership.org.uk/community/community-asset-transfer/asset-transfer-policy-benefits/what-asset-transfer 

Why is WHALE Arts talking about Community Asset Transfer just now? 

WHALE Arts has been working in Wester Hailes for 28 years, since 1992. Originally based in the Blue Hut on the Murrayburn Greenway, WHALE Arts moved to the site we work from today. The WHALE Arts Centre was designed and built in the late 90’s and opened in 2000. The reason we are talking about Asset Transfer now is because although the community own the building, the land is owned by City of Edinburgh Council and leased to WHALE Arts. The original 25-year lease has only 4 years left, running until 2024. We could ask City of Edinburgh Council to extend the lease instead of bringing the land into community ownership, however the benefits of full community ownership are clear (see below), so we felt that now is a good time to explore Asset Transfer. 

What are the benefits of Community Ownership? 

Usually communities want to bring buildings and land into community ownership to create a new physical base for the community to work and/or socialise from. However, because WHALE Arts already own the building – and from this base deliver a broad range of creative and community activities – the reasons for doing this are to develop the building and the garden with a view to creating new enterprise activity which will create jobs, training and business opportunities for local residents. Other benefits include skills and capacity development for local residents in learning about community ownership, as well as security for the future of WHALE Arts. Further reading here on the benefits of Community Ownership – https://dtascommunityownership.org.uk/community/community-asset-transfer/asset-transfer-policy-benefits/benefits-community-ownership 

What is the process, how long will this take? 

An important part of the process is providing evidence of the need for WHALE Arts to exist into the future. We also need to show that the organisation can survive financially. To do this we are currently working with Community Enterprise on a community consultation, a business plan, and land valuation. We should have a business plan completed by late May 2021. During the summer 2021 we will work with the Members to take this to the next stage, this may involve applying to Scottish Land Fund for funding to buy the land from City of Edinburgh Council, or it may involve a negotiation with City of Edinburgh Council direct. So our hope is that this process will be complete by late 2021. 

How can I get involved and find out more? 

There are lots of ways that you can get involved!


Survey

We have created a short survey to collect initial ideas from local residents and those who work or volunteer locally. We would really appreciate it if you would take the time to complete the survey online by following this link: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WhaleArts

You can choose to complete either a shorter (3-5 mins) version which focuses solely on the Community Asset Transfer process, or a longer (8-12 mins) version of the survey which asks a few further questions relating to WHALE. 

This survey is being carried out on behalf of WHALE Arts by Community Enterprise. All survey responses are recorded on Survey Monkey whose privacy policy can be viewed here. Community Enterprise’s privacy policy can be viewed here.
If you have any difficulties with the online survey, would prefer a printable PDF version or have further questions, please contact Judith on 07927118995 or judith@communityenterprise.co.uk

Open Meeting

Please do come along to a virtual meeting and discussion on Thursday 22nd April 6-7pm.

Everyone is welcome, whether you live locally or work in Wester Hailes. The meeting will take place on Zoom and you can register to take part here: www.bit.ly/3tO5csZ

Become a member.
We are really interested in hearing from local residents who would like to be involved in the Asset Transfer and would like to become Members of WHALE Arts. Members have voting rights (voting in the board of trustees) and can come along to our Members Breakfasts to help shape WHALE Arts projects and activities. 

Find out more and complete the member’s registration form on our website: Become a member of WHALE Arts – Information on WHALE Arts Membership – WHALE Arts

Stay in touch and keep up to date

  • Subscribe to E-newsletter by clicking here
  • Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
  • Visit our website: www.whalearts.co.uk

Filed Under: News Tagged With: City of Edinburgh Council, Community Asset Transfer, south west edinburgh, Wester Hailes, WHALE Arts

Vacancy: Cleaner (ad hoc cover) at WHALE Arts

March 19, 2021 By Whale Arts

Job vacancy at community-led arts charity WHALE Arts in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh!

Job Title: Cleaner (temporary ad hoc cover)

Accountable to: Enterprise and Facilities Manager

Personnel responsible for: None

Location: WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove, Edinburgh EH14 2SA

Hours of Work: Flexible, mostly during weekdays and possibly some evenings and weekends, set in advance by Enterprise and Facilities Manager

Level of pay: £9.50 per hour

Summary of Post

We are looking for a flexible and dedicated cleaner to work within the Building and Enterprises Team to ensure the regular hygiene of the WHALE Arts building, by carrying out cleaning tasks in line with our building health and safety rules during COVID-19. Preferably the ideal candidate will have links with or live locally in Wester Hailes but this is not essential.

Main Activities and Key Responsibilities

•            Cleaning, stocking and supplying designated facility areas including dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, restroom cleaning, refilling hand sanitiser machines etc.)

•            To work in line with Health and Safety guidelines in relation to COVID-19

•            To monitor the building’s state of cleanliness and notify the Finance and Facilities Manager of any further actions or changes required

•            Performing and documenting routine cleaning activities in bookable spaces, offices, kitchen and other spaces

•            To be a keyholder and open and secure the WHALE Learning Centre for various users of the building during and out of office hours

•            To carry out any relevant duties as required

Other Duties

•            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.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Apply in writing or by email, enclosing/attaching:

?            An up to date CV detailing relevant education and employment experience. No longer than two pages.

?            A covering letter demonstrating how your skills meet the Essential and Desirable Skills criteria of the job description. No longer than one page.

