Job Title: Curator (part-time)
Employer: Paragon Studios Ltd (PS2), 11 Rosemary Street, Belfast
Reports to: Creative Director
Responsible for: PS2 Freelands Artist Programme
Contract: 2 year and 3 months (27months), fixed-term, end date Dec 2022
Hours of work: 1 day a week (7.5hrs) for the first 2 months, 2 days (15hrs from Dec 2020), requires flexibility on days worked
Salary: £11.400 [equivalent of £28.500 pro rata]
Start date: 05 October 2020 with 3 months’ probation
Location: PS2, Property House, 11 Rosemary Street, Belfast BT1 1QA
About us
PS2 started in 1993 as a self-organised artist- and studio collective in Belfast. In 2004, a small ground floor shop in the studio building was used as a project space for invited artists. The project space quickly became an attractive platform for local and trans-local artists to experiment and create new and site specific work open to the public. Funded by the Arts Council and other sources, PS2 soon established an annual arts programme of around 20-25 projects with mainly emerging artists and cultural producers.
Chosen from proposals, invitations, recommendations, open calls and chance encounters, PS2 works on average with 40-70 artists a year, in the project space and with longer term projects at outside locations in community contexts.
PS2’s artistic vision is grounded by its artist-led ethos and an ongoing curiosity to work with artists whose work is experimental, original, risk-taking and of social relevance (see www.pssquared.org/about)
PS2 is a vital springboard for the development of artists’ careers within the arts ecosystem of Belfast and the region and a feeder to larger organisations. PS2 projects assist many artists being rewarded with individual funding, residencies, travel awards and /or employment in the arts sector. With innovative project formats and open calls, we specifically target artists and cultural producers, who might otherwise remain undetected.
The Role
PS2 wishes to recruit an experienced, passionate and imaginative curator to manage and develop our Freelands Artist Programme from 2020 to 2022.
The PS2 Freelands Artist Programme is an initiative funded by the Freelands Foundation that supports creative and professional development for emerging artists based in Northern Ireland, and fosters long-term relationships and collaborations between artists and arts organisations.
This 5-year-long programme (2018-2023) supports emerging artists through four organisations based in each of the UK’s regions (G39, Cardiff; Site Gallery, Sheffield; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, and PS2, Belfast). Each organisation works with a cohort of 5 artists per year (totalling at 20 artists across the five-year duration of the programme), who each participate in the programme for two years. In addition to a bursary, invited mentors, peer learning and critique, the individual artists will be provided with various opportunities, including the realisation of projects in PS2, research trips, a yearly symposium, and an end of cohort exhibition in the Freelands Gallery, London.
The PS2 Freelands Artist Programme Curator will manage and develop PS2’s Freelands Artist Programme between October 2020 and December 2022, taking over from the previous curator within a 3-month handover time. They will be the main contact for the project artists, offering support and developing the programme alongside PS2’s Creative Director. The Curator will have a public facing role and provide curatorial insight into the programme, both in written and oral form. This post is based in Northern Ireland, but applicants must be able to travel outside of Northern Ireland to meet the demands of the role as required. The curator can work from an office in PS2 or from home.
Duties and Responsibilities
The following gives an indication of the main duties and responsibilities of the post. These may change over time. The post holder will be required to work flexibly and carry out any other work that is reasonably required.
The Curator reports to the Creative Director and is responsible for the following:
- Assist with the selection of thePS2’ Freelands Artist Programme cohort artists
- Develop progression/mentoring programmes for the selected artists
- Develop and manage PS2’s Freelands Artist programme and shape its profile and impact
- Work closely with the artists in the programme (10/11artists) and assist them with their creative and professional progress and projects
- Work closely with the existing and succeeding PS2’s Freelands Artist Programme Curators during handover periods
- Manage given budgets and regularly submit reports
- Identify and assist with further fundraising
- Organise research travel and mentoring programmes for Freelands Artist Programme artists.
- Curate art projects/exhibitions in PS2’s project space/other venues/galleries/ or at community contexts/outside locations with the Freelands Artist Programme artists
- Establish and maintain partnerships and collaborations with local community groups, neighbourhoods, arts/ community arts organisations, festivals and art fairs.
- Advocate and push for a stronger visual arts ecology in Northern Ireland
- Have responsibility for all administration related to PS2’s Freelands Artist Programme
- Maintain and update PS2’s website/social media related to the programme
- Attend meetings with funders and other sectoral bodies, when appropriate
- Maintain a professional relationship with PS2’s studio artists
Essential Criteria
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
- Minimum of 3 years’ proven track record of working on and leading curatorial projects and commissioning new work
- Profound knowledge, understanding and curiosity for the contemporary arts scene, arts- economy and culture in Northern Ireland
- Knowledge of contemporary curatorial practices, with a strong interest in participatory art
- Experience of working directly with artists, supporting them in the development of their research or the creation of new work
- Good understanding of PS2’s past projects and its role in the visual arts ecology of Northern Ireland
- Share PS2’s ethos, values and broad understanding of culture and art, both in terms of media forms, tactics of engagement and formats of display and dissemination
- Experience in administering budgets and reporting
- Excellent communications skills, both written and verbal, and experience of using a range of social platforms to ensure effective communication
- Ability to successfully build and maintain professional working relationships with artists and stakeholders both internally and externally, and on a local and international level
Desirable Criteria
- Confident working independently and collaboratively as part of a small team with peers, organisations and communities
- Experience in working in small scale arts organisation
- A proven track record of fundraising
- Strong curatorial vision combined with sharp strategic planning
- Personal experience and contacts with emerging artists and creatives working in Northern Ireland
- Ability to initiate and manage innovative art projects in collaboration with artists
- Experience of advocacy for the arts ecology in Northern Ireland
Application Procedure
Your application should include:
- Application form
- A current CV (maximum 2 A4 pages)
Please send your application only as PDF (limit: 3MB) to: info@pssquared.org with curator in the subject line. Unfortunately, applications that do not follow this format cannot be considered.
Shortlisted applicants must be available for interviews on Friday 04 September 2020 (depending on travel restrictions this will be via Zoom/ skype).
Application Deadline: Friday 31 July 2020
PS2 is committed to equal opportunities in recruitment and employment.
Queries
If you have any queries regarding the role or if you would like to receive this information in a different format e.g. paper format, large print version, please contact info@pssquared.org or phone 07733457772.
