Graduate sought for bursary offering chance to work on Great Exhibition of the North
Melanie May | 8 December 2017 | News
Sage Gateshead is looking for a graduate to take on the role of Public Engagement Officer, thanks to support from a Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries grant award.
The music centre is among 40 arts organisations taking part in the Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries scheme and each will receive funding to host a graduate for 12 months in a new role. The Public Engagement Assistant will support the planning, co-ordination and delivery of Sage Gateshead’s public engagement programme, including the Great Exhibition of the North.
The bursary programme aims to open up entry level work opportunities for gifted graduates who received a full maintenance grant throughout university and who would struggle to do the unpaid work.
Kate Hunter, Public Programme Producer at Sage Gateshead said:
“This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who has graduated in the past two years and is looking to start a career in the arts and culture sector. We are looking for a creative, dynamic, fun individual.
“The purpose of this placement is to support our public engagement work, particularly focusing on the Great Exhibition of the North. The successful candidate will have the chance to work on a major cultural project, working with artists and musicians with varied opportunities from learning how to write an event plan to planning a music tour and much more.”
Sage Gateshead is one of 40 arts organisations taking part in the 2017-19 Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries programme, including Turner Contemporary, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, and Touchstones Rochdale Art Gallery. Host organisations will pay 25% of the placement’s wage, with the remaining 75% coming from the bursary fund. For the first time under the 2017-19 programme, 12 of the placements will have the chance to spend some of their year with an overseas arts organisation, after the British Council joined the programme as a key delivery partner, and all 40 placements will attend an international arts festival together as part of the programme.
This is the third time the programme has run, and a new evaluation report has shown that 60% of employers on the last phase extended contracts with placements, or made them permanent, once the actual bursary ended. Previous graduates from the programme have successfully gone on to remain in permanent roles at Sage Gateshead and continued to progress their career in the arts and cultural sector.
Kate Danielson, Programme Director said:
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“Diversity is absolutely fundamental to the continued success of UK art and culture – whether it is diversity of artists, audiences or those working for arts organisations.
“The Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries is about breaking down barriers to support this, levelling the playing field for young people from lower income backgrounds and making sure arts organisations can benefit from the skills and experience of all young talent.”
The deadline for applications is Wednesday 3 January.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.