Organization: Project Arts Centre
Salary: €55,000 – €65,000 depending
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Application Deadline: Close of business – 22 April, 2024
Project Arts Centre is on the lookout for a new artistic leader, an inspirational Artistic Director and CEO who will maintain Project’s position as Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centre. This is an opportunity to build and shape the programme at our purpose-built home in Dublin’s Temple Bar, and on tour in Ireland and across the world.
Project has an international reputation and a local heart. They are looking for someone with a passion for the artistic community on the island of Ireland, a commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, a desire to nurture and support artists to realise their boldest ideas and the ambition to reach beyond the island, bringing new voices and perspectives to their stages.
Project is a vibrant welcoming hub, buzzing with ideas and experimentation. They connect people in creative processes that engage with the messiness of lived experiences and question the status quo. We support a broad diversity of artists, audiences and local communities, promoting exchange, experimentation and collaboration, and they present extraordinary work that inspires and provokes. Each year they welcome almost 60,000 people to over 600 events, from performance, exhibitions, talks, workshops, community projects and schools residencies.
Their current strategy, WORK (2022 – 2026), sets out our values alongside a bold plan of work with artists, audiences and local communities. We are half way through this strategy, which remains a touchstone for the Board and Executive for the next two and a half years. You can read it here.
A little bit of history
Project Arts Centre was founded in 1966. It was set up, managed and governed by artists at a time when art was created by and for the establishment. Project became a home for the independents – artists whose work challenged that establishment. Looking to the future is embedded in Project’s DNA and its personality has always reflected these values, whether embracing the punk movement, presenting edgy contemporary performance or confounding audiences’ ideas of what constitutes an exhibition. We are proud of this legacy but it can’t weigh us down or hold us back; it is a history of reinvention, of evolution, of looking to the future, while reflecting on the present, and on change.
The Role of Artistic Director / CEO
You will be responsible for:
- Delivering Project’s current strategic vision and plan in collaboration with the Executive Director and the Board, as well as forging a new strategy for the coming years
- Connecting with artists, nurturing talent and finding ways to support artists’ practice at all stages of their careers
- Planning and delivering the artistic programme with a particular focus on contemporary performing arts, and building audiences for the work presented
- Working with the Curator of Visual Arts to ensure Project continues to deliver a visual arts programme of national and international significance
- Working with the Head of Project Potential to increase the depth and breadth of the artist-led engagement programmes with schools, communities and the public
- Working with the Project team on delivering Europe beyond Access, an exciting new Creative Europe programme focused on dance artists with disabilities, with particular responsibility for commissioning and presenting new work
- Ensuring good financial management of Project Arts Centre and for managing relationships with funding bodies, donors, and other key stakeholders in collaboration with the Executive Director
- Implementing fundraising strategies in collaboration with the Executive Director to ensure that Project Arts Centre can continue to diversify funding streams
- Taking the lead in overseeing Project’s Communications Strategy to raise the profile of the organisation nationally and internationally, and among a diversity of artists, individuals and communities
- Advocating for Project Arts Centre among funders, collaborators and the public
Who they are looking for?
Someone with:
- In-depth knowledge and experience of the performing arts landscape in Ireland in particular but further afield as well
- A commitment to supporting artists and the courage to stand by them and their work in good times as well as more difficult times
- Practical skills and expertise in managing programming, budgets, and funding applications
- An affinity with the values of Project Arts Centre
- Significant experience of governance i.e. working to a Board/ being on a Board
- An ability to communicate brilliantly in lots of different contexts – whether with artists, staff, the Board, the funders, audiences or the general public
- An ability to collaborate creatively and effectively with a range of stakeholders in other arts and community organisations
- The imagination to face challenges and turn them into opportunities
- A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in the arts and in society
- A vision for the future of Project that is exciting and compelling
If this sounds like you, you may be a great fit for this role.
If you think you have most of these strengths and skills to do the job but you see a gap or an area where you might need some support, please outline how you would address this in your letter of application.
Terms and Conditions
Location of Employment
The position is based in Project Arts Centre, 39 East Essex St., Temple Bar, Dublin 2, with limited opportunities for hybrid work arrangements. There may be a requirement to travel from time to time.
Salary: €55,000 – €65,000 depending on experience. This is a full time position with an initial contract for 3 years with a six-month probationary period. Costs up to a max of €1,500 can be made available for international relocation.
Pension: A company pension scheme is available.
Hours: Office hours are 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; the Artistic Director is expected to work outside these hours on some evenings and weekends. No overtime is available but time off in lieu can be arranged.
Holidays: 20 days p.a., plus 4 days closure at Christmas, plus 10 days statutory Bank Holidays (pro rata). Annual Leave will be calculated pro-rata in the first year depending on the start date.
How to apply:
Applications can be made by written document, video or voice note. Whichever you choose, please share your CV and a Letter of application of no longer than three sides of A4 or video or voice note no longer than eight minutes. Send them to recruitment@projectartscentre.ie They have asked Fearghus Ó Conchúir, a choreographer, facilitator and consultant, to manage the recruitment process for us and you can contact him in confidence with any questions about the process at recruitment@projectartscentre.ie
They will assess applications against the qualities listed in the Who We Are Looking For section above. So it would be helpful if you let them know how you demonstrate those qualities, skills and experience. If there are one are two areas where you don’t feel you already have the required strengths, let us know how you would address this in the job.
Project Arts Centre champions inclusivity. They welcome applications from anyone who thinks they can match the Who We Are Looking For criteria especially those coming from a diversity of national, ethnic or cultural groups (including, but not limited to Asian, Black, Roma, Traveller, D/deaf, and minority ethnic, refugees, people with disabilities, working-class and LGBTQI+ artists). People from these groups are still currently under-represented in the arts and we are committed to being part of changing this situation.
An audio recording of this application pack is available on our website along with an ISL video. You can view and download our application pack here.
Application Deadline: Close of business – 22 April, 2024
First Round Interviews: 9/10 May – online
Second Round Interviews: 16/ 17 May – in a location in Dublin City
