Aim of the Programme
To encourage individuals to develop their potential to start a career in the Arts and enhance the development of the Arches as a learning organisation.
The internship has been developed to become a transition role for people seeking employment in the Arts Industry, to enable them to gain necessary skills and understanding of how an Arts organisation performs. It helps people ascertain if their career choice is the right option for them and if so they can identify a logical progression from there to reach their ideal role.
Objectives of the Programme
To provide participants with experience of all aspects, or a specific area, of working within an arts organisation.
Volunteer Guidelines
Specification Volunteers must be at least 18 years old with a keen interest in developing a career in the arts.
Recruitment and Selection
Applications will be invited phone or by email. Guidelines will be available to volunteers on application.
The programme will be advertised on the Arches website.
All applicants must complete a Volunteer Application Form.
Selection will be by shortlist and interview at specified times of the year.
Short listed applicants will be expected to do a 5 minutes presentation on how this internship will fit in with their career goals.
Induction Each volunteer will have a supervised induction process including working guidelines and the Arches Equal Opportunities Policy.
Training Training will be provided where necessary.
Basic Fire Safety with Front of House as and when organised.
Basic Manual Handling, on the job.
Health and Safety All volunteers will work within the Arches Health and Safety Policy.
Health and Safety briefings and training as and when appropriate.
Expenses and Benefits
The Arches will contribute to reasonable travel expenses, based on public transport only. Travel expenses will be reimbursed on production of receipts.
A staff meal will be provided when a whole day is worked, based on the equivalent of a staff meal for Café Bar employees.
The volunteer will gain free entry to some Arches events during the duration of the placement.
Hours Volunteers will be required for a minimum of four days a week. Working periods will be in full or half-day sessions. Hours will be co-ordinated by the volunteer’s supervisor.
Hours of work may vary depending on business levels / needs and projects in which the intern will be involved.
Volunteers will not be asked to work more than 8 hours in one shift.
Place of work The main place of work will be Arches Theatre, 253 Argyll Street, Glasgow G2 8DL. Depending on projects the intern might be required to work at other locations under the supervision of Arches Managers, within reasonable distance of the main working area and with prior agreement from both parties.
Insurance The Arches Employer Liability Insurance will cover volunteers.
Responsibility The volunteer will be supervised by the Human Resources Manager who will be responsible for the programme. The volunteer will be directly mentored by the person in charge of the specific volunteer programme.
Volunteer: The success of the volunteer’s training will reflect the keenness and the interest which he/she shows in all aspects of the operation.
Roles Volunteers will work alongside Arches employees and may work unsupervised from time to time. Volunteers will report to an assigned supervisor or manager from each placement area (e.g. FOH).
Support Volunteers will be assigned a mentor and attend a monthly one-to-one support and supervision meeting.
Trial period There will be a trial period of 2 weeks for each volunteer.
Length of Placement Internships will be of limited duration, minimum 16 weeks, with an option to renew thereafter.
Feedback Process
Feedback will be provided by the relevant manager following allocation of tasks and at the end of projects in a structured and constructive manner. The Manager in charge of the project will also expect to receive feedback from the intern. Overall feedback will also be given in a formal report by both the intern and the managers he/she was involved with. You are therefore required to keep relevant examples throughout your placement to be able to give constructive feedback.
Monitoring Your line manager will be in charge of the continuous monitoring of your progress through:
Discussing your training and assessment programme with you,
Giving you feedback on your progress,
Giving you support and guidance on a day-to-day basis.
In the case of the Arts Internship, the line manager is the Arts Administration Officer.
Priorities Each intern will be expected to prioritise his/her work according to the deadlines given / importance of the work / consequences for the other employees and levels of urgency. Therefore people delegating work to the intern expect to be given deadlines for when the work will be done and that these deadlines be respected.
Before accepting any projects from any manager, it is crucial that the intern covers first the administrative duties of the office (post, filing, photocopying, ordering, …) and then checks with his/her line manager about the suitability of the project.
Projects In addition to regular on the job projects allocated by the various managers and supervised by your line manager you will be given the choice between a series of bigger projects such as market researches that should take the length of your programme to complete. These projects are aimed to be both beneficial for the Arches and for the intern in the development of their knowledge of the Arts and Music Industries. These could involve face to face research, which would probably include a couple of evening tasks.
End of Placement Each volunteer will be asked to provide written feedback on their placement. This should be done in a constructive manner by giving examples of situations. The report should include what the intern has learnt, how do the Arches working practices compare with theories and recommendations for future interns. The report should conclude on a review of the intern’s career goals, comparing the goals he/she had before starting the placement. This should be no longer than four A4 pages.