?            Details of two referees, including your most recent employer.

?           If possible it would be helpful to receive a filled out equalities monitoring form as part of the application.

The successful candidate will be appointed to the role subject to confirmation of PVG Scheme Membership.

Send applications to recruitment@whalearts.co.uk by midday on Monday 29th March and we will be in touch to arrange a conversation.

If you have any questions about the role, please send Laura Delahunt, Enterprise and Facilities Manager at WHALE Arts a message requesting to set up a chat by calling 0131 4583267 or by email: recruitment@whalearts.co.uk

Cleaner-Job-Description-WHALE-Arts-updated-19-03-21Download
Equal-Opportunities-MonitoringDownload

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

Get involved: Community Asset Transfer of WHALE Arts’ land

October 12, 2020 By Whale Arts


What is Community Asset Transfer?

Over the past several years legislation and national policy in Scotland has developed to encourage and support the ownership of assets (buildings and /or land) by communities. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015; The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003; a joint COSLA/Scottish Government Statement 2008 and a Community Empowerment Action Plan in 2009.

Further reading here on the legislation – https://dtascommunityownership.org.uk/community/community-asset-transfer/asset-transfer-policy-benefits/what-asset-transfer

Why is WHALE Arts talking about Community Asset Transfer just now?

WHALE Arts has been working in Wester Hailes for 28 years, since 1992. Originally based in the Blue Hut on the Murrayburn Greenway, WHALE Arts moved to the site we work from today. The WHALE Arts Centre was designed and built in the late 90’s and opened in 2000. The reason we are talking about Asset Transfer now is because although the community own the building, the land is owned by City of Edinburgh Council and leased to WHALE Arts. The original 25 year lease has only 4 years left, running until 2024. We could ask City of Edinburgh Council to extend the lease instead of bringing the land into community ownership, however the benefits of full community ownership are clear (see below), so we felt that now is a good time to explore Asset Transfer.

What are the benefits of Community Ownership?

Usually communities use Community Asset Transfer to bring buildings and land into community ownership to create a new physical base for the community to work and/or socialise from. However, because WHALE Arts already own the building at 30 Westburn Grove, and from this base deliver a broad range of creative and community activities the reasons for doing this are less about creating a new space for the community and more about sustaining and securing this for the future. The focus will be on developing the building and the garden with a view to creating new enterprise activity which will create jobs, training and business opportunities for local residents and skills and capacity development for local residents in learning about community ownership.

Further reading here on the benefits of Community Ownership – https://dtascommunityownership.org.uk/community/community-asset-transfer/asset-transfer-policy-benefits/benefits-community-ownership

What is the process, how long will this take?

We need to demonstrate why it’s generic ambien doesn work important that the WHALE Arts Centre exists into the future and we need to show that the organisation can survive financially. In November 2020 WHALE Arts will submit a funding application to work with an expert on community consultation, business planning, and land valuation. If we are successful with this application we should have a new business plan by April 2021. During the summer 2021 we will work with the Members and the local community to take this to the next stage. The next stage will involve applying for funding to buy the land from City of Edinburgh Council, or have this transferred to us. So our hope is that this process will be complete by late 2021.

How can I get involved, find out more or feed my ideas in?

The Board are holding a Members session (on Zoom) on Thursday 15th October at 6pm. Any local residents who are not WHALE Arts Members are very welcome to come to the session as well. Please contact Leah Black for the zoom link and password (leah@whalearts.co.uk)

One of the stipulations of Asset Transfer is that we change our governing document to limit our membership to local residents of Wester Hailes. Currently the majority of our 50+ Members are local but we can also accept non-local members. We are really interested in hearing from local residents who would like to be involved in the Asset Transfer and would like to become Members of WHALE Arts. Members have voting rights (voting in the board of trustees) and can come along to our Members Breakfasts to help shape WHALE Arts projects and activities.

We have also created a very short survey to connect with local residents who have an interest in being involved in the Asset Transfer and the development of WHALE Arts in 2021 and beyond – please access this here.

Who are the Board of WHALE Arts?

We have 11 Trustees currently, and in line with our governing document, the majority are local residents. They are:

Andrew McNiven
Charlotte Binstead (local resident)
Denise Young
Euan MacLean
Eunice Main (local resident)
Emily Stevenson (local resident)
Grant Williams (Co-Chair)
Jade Jackson (local resident)
Kenneth Fowler (Co-Chair)
Ross Campbell (local resident)
Susan Gibson (local resident)

Filed Under: News Tagged With: arts, Community, Community Asset Transfer, Edinburgh, south west edinburgh, WHALE Arts

Food Map

April 6, 2020 By Whale Arts

Find food provision services available locally in South West Edinburgh during the Coronavirus lockdown. Services include food banks, community meal takeaway, shopping services, food delivery and more.

Filed Under: Slider Tagged With: food map, south west edinburgh, Wester Hailes, WHALE Arts

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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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WHALE Community Development Coordinator Tiki Muir and creative freelancer Morvern Cunningham have been working together for the last six months on the Creative Community Hubs project – looking at ways to support a network of creative community hubs across Edinburgh. They have produced a report, Working Better Together, which focuses on partnership working between community hubs […]

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WHALE Arts Agency is a company limited by guarantee (SC180118) with charitable status (SC020305). Copyright © 2022