Thank you for your interest in joining the Arts Council.
Arts Council England is the development agency for arts and culture, investing money from the Government and National Lottery in artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries across England.
We are at an exciting and interesting point in our history, with the current National Portfolio recommended to government to continue until 2028, we are at the midway point of our 10-year strategy Let’s Create, and in the first year of the new Labour Government.
The Midlands Area Director has a critical role to play in ensuring all the investment we make contributes to the effective delivery of Let’s Create. By 2030, we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences.
In the Midlands we are home to some of England’s most culturally, economically significant and ambitious cities, alongside vibrant rural landscapes and communities. All have a vital and exciting role to play in delivering our vision.
As the Area Director for the Midlands you will be part of the Arts Council’s national leadership team, ensuring culture thrives for the benefit of all the communities of the Midlands and for the country as a whole. The Midlands is home to a broad range of diverse communities, and we are taking steps to ensure that the artists, organisations and audiences based here, can see themselves reflected in the work that we fund.
We also want to help nurture the next generation of cultural practitioners, participants and audiences so children and young people are a central part of our work.
You will lead the Midlands team of more than 50 staff who support activities across the whole of the cultural sector, from some of the largest, long established national institutions such as Birmingham Royal Ballet, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Leicester’s Curve theatre, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham’s New Art Exchange and the Royal Shakespeare Company. To the newest entrants to our National Portfolio, including Buxton Opera House, the Portland Inn Project in Stoke and Zest theatre in Lincoln.
You will be responsible for managing a substantial budget, approximately £102 million each year. As well as leading our relationships with a range of stakeholders including the Combined Authorities, local and national politicians, cultural organisations and their leaders and the National Lottery distributors.
You will be working at a senior level, maintaining a high profile as the lead representative of the Arts Council in the Midlands. You will have my support and the support of your colleagues, and will have a high degree of autonomy to ensure the successful delivery of our strategy and investment across the Midlands.
The successful candidate will have a good knowledge, and passion for, arts and culture across the Midlands. Alongside leadership experience in a complex organisations, at scale, which may have been gained outside the cultural sector, for example in a charity, creative industry, grant giver or local authority.
This is an exciting and challenging role. Come and join us in creating a bold and inclusive future.
Laura Dyer, Deputy Chief Executive Places, Engagement & Libraries