Accentuate

Accentuate History of Place - Project Coordinator - Liverpool

Job description and Person Specification

Purpose of the Role

Screen South wishes to appoint an energetic Project Coordinator with expertise in volunteer participation, engaging young people and heritage learning, to facilitate the day to day activities of the Accentuate History of Place project.  The Project Coordinator will be based in Liverpool at the Dada-Fest offices at The Bluecoat and will work with local partners, particularly the Royal School for the Blind Liverpool and the Museum of Liverpool. They will also support the History of Place Project Manager in the overall delivery of the Accentuate History of Place project.

The Project Coordinator will be employed on a salaried basis, for up to a three year fixed term contract, working 3 days per week, to deliver the Accentuate History of Place Project.

Background

Screen South is a not for profit Creative Development company operating in the wider creative and cultural community. They deliver and lead innovative projects across screen based media and the wider heritage, cultural and creative industries.

The Accentuate Programme is part of Screen South’s portfolio of work. Accentuate is a specialist programme which challenges perceptions of disability by providing life changing opportunities for Deaf and disabled people to participate and lead within the cultural sector.

We have recently been awarded £878,500 from Heritage Lottery Fund, for a three year, ground-breaking national disability heritage programme called Accentuate History of Place.

Accentuate History of Place will be a nationally significant social history programme charting deaf and disabled peoples’ lives from the middle ages until the late 20th Century in relation to built heritage. Accentuate History of Place will highlight eight sites of historic importance, across England, chosen to reflect early provision for disabled people through to the first purpose built architecture.  The richly diverse, experiential stories generated by those who inhabited or designed these buildings, will provide new insights into their own lives and the prevailing social attitudes and institutional processes which controlled them. There will be a range of local hands on participatory activities, a national touring exhibition and a strand engaging young deaf and disabled people using digital game making workshops and filmmaking.  The project will link to the English Heritage disability online resource, Disability In Time and Place. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/people-and-places/disability-history/

In Liverpool the site we will particularly focus on will be the Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind, established in 1791 by the groundbreaking abolitionist Edward Rushton. The first specialist school for the blind in the country, second in the world after Paris, it still exists as the Royal School for the Blind Liverpool but not in the original building.   We will be working closely with them to explore and help catalogue their fantastic archives, as well as deliver filmmaking workshops with their pupils.  In Chesterfield, the Project Coordinator will be managing our work on the Grove Road archive and oral history.  Grove Road was the first housing cooperative designed by disabled people for disabled people.

Accentuate History of Place is the first project of its kind, and is designed to bring this relatively hidden heritage to national notice. We are working with some key national museums including, The Museum of Liverpool, M Shed Bristol and we are hoping, The V&A London.  

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Project Coordinator will contribute to the successful delivery of the Accentuate History of Place project, undertaking the following strands of work:

• Continuing to maintain partnerships with local groups in Liverpool.  Attracting local participants for activities.
• Recruiting a group of local volunteers who will research archive material relating to Liverpool School for the Blind.
• Working with the Accentuate History of Place Archivist in supporting local volunteers to uncover at catalogue archive material.
• Organise the day to day delivery of participatory workshops, including workshops with young people who have a range of complex access requirements.
• Identifying appropriate archive materials for use in filmmaking and digital gaming workshops with young people.
• The Liverpool Project Coordinator will also have responsibility for managing our work on The Grove Road Archive in Chesterfield.
• Working with the Accentuate History of Place Digital Content Editor to highlight potential sources of archive material for use on the website.
• Support the Head of Accentuate Programme in maintaining partnerships with The Museum of Liverpool and Dada-Fest.
• Providing the Project Manager with regular progress reports.
• Liaising closely with the Project Manager as to event and workshop delivery ensuring all invoices are submitted in required formats and within required time periods.
• Liaising closely with the Project Manager to ensure best practice is followed in meeting access needs of participants.
• Monitoring progress against key targets laid out in the Accentuate History of Place Activity Plan
• Attending quarterly team meetings which will be held in Folkestone, Kent or London.
• Working with the Accentuate History of Place Curator and Head of Accentuate Programme to source appropriate material for the creation of a local exhibition.

This is not an exclusive or exhaustive list. Its purpose is to provide a broad outline of the role, within which the changing needs of the project can be accommodated.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

In recruiting to this post, we will be seeking evidence of the following skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities:

• Experience in managing local heritage projects.
• Experience in engaging and managing volunteers successfully.
• Understanding of the operation of community archives, heritage interpretation, and design and delivery of heritage learning and participation programmes.
• An awareness of, and interest in, disability history and working with disabled people.
• Effective administrative and organisational skills.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively using a range of styles and methods suited to the purpose.
• Proven track record of successful project delivery, including achieving agreed targets/outcomes and meeting tight deadlines.
• Experience in administrative work, including Excel spreadsheets, financial accounting and keeping accurate records.
• Ability to develop creative approaches to overcoming obstacles and arrive at practical and effective solutions.
• Ability to motivate, empower and successfully engage with young people.
• Effective interpersonal skills including the ability to enthuse and persuade others.
• Ability to manage own work performance and time effectively.
• A proven knowledge and understanding of issues affecting people of diverse backgrounds, ages and communities.

The Programme Coordinator reports to: the Accentuate History of Place Project Manager.  The postholders will also work with the Archivist and Digital Content Editor and liaise with the Head of Accentuate Programme.

The timeline is:

Deadline for applications:  Midday 8th December 2015
Interviews: Tuesday 15th December 2015 (TBC) in Liverpool

Terms and conditions:

• Salary: £22,000 pro rata, for 3 days per week, for up to a three year period.
• Hours: 21 hours per week, some evening and weekend work may be required, which will be recompensed with time off in lieu.
• Annual Leave: 25 days per year pro rata plus Bank Holidays pro rata.
• Office base and travel: the post-holder will be based at our partner organization in Dada-Fest in Liverpool, but will be required to travel throughout England and on occasion.  Reasonable travel expenses will be paid in line with Screen South Policy.
• Screen South will make reasonable adjustments to meet any access requirements.
• Screen South is the employer and the post holder will be subject to Screen South Terms and Conditions.

Application Process

Applicants will be required to send a CV, and covering letter addressing how they meet all requirements laid out in the person specification, both a hard copy and electronically to:

Accentuate
Screen South
The Wedge
75 - 81 Tontine Street
Folkestone
Kent
CT20 1JR

Email: info@accentuateuk.org

Tel: 01303 259777

Alternatively you can telephone or email to request application materials in other formats.  We welcome applications from Disabled people.