Whale Arts Agency

Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education

0131 458 3267

Updated response to COVID-19: 25th March 2020

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We care deeply about our participants, team, our membership and the community we serve in Wester Hailes and beyond. Due to the new rules to stop the spread of Coronavirus we are continuing to take a range of measures and would ask everyone to have a read of these and pass on the message to anyone who you think might need to know.

WHALE Arts Centre

The building remains closed to the public and all our art groups continue to be postponed until further notice. There are a small number of WHALE Arts and SCOREscotland team members in the building with resources focused on providing food and support for those who need it in Wester Hailes.

Focus on Food Provision

Our Friday Community Meal has been replaced with a Community Takeaway – this will be cooked by our chef Paul and packaged up for locals to takeaway and eat at home. This will be from 1:00pm – 2:00pm each Friday at WHALE Arts. Please come to the Performance Space doors – there will be signage if you don’t know the way. We have queueing measures in place to help with social distancing to keep everyone safe.

And although the WHALE Arts building will be closed to the public the Community Fridge managed by SCOREscotland will continue to operate on reduced days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday between 10:00am – 1:00pm. If you would like to use the Community Fridge please contact SCOREscotland on 0131 442 2341 or 07496 190 916.

Wester Hailes Together

We are communicating on a daily basis with a group of local community organisations, voluntary groups and support agencies in Wester Hailes and we are working together to support the residents of Wester Hailes during this time of uncertainty due to the Coronavirus. This will happen in a range of different ways, focusing first on food provision, essential items, and connecting and checking in with people online, and over the phone. Our support will follow the UK and Scottish Government’s most recent guidance on social distancing. We will use the Digital Sentinel to communicate weekly the most up to date provision available in Wester Hailes.

If you provide a service in Wester Hailes and you would like it included in the weekly update on local provision please email Craig on digitalsentinel@whalearts.co.uk who will include your provision or service in the Wester Hailes Together Weekly Update on http://www.digitalsentinel.net/

Let Us Know If You Need Help

Please get in touch with the WHALE Arts team if you need support or a conversation on 0131 458 3267 or by emailing info@whalearts.co.uk or by SMS text to 07926 613472.

Our response to Covid-19

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We care deeply about our participants, team, our membership and the community we serve in Wester Hailes and beyond. Because the current public health situation with Coronavirus is a serious challenge to all of us, we have decided to take a series of measures which are listed below and would ask everyone to have a read of these and pass on the message to anyone who you think might need to know.

WHALE Arts Classes, Group and Activities

From tomorrow (Wednesday 18th March) we will be adapting our services to temporarily limit face-to-face contact. Activities will not take part in the WHALE Arts building. The only services that will take part will be food provision – please see more details below.

WHALE Arts groups will be cancelled until Monday 4th May. We will be reviewing this policy as new guidance is made available.

We will revisit this towards the end of April based on up to date Scottish Government guidance and make a decision about the continuation of activities into May and beyond.

We will communicate any changes clearly with all participants, artists, partners and funders.

The WHALE Arts groups that are cancelled until 4th May are:

Stitch n Time

smARTcraft

Men’s Making

Let’s Create

Street Arts

Let’s Dance

Play Sense Create

Film Club

smARTies

NuStart

Mums into Business

Wester Hailes Connects Digital Skills Drop-ins

Members Breakfasts

Community Gardening

As our building will not be open our programmes delivered with partners will also be postponed:

Room for Art – with Art in Healthcare

Fork in the Road – Edinburgh Tool Library

Expecting Something – with Starcatchers

Open Book

Indian dance – Theiya Arts

Edinburgh Art Festival – art trips and schools groups

Activities related to our Creative Placemaking project will also be postponed between 18 March – 4 May. There will be a separate communication about this.

Our Easter Holiday Programme will also be cancelled, as will our Puppet Animation Festival shows and workshops.

