ARTS CONSULTANT ROLE FOR TENDER (FREELANCE)
INTRODUCTION
Established in 2013, University Arts Venues Network is a consortium of theatres, arts centres and galleries based in the UK,
each with a university as a major stakeholder. There are currently twenty active members based across England, Scotland
and Wales operating within a range of contexts: from city centre to out-of-town campus; from independent trust to university
service, to wholly owned subsidiary.
Following the initial meeting to explore the possibility of any commonality existing between organisations, a draft Terms of
Reference was produced, rooted in the benefits of sharing experiences, benchmarking statistics such as attendance figures
and audience demographics and evidencing examples of best practice (see Briefing Notes below). The Terms of Reference
also outlined the network’s mission:
To share knowledge and deepen understanding across Higher Education arts venues in order to support best practice and help
develop sustainable models for the future.
We are now seeking to explore the network’s potential in greater detail and wish to employ a consultant on a freelance basis
to work with us to identify pathways for the group’s development.
CONTEXT
Arts venues with universities as their major stakeholder tend to operate within a unique paradigm of cultural production.
Often situated on campus, venues can find themselves facing unique challenges. The need to constantly cultivate an everchanging student population, for example, is often at odds with a drive to persuade local audiences that a venue’s offer is for
general consumption. There is also the risk that venues become hidden behind the teaching and research environments from
which they originally emanated – having to continuously expend energy on cultivating academic ‘buy in’, whilst encouraging
colleagues to champion a venue’s intrinsic value beyond narrow HE outputs.
Conversely, this environment can also provide fertile ground for innovation, enabling venues to offer uniquely engaging arts
platforms enriched by an unrivaled habitat of learning and knowledge. Moreover, at present the Higher Education context
largely offers a position of relative financial security compared to non-university affiliated arts organisations reliant
exclusively on other forms of public investment, which invariably allows for greater risk-taking and creativity. As a
consequence, University venues can affect the cultural landscape disproportionately to their size. However, the HE context
does not bring immunity to changes in public funding, or shifts in cultural consumption and increasingly venues are seeking
new ways to maximise their resilience.
It is within this context that the University Arts Venues Network is keen to assert the unique value of our cultural offer, to
proactively support member sustainability and overcome shared challenges. We feel it is time to assertively promote the
benefits we bring to arts provision in the UK, and to see this acknowledged and supported by others working in the arts
sector and wider cultural/academic landscape. Furthermore, we envisage that by working together we will be able to make
use of our distinctive academic framework to unlock doors to new and innovative approaches to the group’s strategic
development.
CONSULTANCY BRIEF
To support our ambition to consolidate membership into an active group for advocacy and shared working, we are looking to
appoint a consultant to undertake the following strands of work.









Review our benchmarking data
Review the current practices and status of members and identify common issues and areas of Best Practice
Make initial recommendations (as to how to begin) and conduct an options analysis/SWOT for the future
Set out goals and objectives for the group to achieve
Summarize key messages and strategies
Identify how we can take practical advantage of the network (e.g. sharing work).
Make recommendations on how best to demonstrate impact
Develop a mechanism for advocacy, emphasising our unique nature as a network: particularly our potential to bridge
the gap between DCMS, ACE/ACW/Creative Scotland and HE sector.
Identify how we engage in developing bridging/brokering role around national policy (from culture, to STEM and
health).


Support Research & Development given our unique position crossing over between student/ practitioner & academic/
research/enterprise/ cultural leadership – our position is unique
Explore the role of fundraising for the network – European links, ACE/ACW/Creative Scotland – including scoping out
practicalities of managing any funds for future.
The work should take place during 2015 over a maximum of 16 days and include attendance at a minimum of one network
meeting.
The work will be delivered in a final report and a presentation to the network at an additional meeting later in the year.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE





You will have a proven track record in arts consultancy, preferably with a sound working knowledge of the academic
context described above
You will have worked on successful campaigns to raise profile for arts/culture agencies in today’s economic landscape
You will have the ability to be proactive, maintaining positive relationships with stakeholders
You will be a good communicator
You will have experience in using audience measuring tools and be able to accurately benchmark/compare
quantitative audience data and make analysis
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for this role please send the following:



