In 2024, Void Art Centre will commence a living practice of socio-permaculture. The concept of social permaculture is the application of permaculture principles to human relationships, communities, social systems and organisational models. Social permaculture is about connection between people, economies, and governing structures – creating the conditions for humans to flourish on a societal level, thus to develop beneficial relationships with the ecosystems which sustain us.
Void’s organisational structure will be based on co-existence and co-creation as well as sustainable use of local resources (both monetary and non-monetary) such as public grants, voluntary commitments, mutual aid, commercial arrangement, and private sponsorship. By taking this view of our financial well-being, we aim to enrich and negotiate our model in relation to an increasingly financialized world. In an era when making sense of our place in the world has to be an act of imagination, art is a necessity of life. The role of Void is to act as a local lifeline.
HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
Salary: £ 25,006 per annum
Location: Void Art Centre, 10 Waterloo Place, Derry. (Some remote working may be possible)
Working hours: 30 hours per week
Contract type: Part-time (3 months probationary period)
Reports to: The Director & Board of Trustees
Essential criteria: Candidate must have a minimum of 2 years fundraising experience and a third level finance qualification or equivalent professional qualification.
Desirable criteria: experience with Sage accounts and day to day bookkeeping for an organisation. Experience of devising and delivering successful fundraising (over £50k) in an arts, culture or not for profit settings
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview:
This is a fundraising and financial management role based on permaculture principles. We are interested in exploring how our organisation, through its financial structure and income generation strategy, can become more eco-sustainable.
The Head of Sustainable Growth is a new socio-permaculture driven role at the heart of Void Art Centre’s financial and strategic development. Void Art Centre is looking for a highly organised and motivated person with experience in fundraising and financial management who is interested in testing out this new approach. In this role, the candidate will oversee operations in Void Art Centre in order to support the institution’s viability, and actively stimulate its healthy enrichment to facilitate the smooth running of the institution’s activities in cooperation with the rest of the team and in collaboration with the city of Derry.
Working closely with the Void team, the Head of Sustainable Growth will play a crucial role in developing and delivering Void’s future Strategic Plan 2024–28. The candidate will lead on the redevelopment and maintenance of Void’s partnerships, its financial management, income generation and fundraising in ways that embody their collective values of socio-permaculture.
This is a key role within the organisation reporting to the Director and the Board of Trustees. The Head of Sustainable Growth will provide specialist skills in accounts, payroll, financial reporting and fundraising.
Key Objectives:
- Taking care of the institution’s sustainable growth. This includes budgeting, bookkeeping, financing and managing the expectations, needs, and mutual responsibilities of different actors and stakeholders (non-monetary);
- Create new collaborative and in-kind solutions to achieve a sustainable environment both for Void Art Centre and the community it serves.
- Design strategies and practices of enriching the local exchanges and collaborations
- Develop funding sources to support the growth of the organisation as well as the public programmes.
JOB SPECIFICATION
- To perform and assist with fundraising and to provide data and budgets for fundraising projects.
- Assisting the Director and other staff as necessary to prepare financial information required for funding applications to local authority and other funding bodies.
- Working with the Director and relevant staff to evolve Void Art Centre’s socio-permaculture approach & contributing to the thinking of new, relevant areas for artistic research and investigation
- Completing financial monitoring reports and ongoing funding claims as required.
- Producing regular financial monitoring reports for meetings.
- Working with relevant staff to consider how public programme activities can be strategically utilised for development purposes.
- Supporting the development of programmes and co-commissioning partners for the public programme, where there are opportunities for in-kind or matched support.
- Ensuring that Void Art Centre carries out its commitments with funders, co-commissioners, and partners, including reporting and appropriate acknowledgements across all printed and online platforms.
- Developing earned income streams.
- Overseeing the management of funding databases.
- Attending local authority meetings and community forums with a view to strategic development.
- Representing the organisation at in-house and external events may involve public speaking.
- Supporting the evaluation progress to reflect on impact, feeding these results into a continuous learning and improvement processes.
- Carrying out all duties related to wages, salaries & employment matters including monthly returns and payments to HMRC, pension providers and banks.
- Using software packages like Sage Accounts and Bright Pay payroll.
- Carrying out all day-to-day bookkeeping, reporting and reconciliation tasks.