Together with our team of freelance artists we will be developing a range of creative tutorials, fun ideas and exercise challenges for people of all ages to do at home. We will be disseminating these via our website, social media, email and by post. We are also looking at making up art material packs for people to collect, or which we may post out to people. And we are also thinking of some creative and fun ways to keep people connected over the next few weeks, using a range of platforms, but taking into consideration that many of our participants are not digitally connected.

Food Provision

Although the WHALE Arts building will be closed to the public the Community Fridge managed by SCOREscotland will continue to operate on reduced days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. If you would like to use the Community Fridge please contact SCOREscotland on 0131 442 2341 or 07496 190 916.

Our Friday Community Meal will be replaced with a Community Takeaway – this will be cooked by our chef Paul and packaged up for locals to takeaway and eat at home. This will be from 1:00pm – 2:00pm each Friday at WHALE Arts. Please come to the Performance Space doors – there will be signage if you don’t know the way. We will have measures in place to help with keeping everyone safe.

Room Bookings

We will be in touch with organisations and people individually regarding room bookings which have been booked in over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, please stay safe and look after each other – if there is anything that you feel WHALE Arts could be doing or you would like to contribute to our thinking about how to act in the future, please do get in touch.

info@whalearts.co.uk

0131 4583267

Front of House Administrator (Cover)

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Job Title:Front of House Administrator (cover)

Accountable to: Enterprise and Facilities Manager

Location: WHALE Arts Centre

Hours of Work: Core reception hours are: 8.50 am to 5.00pm (ad-hoc basis). There may occasionally be work in the evenings or weekends.

Level of Pay: £9.30 per hour

Summary of Post

Based at WHALE Arts’ reception the Front of House Administrator (cover) will work at Reception. A range of the duties are required within this role: be the first and central point of contact for public and internal communications; represent WHALE Arts appropriately and providing a high standard of customer service; carry out administrative duties on behalf of WHALE Arts and our tenants.

This is not a fixed term or short term post – we are looking for people with appropriate skills and experience who we can invite on an ad-hoc basis to cover the current Front of House Administrator when they are on annual leave, attending training or undertaking work away from Reception.

Main Activities and Key Responsibilities

Front of House:

•             The first point of contact for visitors to the multi-organisation WHALE Arts Centre & community-led arts charity and social enterprise WHALE Arts and warmly greeting and orientating visitors, responding to telephone enquiries in a clear, informative manner.

•             When on Front of House checking the WHALE Arts info@ email account. Responding to emails and directing enquiries to the correct contact.

•             Communicating with tenants and partners to support visitors from all backgrounds with varied requirements.

Administrative Support:

•             Maintaining registers and attendance records and databases.

•             Ordering supplies and maintaining office and hire equipment.

•             Carrying out franking and printing, copying, laminating as required.

Marketing/ Communications:

•             Updating the WHALE Arts’ website.

•             Scheduling and posting content on social media.

•             Updating mailing lists, supporting the creation of e-mail newsletters.

Building/ Facilities:

•             Coordinating internal room bookings and external hires.

•             Preparing spaces, equipment and supplies as required.

•             Setting up AV as required.

•             Occasionally liaising with external contractors.

•             Accepting deliveries.

•             Ordering supplies and ensuring spaces maintained to high standards.

•             Quickly arranging repairs and resolving maintenance issues.

Other Duties

•             Front of House Administrator (cover) may be a key holder.

Essential Skills

•             Excellent customer service skills including telephone skills, dealing with in person enquiries, assisting people with additional needs and occasionally dealing with challenging behaviour.

•             Knowledge, understanding and skills in managing/curating social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and photo sharing.

•             Operating office equipment especially photocopier, franking machine, laminator.

•             Competent with Microsoft Office programmes especially Word and Excel, e-mailing and internet.

•             Ability to create and manage computer database systems.

•             Ability to create and manage paper filing systems.

•             High standard of written and spoken English.

•             Basic understanding of Health and Safety issues in community spaces.

•             Ability to work in a team and also self-motivate without supervision.

•             Excellent timekeeping.

