Application deadline:
Midnight 15th July 2023
Key info:
Turf Projects are looking for a new Access Lead to creatively embed inclusivity throughout our main programmes and primarily support Turf’s ethos in being welcoming and inclusive for all. We’re looking for a person that is passionate about access who have their own arts practice, and knowledge, experience or expertise in the following areas:
- Social Model of Disability & Legal requirements (Equality Act 2010)
- Creative accessibility interpretation
- Safeguarding and mental health support
- Training delivery and designing access features
Turf is Croydon’s homegrown art space; a registered charity set up and run by local artists to support creatives and our local community. Find out more about what we do, our team and our space, visit www.turf-projects.com/about-turf
The core aim of this role is to facilitate Turf and our partner organisations in managing and delivering our key programmes in creatively accessible ways within the Borough of Culture year 2023-April 2024, embedding inclusivity at the heart of all our work. You’ll manage the production of accessible routes into our work like audio tours, large print & BSL interpretations. You’ll also design and deliver training for the team and our partners on accessibility, in consultation with our studio members, collectives, visitors and local people in Croydon. You’ll also ensure that accessibility is considered in the rest of the team’s work & within our physical & digital spaces, supporting others to embed our inclusive ethos, using the Social Model of Disability as the main premise by which we work from.
Pay & terms:
- Contract: Part-time fixed term freelance contract of 12 months, with a review at 4 months.
- Pay: £656 per month, delivered over 4 days per month.
- Hours: 4 days per month, worked between between Wed-Sat (our opening hours)
- Location of work: At Turf Projects in Croydon, with some remote working possible.
- Application Deadline: midnight 15th July 2023
- Interviews: Week of 24th July 2023
- Start date: August 2023 (date tbc), starting with training.
The role is currently funded via the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. This role will work in partnership with the Turf team, and primarily with the Schools & Families Lead, MOSS Lead and Early Career Development Lead to meet funder requirements.
Person Specification:
- Personal connections to & active knowledge of Croydon are ideal.
- An affinity with Turf’s aims and ethos. We strive to be welcoming, kind, accessible and curious, conscious of our duty to the public and those we work with. We have expectation of work being undertaken in a communicative, transparent, accountable and where appropriate collaborative way.
- Efficient, well-organised and reliable.
- You’ll be great at listening, communication and collaborating. You’ll be patient, kind, curious and able to work with individuals and organisations from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience.
- You will have a keen eye for identifying access needs and a proactive approach to removing barriers for artists we work with and audiences accessing our programmes.
- Experience of designing and delivering access interpretation, training & resources, implementing them into medium scale arts & culture events.
- Experience in managing medium-large project budgets.
- Strong digital and written literacy. Key tools we use are; Google Drive/Sheets, Xero, Asana, Slack (training available). Letting us know what digital tools you’re familiar with would be great!
- You’ll have an active interest in arts, culture and access with an awareness of current arts and socio-political discourses around inclusivity and accessibility (i.e. you like to interrogate things and ask questions!).
- Turf is primarily artist-led, so we’d love to hear about your artistic practice if you have one.
Key deliverables:
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- This role is currently funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Access & Participation fund until August 2025 and will need to ensure they work with the team to meet the funding requirements which include meeting our funding objectives. This will include delivering reports and evaluation for Paul Hamlyn Foundation. You’ll need to meet the objectives set around access for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation fund (these can be viewed here) on Access & Participation for the first year of funding, and develop new objectives for the following two years.
- Accessible programming;
- Design, planning & implementation of accessible routes & interpretations for our programmes, workshops, events and resources. You will work alongside Turf’s Co-Directors and delivery leads to make sure our organisation, projects & events have a creative approach to access.
- Ensure streaming & hybrid delivery and thorough & creative documentation of events and projects to make sure that they can wherever possible be accessed remotely and monitor digital engagements to develop this further.
- Ensure our digital presence is accessible with support from an Access Volunteer whom you will manage, including presence and updating of the following on social media and our website channels: BSL Welcome film, way-finding films, captions for film, audio description, alt-text for images.
- Knowledge and contacts in delivering creative access resources & facilities is desirable – such as audio describers, support workers like BSL and communication support interpreters.
- Accessibility training;
- Design, plan and deliver regular accessibility and inclusivity training, responding to need and including how to embed access creatively. Delivered to the Turf team & Trustees and extended where appropriate to volunteers, studio members, collectives and partner organisations we regularly work with in Croydon, providing refresher training where needed.
- Safeguarding;
- Act as designated Safeguarding Lead for the organisation to minimise risks and resolve any situations that arise through a reporting system, training, awareness and signposting (to external resources, social prescribing and communicating changes or support needed amongst the team)..
- Manage necessary safeguarding admin; ensuring DBS checks, Safeguarding Awareness training, Mental Health and Emergency First Aid training, emergency contact detail records & access documents/riders of people Turf regularly works with are all undertaken & up to date.
- Outreach & interconnectivity;
- Work with the Turf Projects team and key disability-led partner organisations to collaboratively develop an interconnected approach to access, working towards Croydon being an accessible cultural destination that is creatively-led. Partners include Club Soda, Gig Buddies Croydon, SLiDE, Drunken Chorus, Savvy Theatre at Fairfield Halls, ZooCo, Stanley Arts.
- Work alongside Turf’s Learning Leads to reduce barriers for audiences we aren’t connecting with. Work locally, and across the borough, to advocate for accessible arts and culture that removes barriers stemming from socio-economic, gender, racial and disability issues.
- Accessible spaces;
- Work with CoDirectors & Facilities Lead to maintain accessible signage & spaces, collaborate on maintenance of the access equipment on site and manage its use (including the portable hearing induction loop, swell-ink printer, handling materials archive, access guides).
- Admin & Budgeting;
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- Devise and manage access budgets.
- Feed into funding applications for access provision.
- Work with the Co-Directors and Community Producer: Development & Fundraising to feed into evaluation and project reporting to funding bodies, sponsors & Trustees.
Essential things to know about working at Turf:
- Turf is a registered charity with a board of trustees, who hold us accountable to delivering our work with care. You’d need to align with Turf and the Charity Commission’s policies on finance management, code of conduct, conflict of interest, health and safety, equal opportunities & safeguarding.
- We have a flat pay structure, and this means;
- We have mutual accountability processes. We check in digitally with each other weekly and have both a team review and a board meeting quarterly held on site with hybrid options to attend where unavoidable.
- We’re all paid equivalent to the same day rate.
- We all share in front of house duties, though we also work in some working from home as possible. We also share in various space care tasks e.g restocking the loo roll!
- As an artist-led space, 10% of our time can be used as ‘Wiggle Time’ – wiggle room to spend on activities which are of benefit to both our practices and Turf. It’s a bit like paid personal development time, but to ensure art practices are interwoven into Turf.
How to apply
Turf Projects is committed to equality and diversity in its recruitment policy. We welcome applications from people with lived experiences of any age, gender, disability or colour.Please let us know if you would like this information in an alternative format, and email us at info@turf-projects.com if you’d like any more information about the role or have any questions.
Please apply by 15th July to info@turf-projects.com
We’re very flexible on how you apply; but ask that you provide examples of how you meet the points listed in the person specification.
- Email us a CV with a cover letter.
- Send us a video introduction to you and why you’re interested.
- Another format!
We don’t have a format we prefer, and your format won’t impact our consideration of your application, so send whatever you’re comfortable with.