- Documenting, overseeing and authorising the payment of suppliers.
- Monitoring bank accounts and liaising with the bank.
- Drafting accounts, preparing for audit and liaising with auditors.
- Working in collaboration with the director to prepare budgets and forecasts.
- Working on grant applications & supplying financial information for funders.
We appreciate this is an unusual role and encourage anyone who feels they have good financial management and fundraising experience to apply.
CURATOR OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Salary: £ 19,268 per annum
Location: Void Art Centre, 10 Waterloo Place, Derry (some off-site work may be required).
Working hours: 25 hours per week.
Contract type: Part-time (3 month probationary period)
Reports to: Director
Responsible for: Learning Officer, Access and Participation Facilitators and Assistants
Essential criteria: Candidate must have an arts-related degree or equivalent professional qualification. Candidate must have 3 years experience of managing an arts project.
Desirable criteria: Experience in working with public engagement, sustainable practices and a commitment to the local community.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview:
This is an innovative curatorial post designed to extend Void’s ability to stimulate debate and discussion around key issues in contemporary art and society. We are looking for a curator that thinks critically about social and cultural concerns through the lens of the local. This role is also driven by civic engagement. The post holder (in consultation with the Director) will lead on the development, implementation and review of Void’s civic engagement, working in partnership with colleagues and external organisations and communities.
The Curator of Civic Engagement will curate projects, together with our constituents, local and international artists and communities of relevance. This will include seeking and nurturing partnerships with other organisations, locally, nationally and internationally, and working collaboratively.
We are seeking an enthusiastic curator with interesting curatorial experience and a knowledge of asset-based curatorial programming focused around community development. The candidate should be passionate about developing innovative approaches and tactics that engage with local audiences, online audiences, and a demonstrable commitment to the engagement and development of diverse audiences.
Key objectives:
- To develop and deliver programmes with the Director (including exhibitions, artist talks, seminars, film screenings)
- To devise and deliver a programme for community groups (particularly those with little or no access to cultural activity in Derry-Londonderry), schools, colleges and other groups.
- To deliver interpretative material to accompany the gallery and offsite programmes to enable audiences to actively engage with the work of living artists.
- To foster contact and understanding between artists and the communities of Derry-Londonderry and broaden people’s knowledge, engagement and expectations of the contemporary visual arts.
- To promote participation and enjoyment of contemporary art and its importance as a medium for understanding the world we live in.
- To develop funding sources to support the growth of the outreach and public programme.
JOB SPECIFICATION
- Managing budgets and applying for funding
- Developing good relationships with foundations, trusts and public programme funders.
- Managing the work of teams and individuals
- Providing advice and support for delegated work
- Creating ideas and concepts for education projects
- Assessing the artistic and financial viability of education projects
- Developing plans for cultural projects with clear aims, objectives and requirements
- Delivering cultural/education projects in compliance with agreed schedules, in accordance to legal requirements with an awareness of financial control
- Acquiring contributions to cultural projects both in evaluating and selecting artists, their work and negotiating their contributions and contracts
- Contributing to the development of internal access and participation strategies
- Seeking support for the access and participation programmes
- Contributing to the securing of external funding and support for your organisation and programme in accordance with the needs of external funders
- Ensuring that the vision for the organisation is understood and advocated effectively
- Contributing to the planning and implementation of the marketing plan
- Maintaining health and safety of yourself and others in relation to the art form
If you feel you have a skillset applicable to this role we strongly encourage you to apply.
Application Deadline: 12th September 2023, 12pm
Interviews will take place week beginning Monday 25th September 2023
Start Date: November 2023
We appreciate this is an unusual role and encourage anyone who feels they have good financial management and fundraising experience to apply.
These posts receive a contribution from ACNI. There is no relocation allowance for this role.
To discuss the role and for further information, please don’t hesitate to contact Viviana Checchia (viviana@derryvoid.com)
Please send your CV and cover letter to hello@derryvoid.com
Acknowledgements
Void Gallery is supported using public funding from Arts Council Northern Ireland, Arts Council National Lottery Fund, All Island Fund, Austin and Hope Pilkington Foundation, Arnold Clarke Foundation, Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund, Community Foundation Ireland, Derry City and Strabane District Council, Enkalon Foundation, National Lottery Community Fund, The Ireland Funds, Ragdoll Foundation.