•             Excellent communication and people skills.

Desirable Skills

•             An understanding of community arts.

•             Knowledge of local area, community and services.

•             Experience of working in a community organisation.

•             Experience of dealing with trades/contractors.

•             Experience of producing programmes, posters and flyers using Adobe Suite.

•             Experience of building e-mail outs using Mailchimp.

•             Experience of distributing press releases and developing a press list.

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.

We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until 12pm Wednesday 18th March 2020. We will contact interested individuals as they apply and invite them for a conversation rather than a formal interview.

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

Contact Details:

Leah Black

Chief Executive

WHALE Arts

WHALE Arts Centre,

30 Westburn Grove,

Edinburgh

EH14 2SA

0131 458 3267

recruitment@whalearts.co.uk

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 – ‘The WHALE’ – a unique community asset that provides a range of high quality creative spaces for our community.  ‘The WHALE’ operates as a social enterprise allowing us to generate income that supports our charitable work.  Our social enterprises include the WHALE Pod, office, training and conference facilities.

Vacancy: Finance Board Member

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WHALE Arts Agency, a thriving place-based and building-based cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes, is seeking to identify a new member of its Board of Directors with a background in accounting or financial management to support the organisation develop and deliver future aspirations in support of the Strategic Plan.  

Our Mission: We create the conditions for our community in Wester Hailes to work alongside artists and cultural practitioners to become agents for change who will proactively co-design, participate in, support or lead quality creative activity at all stages of their lives.

Our Vision: Wester Hailes is a creative, thriving, resilient, fair community.

WHALE Arts 5-year Strategic Plan can be viewed here: https://issuu.com/whalearts/docs/strategic_plan_whale_2019_-_2024__web_version_

Our current Board members have expertise and experience at a senior level in marketing, education, arts and culture.  Expertise and experience of financial management and financial good governance are seen as a core capability required to augment and compliment the current Board experience and this vacancy has arisen as Lorraine Johnston who has provided the accounting oversight and insight has recently stepped down after almost 7 years’ service.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone wishing to experience a role at Board level while providing financial acumen, support and oversight to the other Board members and support a vibrant arts organisation.  Ideally the candidate would be a qualified accountant however candidates with equivalent experience and proven track record in financial management, or equivalent, would be considered.  The successful candidate must be able to position and explain accounting and financial data in a way that the non-accountant board members would understand. The organisation has accounting, payroll management and management accounting & reporting in place at an operational level and it is not expected that the Board member be involved in the day to day accounting and control activities.

We invite expressions of interest from suitably experienced individuals.  Previous experience of board membership, and a genuine interest in the transformative power of the art are essential. Candidates must be prepared to contribute their professional knowledge, strong business contacts, and a firm commitment to actively promoting and supporting WHALE Arts Agency at a National level.

Board meetings are held every 6 weeks, in WHALE’s purpose built building in Wester Hailes. In addition, the board member with financial expertise provides support and advice to the executive team as required and supports the executive team in managing the relationship with the organisations appointed external examiners.

This is a voluntary role and WHALE’S Board Members are highly valued for the vital role they fulfil in providing professional guidance and financial governance for our thriving organisation. The Board, like the organisation, is friendly and informal and maintains the highest possible standards in its duties of governance and oversight of the business.

Expressions of interest, in the form of a CV outlining relevant experience and a statement explaining the applicant’s interest in joining the board should be made by email to info@whalearts.co.uk  by Friday 14th February 2020. We will be in touch after the 14th February to arrange a meeting with suitable candidates.

Candidates are free to informally discuss the position with the current Chair, Michelle Herron (michelle@enhancepeople.co.uk) / Mobile 07900 228170 as required.

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

Latest News

Updated response to COVID-19: 25th March 2020

We care deeply about our participants, team, our membership and the community we serve in Wester Hailes and beyond. Due to the new rules to stop the spread of Coronavirus we are continuing to take a range of measures and would ask everyone to have a read of these and pass on the message to […]

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