The deadline for this opportunity has now passed and applications are closed.
Hours: 3 days a week (flexible working hours including evenings and weekends)
Fee: £11700
Contract: Freelance position for 8 months March – October 2023
Additional support: Accommodation available if required. There will also be an additional budget to support access for the Community Arts Organiser if required.
Location: This freelance opportunity is based within the new Community Making Space at Scottish Sculpture Workshop (SSW) in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire.
Reporting to: The opportunity is co-managed by SSW Director and Myvillages artist Kathrin Böhm
Deadline for Application: 8th February
Interview: 21st February
Commencement of work: March 2023
Are you passionate about working with and for communities?
Are you interested in making art accessible and imagining different ways of working together?
Do you want the rural and rural knowledge to be more present in the arts and beyond?
Do you enjoy supporting and facilitating people through your artistic/ cultural/ making practice?
If yes, then you should apply to be our first Community Arts Organiser at Scottish Sculpture Workshop based in Lumsden.
SSW together with Myvillages are looking to recruit a Community Arts Organiser who is based in Aberdeenshire to support the development of the newly opened Community Making Space at SSW as part of the Rural School of Economics.
The Community Making Space is a multifunctional meeting and making space, in a former bakery on Lumsden’s main street. The space is part of the SSW complex, and a new offer to the wider local community to connect, make use and develop new making activities in the context of SSW.
The Community Arts Organiser position will run for 8 months from March 2023 – September 2023 and is set up to provide inclusive cultural and social activities and support local users in accessing, using and developing the space together. The selected Community Arts Organiser will work closely with SSW, with artist Kathrin Böhm of Myvillages as well as with local groups and individuals in developing this work. This 8 month test period is called Lumbungsden*.
The Community Arts Organiser will be responsible for co-devising and delivering accessible and exciting making activities each week in the new community space. The activities should be led by local interest and suggestions. Over the 8 months period the successful candidate will research, consult, test and explore concrete ideas in the making and develop collective ways of working with local groups.
The work includes making new community connections with local groups and individuals, translating ideas for the space through activities, collecting and evaluating feedback, and assembling a catalogue of activities for the long-term future of the space.
International Summer School
In addition to the above the Community Arts Organiser will also work with SSW and Myvillages to develop an ‘International Summer School’ that brings together community groups, cultural practitioners, artists, organisations, economic researchers and activists. The theme will be ‘diverse rural economics’ and aims to make space for rural knowledge holders in order to understand the complexities and possibilities of economic everyday practices that shape the rural, and Aberdeenshire in particular.
The summer school will directly connect to the BePart network as well as the wider trans-local network of Myvillages’ Rural School of Economics and the global cultural movement #Lumbung, which was initiated by rurangrupa through Documenta fifteen in 2023, and proposes a new neighbourhood of art, culture and politics.
Disclosure checks
Working in this position will involve regulated activity/work and as such offers of the position will be made conditional on the receipt of a satisfactory disclosure check. These will be conducted by Disclosure Scotland.
Equal opportunities
We are committed to equal opportunities in employment and we welcome applications from all sections of the community, including people currently under-represented in the creative and cultural sector.
How to apply:
- Send your application to arts@ssw.org.uk – In no more than 2-sides of A4 please outline why you would like to position, your experience of working in a similar role and what skills and capacities you would bring to the position. Please also outline how you fit the person specification and criteria outlined within the job pack below. Please also include 2 referees in your application.
- We also accept video/ voice applications – a link to your application can be sent to the above address.
- Following submitting your application we will acknowledge receipt of the application and send through an equalities monitoring survey for you to complete.
Process of selection:
- A selection panel consisting of Sam Trotman of SSW, Kathrin Böhm of Myvillages and a member of the local community in Lumsden will review the applications
- You’ll be notified of your application outcome by w.c 30th January
- Interviews held on 1st February
Job pack:
Download the Job Pack: As a PDF and Large print
