Key Info

Current hours: 4.5 days per week

Initial Fixed term contract of 12 months with the intention to extend.

Proposed Post Start Date: 1st March 2022

Salary: £30,000 per year pro rata
Report to: Board of Trustees of Thornton and Allerton Community Association Ltd

If you have any queries, please contact Yvonne on y.carmichael@southsquarecentre.co.uk.

Overview

South Square Centre is a grassroots, arts and heritage centre embedded in its local community. It has a vibrant programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, as well as strong partnerships with local schools, care homes and community organisations. Since April 2020, South Square has been nimble and quick to adapt its working practices to best serve the community.  In the last 18 months, South Square has engaged with 4k+ participants all whilst undertaking major capital development of the building.

There is a volunteer board of trustee Directors, and a small staff team. In addition to this post the staff include a Programme Manager (2.5 days pw), Arts and Heritage Coordinator (4 days pw), Building Manager (12 hrs pw) and Cleaner (6 hrs pw). South Square also has a longstanding traineeship programme to enable trainees to undertake their first paid role in a cultural organisation. There is a great range of tenants at South Square including Plenty at the Square Café, The Watchmakers, Bradford Community Cinemas, Thornton Antiquarian Societies archive and 10 artist studios. 

In 2019 South Square was pleased to secure a 99-year lease through a Community Asset Transfer of the building and in 2021 the building underwent an extensive refurbishment. The long-term security of tenure and warmer more welcoming building provide a great platform for engaging with communities and programming arts and heritage activities. Early next year there will be a number of access improvements made that will further open up the centre’s users and participants.

The Centre Director plays an essential role in the running of South Square. This is an exciting opportunity to help design and lead on the organisations strategy in the lead up to Bradford’s bid to be city of culture in 2025.

The Centre Director will instigate the creative and public programme, and have a strong grasp of the centre’s finances, business plan, partnerships, and organisational development.

South Square consists of a compact team with myriad roles therefore staff, volunteers and trustees work collaboratively and support one another.

Our working environment promotes learning and experimentation, a culture which has been engrained from the centres’ beginnings in the 1980’s. We work with a wide range of people; we have a strong track record of providing development opportunities for staff, volunteers as well as emerging businesses and artists.

South Square is currently in receipt of funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund, this funding comes to an end in March 2023. South Square are making an application to become an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation which will take us from April 2023 to March 2026. If successful, with the NPO application the Centre Director will be required to submit a business plan to Arts Council England in October 2022. If unsuccessful, they will explore alternative funding opportunities such as Arts Council England project grants and Reaching Communities England. It is an exciting time to help shape the future of South Square Centre’s programme in the lead up to Bradford’s bid to be City of Culture in 2025. There will be a month handover period with the Centre’s existing Director and also support offered following this as required.

How to make an application

Download the full Centre Director Job Description 

South Square is an equal opportunities employer and has a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity. Disabled, D/deaf, neuro-divergent people and those from Black Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds are currently underrepresented in our workforce, so we particularly encourage applications from people in these groups.

Please send applications a covering letter, CV to y.carmichael@southsquarecentre.co.uk. 

Deadline: 19th January 2022

Interviews w/c: 31st Jan 2022

Job description