A proposal (including a work-plan and proposed fee)
A CV with contact details for two relevant referees.
A covering letter outlining how you meet the brief, citing examples of relevant projects.
Please send applications to Yvette Harris at Warwick Arts Centre y.harris@warwick.ac.uk by 12pm on Friday 16 January.
Selected candidates will be invited to interview at Embrace Arts, Leicester on Friday 30 January.
For an informal conversation about the role please contact either Craig Morrow at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre –
cmorrow@lincoln.ac.uk John Struthers at ICIA Bath – j.c.struthers@bath.ac.uk or Jamie Eastman at Live at LICA –
director@liveatlica.org
BRIEFING NOTES
Who We Are


















Aberystwyth Arts Centre –Aberystwyth University – www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk
Derby Theatre – University of Derby – www.derbytheatre.co.uk
Embrace Arts – University of Leicester – www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/embracearts
Exeter Northcott – University of Exeter – www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
The Gardyne Theatre – Dundee College – www.gardynetheatre.org.uk
Gulbenkian – University of Kent – www.thegulbenkian.co.uk
ICIA Bath – University of Bath – www.bath.ac.uk/icia/home/index.php
Ivy Arts Centre – University of Surrey – www.surrey.ac.uk/schoolofarts/facilities/ivy
Lincoln Performing Arts Centre – University of Lincoln – www.lpac.co.uk
Live at LICA – University of Lancaster – www.liveatlica.org
Macrobert Arts Centre – University of Stirling – www.macrobert.org
Nottingham Lakeside Arts – University of Nottingham - www.lakesidearts.org.uk
Peninsula Arts – University of Plymouth - www.peninsula-arts.co.uk/
Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre – Bangor University –www.pontio.co.uk
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama - www.rwcmd.ac.uk
Taliesin Arts Centre – Swansea University – www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk
Turner Sims / The Nuffield / John Hansard Gallery – University of Southampton – www.turnersims.co.uk / www.nuffieldtheatre.co.uk /
www.hansardgallery.org.uk
Warwick Arts Centre – University of Warwick – www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
Network Terms of Reference
Our Mission is:
To share knowledge and deepen understanding across Higher Education arts organisations in order to support best practice and help develop sustainable
models for the future.
I rannu gwybodaeth a dyfnhau dealltwriaeth ar draws canolfannau celfyddydol mewn sefydliadau addysg uwch er mwyn cefnogi ymarfer da a helpu i
ddatblygu modelau cynaliadwy i'r dyfodol
The role of the network
The network exists to support the membership in a number of key areas:

A support network and the dissemination of best practice
First and foremost it is a support network for Directors and Chief Executives to share knowledge, discuss areas of best practice, identify and resolve
common challenges and spot new trends and developments within both the Higher Education Sector and the Arts industry.
We are also keen that Marketing, Development and other teams meet and share best practice and our aspiration is to bring these teams together at key
events.

Benchmarking
The venues involved are custodians and gatekeepers to an increasingly vital and developing sector. Through the network we are able to bench mark
the levels of activity, investment and engagement.

Advocacy
The network is well placed to become a strong advocacy tool both inwards to the HIgher Education Sector and Arts Industry and outwards to other
stakeholders who may be interested in the relationship between Higher Education and the Arts. The Network sits with a foot in both camps of arts
industry and higher education and is therefore the perfect bridge between the two.

Collaboration
It’s a forum where collaboration is possible.
collaborations on key projects.

At each network meeting the Directors share programming opportunities and discuss future
Development
The continuing learning and development of the members is a vital part of the way we work. The group will invest in itself by engaging with external
partners as well as sharing best practice with each other e.g. academics.
Development also refers to the group’s aim to raise resources to deliver on particular areas of work that help to develop our USP as a body. The main
priority is to seek resources to measure the impact of our work across all areas of operation, perhaps focusing on particular themes e.g.
interdisciplinary working both in terms of art form and in relation to academic cross-departmental approaches.
Membership
The Network consists of a wide range of partners all of whom lead venues who sit within a Higher Education Context. Our models of working within
this context are multifarious and our engagement with our own Universities is individual and bespoke. From totally independent art organisations
whose governance sits outside of the University framework through to arts centres who are a fully embedded department of their university.
What unites this group is a deep understanding of how Higher Education operates within an arts context, an understanding of how university
structures can influence, develop and support the arts industry and a direct link to Higher Education. This often leads to unique interdisciplinary
practice and collaborations with academics.
Although Directors, Artistic Directors, Executive Directors and CEO’s lead the Network, the group has an aim to involve inter-institutional dialogue
between other key University and Arts Venue staff. Specifically in the first instance, the network would like to bring its Marketing Departments
together to form a task force leading on a particular key area of work.
The group is cross border, encompassing venues from Scotland, England and Wales.