Project Assistant (People’s Landscapes Art Commissions)

Job & Person Specification
You will be responsible for the final details of planning, co-ordinating and delivery an arts presence at a Country day event on 9th June 2019 and assisting of the delivery of an art trail opening 5/6 July 2019.

Context of role
In 2019, the National Trust is asking people to look beyond the ‘green and pleasant’ and explore the radical cultural heritage of places and landscapes where people made their own history. From the site of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass in Derbyshire to former colliery sites along the Durham coastline, the Tolpuddle Tree and Quarry Bank Mill/Dunham Massey, the National Trust cares for a number of landscapes where people gathered to make their voices heard to effect social change. People’s Landscapes art commissions & public programme is one of the main strands of this ambitious, multi-site project in 2019, responding to histories of protest at four sites cared for by National Trust. The aims of this are for new and existing audiences to build deeper connections with National Trust landscapes, a stronger profile of the social histories of these places and a wider understanding that National Trust landscapes are ‘for everyone’.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/peoples-landscapes-explore-the-places-that- have-shaped-the-nation

People involved
The National Trust High Peak team are working with Creative Producers and artist Jeremy Deller as Collaborator & Artistic Advisor, to develop an overall vision for the Commissioning Programme so that there is a shared vision to the activity at each of the sites. Jeremy Deller has been working on the Kinder project since September 2018, to understand the history, the landscapes and the conservation strategies, and has begun creative conversations around future themes and proposals. He has introduced Jarvis Cocker who has developed two components of the commission: an arts trail and presence at Edale Country Day.

Role Outline

• Admin, Communication & co-ordination relating to the commission.
• Building up database of contacts/emails for all involved in project.
• Liaising with all involved in event & confirming booking details
• Keeping Creative Producer, National Trust & event organisers informed & updated
• Attend meetings and feed in/feedback important info.
• Hands on support up to and on the day (9th June) supporting the team.

Knowledge, Skills & experience required

• Relevant experience in the arts/event management & working with artists
• Some previous project support and administration
• Ability to supervise volunteers and student placements
• Knowledge of budgets, finance and co-ordination of projects, record keeping
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including some public presentation
• Ability to work as part of a team and to deadlines
• IT literate, including Word, Power Point and Excel familiar

To apply: please send a covering letter (no longer than two pages), detailing your suitability and interest in the position. Please include a recent CV, including the names and contact details of two referees, one of whom should be your current or most recent employer. Please send your application in PDF format via email to kate.stoddart@btinternet.com with the heading: Project Assistant

Key information
Closing date for applications is 18th April 2019
Selection will be on the basis of applications and Skype interviews on 24 & 25 April
All candidates shortlisted for interview will be contacted by email. If you have not heard from us by 23 April please assume that your application has not been successful.

Further information
The Kinder Story
Kinder Scout is the site of the Mass Trespass of 1932. Like other contemporary protests in the Peak District, people came together from the surrounding polluted cities, where they sought respite and freedom on the moors from low paid and demanding jobs. It is a nationally recognised history which many believe forged the way for open public access to the countryside and the creation of the UK’s National Parks, the Peak District National Park being the first one, created in 1951.

The Kinder Mass Trespass won us all the right to roam across this beautiful landscape. As part of a long term conservation management plan, we work with the reality that Kinder is a fragile place where peat soil, vegetation and wildlife are all becoming established. Some sites are ironically, being ‘loved to death.’ For this project we are looking for ways to encourage new audiences and younger people to come out from the cities again and discover what the countryside can offer.

Overall objectives of the Kinder project:
• Engage urban audiences and understand their response to Octavia Hill’s quote ‘The need for quiet…’
• Pass on the mantel of the trespass story to a younger generation for future safekeeping and sharing relevance to contemporary audiences –keeping our cultural heritage alive – involving them in our advisory group and developing volunteering opportunities for them.
• Raising awareness of the High Peak Moors Vision – a landscape scale restoration project which enhances wildlife, air and water quality and is relevant to climate change.

Overall aims of the Kinder project – artist commission and the engagement activity
– to engage with large numbers via an arts project and digitally with the landscape, using the Kinder story as a starting point
– to work with young people, involving them with the arts project
– to create experiences so young people and audiences become aware of the landscape and are motivated to enjoy, respect and protect it
– to reach young people from Sheffield but also those already more engaged with the countryside, e.g. Young Farmers, Duke of Edinburgh students and Youth Rangers
– to collaborate and maybe co-produce with urban and local partners and tenants
– to involve volunteers in supporting an ambitious project
– to ensure the project has a long lasting legacy of the community’s respectful enjoyment of the landscape and their involvement in caring for it

Partners – Edale Parish Council, Peak District National Park, Moors for the Future, Sheffield Ramblers, British Mountaineering Council, Eastern Moors Partnership (Youth Rangers), High Peak & Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership (links with schools), Sheffield Environmental Movement (links to Black Men Walking group), Outdoors City Sheffield (link to Asian young women’s group) & more local partnerships.

Part of Trust New Art, supported by Arts Council England & Artfund