Confidentiality During the course of your employment or after termination of your employment, you will not disclose or make use of any confidential or sensitive information relating to Arches Theatre / Retail Company Limited or its clients, business, finances, transactions, affairs, products, services, processes, equipment or activities, or make any negative comments about Arches Theatre / Retail Company Limited on any public forums.
Specific Intern Tasks and Projects
Daily
· Post / distribution and sending
· Filing
· Updating press board
· Stationary orders & dispatch
· Providing office support
Weekly
· Computer skills training
· Petty cash handling training
· Budgeting training
· Updating the company Intranet
· Booking accommodation and travel for artists
· Providing support in organising rehearsal schedules, production schedules
· Taking and circulating minutes of various meetings
· Printing and co-ordinating of theatre programmes. This means making sure there are enough programmes printed each night of a show and that they are in the correct place for being given out to audience.
· Press board display – keeping this up to date under Media Officer’s guidance and ensuring board is up at all times when foyer-bar is not being used.
· Assisting the Media Officer with the weekly filing of press cuttings for music, theatre, clubs, cafe etc.
· Updating employees contact database
· Filing and inputting for the Finance Department
· Updating the stock of Employees Handbooks
· Weekly / 2 weekly catch up on progress
Monthly
· Updating the newsletter
· Compiling Scratch feedback
· Reviewing Training Feedback for the HR Manager
· Organise and distribute training certificates
· Attend relevant training and development opportunities
Annual
· Updating the Christmas Mail Out list
· Co-ordinating the Annual Staff Survey
· Co-ordinating the Christmas Survey
· Co-ordinating the Staff Day Out or Winter Night Out
· Helping to prepare annual holiday forms
· Participating in communication audits
Other Occasional Projects
· Supporting the organisation of our theatre festivals, when applicable.
· Option to help the bar and catering team and other departments
· Seconding the Arts Programmer in organising exhibitions
· Participating in the promotion of festival and Christmas shows
· Occasionally assisting in the co-ordination of events (depending on experience)
· Assisting the Media Officer with preparation of press packs for artists and musicians when required
· Shadowing opportunities depending on business levels and Intern’s interests
· Occasionally working as a “runner” for the Music Programming Team
· Providing support for
o Conflux
o Performers’ induction
o H&S administration
o Production Team
o Music Production Team
o Technical Team
o Marketing Team
o Back of House
o Operations
o Front of House
o Corporate
o David Overend
o Alan McKendrick
What have they become?
Several of our past interns have secured employment within major organisations of the Arts Industry and some are still employed by us.
§ LJ Dodd was one of the first interns that the Arches had. She has moved on to become employed permanently by us as Arts Administration Officer first and she was recently promoted to Arts Programme Producer.
§ Julienne did her internship with us in 2006 and is now working in London as Programming Assistant for Fabric.
§ A few are still employed with us on a casual basis as ushers, cloakroom assistant or bar persons or carry out various projects for us through the year.
§ Others have become: Festival Co-ordinator, Development Assistant at a Glasgow Theatre, Administrator and Marketing and Press Officer.
It is our aim to support our interns in finding suitable employment within the Arts world at the end of their placement. This can happen through internal promotion or by helping people to build the right portfolio of evidence of their capabilities and gain the skills required by the profession they wish to apply for and by giving some form of career coaching.
Arts Intern Person’s specification
The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate the following skills and aptitudes.
· Being open to contemporary theatre, physical theatre, risk taking performance, live arts. (desirable)
· Academic knowledge:
o Maths: General Higher / Standard grades (or equivalent). - Ability to understand and work towards budget. (essential)
o English: Good level – Basic Standard Grade or equivalent. (essential)
o Computer literacy:
§ Word and Excel (essential)
§ Outlook (essential)
§ Office Package 2007 and above (essential)
§ Knowing how to build and manage databases (essential)
§ Knowing how to build and manage mail merges (desirable)
§ Knowledge of Access (desirable)
§ Knowledge of Publisher (desirable)
§ Experience of social networking sites (inputting side of things)
· Physical abilities required:
§ Ability to lift, carry up card boxes, helping in setting up rooms, carrying out deliveries across the city (equivalent to runner’s duties at times).
· Mental aptitudes:
o The successful candidate will possess the following qualities:
§ Good sense of humour, humility, patience, being able to prioritise tasks and juggle different projects at once.
§ Sense of initiative, not afraid to make suggestions, actively seeking out projects to be involved in.