Job Title: Director of Culture
Reports to: Executive Director
Responsible For: Head of Access, EDI Manager
Purpose of the Role
The Director of Culture is an exciting new senior leadership opportunity for an experienced ED&I professional who wants to drive forward cultural change at the National Theatre. You will be accountable for developing and embedding a healthy and collaborative organisational culture that brings our people together. You will be instrumental in creating solutions to embed diversity, equality and inclusion along with a shared understanding of the National Theatre’s vision and values.
The role will shape and devise strategies that create positivity in the workplace, improve engagement with the workforce, and support creativity, innovation and talent development to enable all our people to thrive. The make-up of the National Theatre’s workforce is broad, consisting of permanent, fixed term and casual staff, sub-contracted staff (including our Food and Drink operator’s staff) and freelancers. The role will span the whole organisation, working to create cultural change across creative and operational areas of the business, and so requires a candidate with proven experience of working effectively and collaboratively across different networks, departments and relationships, and in advocating and influencing. You will make meaningful change happen that transforms National Theatre’s culture and strengthens its impact. In partnership with the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, the Director of Culture will work on an organisation wide culture change project. A key part of this will be to set, implement and monitor an overarching vision of diversity, equality, and inclusion across all areas of activity – staff, freelancers and audiences – that works to eliminate systemic organisational marginalisation and promotes inclusive and equitable practices.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Co-create a culture that serves everyone: those who work remotely as well as those on the South Bank, across the entire workforce
- Strongly embed our values across the National Theatre and ensure all staff and freelancers understand and support the organisation’s vision and values and have a shared purpose to deliver our creative and social mission
- Provide strategic guidance and advice and work in an integrated way with the Executive and SMT to ensure embedded diverse and inclusive practices create greater impact and consolidate a sense of belonging across the National Theatre
- In partnership with the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, define the overarching vision, identity, and strategy to continually strengthen National Theatre’s practices as a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation that is strongly committed to anti-racist action and addressing structural systemic inequalities
- Support the ED&I journey of National Theatre constituents, staff, and other key stakeholders, working in partnership to strengthen organisation-wide understanding that equity is a core value, and ensuring that a commitment to strengthen diversity and equity is an essential part of each staff person’s role
- Build trusted relationships across the organisation and with key stakeholders to ensure the workforce feels invested in the policies and processes held by the organisation, that they work in a culture where everyone feels valued, and have opportunities to develop at work.
- Ensure that National Theatre’s policies, programming, initiatives, talent development plans and communications are fully reflective of and inspired by its commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion
- Work with the Executive, SMT, relevant Board committees and designated staff to define National Theatre’s diversity, equality, and inclusion framework and aims, and provide organisational support to implement these aims
- Manage the EDI team to ensure their professional and personal development at work, assessing the team’s output as against any agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using internal and external ED&I metrics and
- organisational culture and practice to drive measurable change
- Analyse and share observations regarding best practice and innovation within the sector, and be able to represent and advocate for the National Theatre to the outside world
- Monitor progress toward achieving National Theatre’s diversity, equality, and inclusion vision and goals and oversee the execution of strategies that further those goals
- In partnership with the communications team, have input on the design, development and delivery of internal and external communications regarding our ED&I strategy
- Collaborate with the Director of People to establish and implement efforts that effectively communicate and support National Theatre’s mission and strategic vision to all staff and freelancers
- Play a pivotal role in strategic planning for the organisation from a culture change perspective
- Maximise cross-departmental opportunities and troubleshoot cross-function challenges, as needed
- Prepare monthly and quarterly reports on organisational progress for the CEO, ED, Board, and others as needed