1 the Lodge, 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham, B29 6LJ

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The Leaveners

1 The Lodge, 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham, B29 6LJ

Tel: 0121 414 0099 Fax: 0121 414 0090

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your enquiry about the position of The Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer.

Please find enclosed an information pack, which includes an application form, job description, person specification, terms and conditions of employment, and some background information about the Leaveners, including our current objectives.

From the start you will assume responsibility for devising and delivery of the Quaker arts programme with a special emphasis on recruiting new participants and volunteers, organising residential arts projects and delivering workshops at Quaker Meetings.

As for all staff this will be supplemented with a support and training programme tailored to your specific needs. Please note that this position involves working irregular weekends, potentially more than half the weekends in a year, some bank holidays and evenings.

The starting salary for this position will be £18,450 to £19,326dependent on experience.

In order to apply, please send a completed application form, ideally via e-mail to or by post to Paul Levy, Leaveners Coordinator, 1 The Lodge, 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham B29 6LJ to arrive no later than noon on Friday 11th March 2011. When completing the application form, please pay particular attention to the person specification.

Interviews are planned for Saturday 26th March 2011 in Birmingham and will last all day.

Thank you once again for your interest in this position, I hope you find this information useful, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

In Friendship,

Paul Levy

Leaveners Coordinator

Job Description

Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer

Salary

£18,450 to £19,326 depending on experience.

Context

The Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer is a new role within the organisation in response to the changing needs of The Leaveners.

Over the last few years the number of partnership projects and workshops for meetings has increased, creating a new post within the organisation.

The post of Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer requiresa dedicated, committed and flexible individual with an arts and workshop delivery background with excellent communication and liaison skills. They will initiate and develop our arts programme including partnership projects and workshops with external organisations. Recruit volunteers and participants as well as reengaging people that may have been involved with The Leaveners in the past.

They will be an ambassador for the organisation and need to be able to give exceptional service to all the Leaveners stakeholders, responding to queries promptly and representing us in a highly professional manner. They need to be aware of us a charity and be mindful of our limited resources.

Job Description

You will be a member of a small team which delivers and provides support to volunteers to offer opportunities for Friends, to use drama, music and participatory arts as part of their spiritual nurturing and community building within Britain Yearly Meeting.

Your role is to plan, devise and deliver, promote and support the provision of high quality arts work throughout Britain Yearly Meeting and beyond by creating short and long term projects, with a special emphasis on Quaker children and young people. In all aspects of the role the aim is to develop opportunities for participation and spiritual development through drama, music and the creative arts.

The job involves approximately:

• 65% Project Management

The project management and administrative duties of this postinclude recruiting volunteers and participants, devising and organisation of partnership work, workshops and residential events from the office, creative planning work with volunteers and organising and attending meetings. The post holder will assume responsibility for organising and booking project accommodation and venues, materials and associated project needs.

• 35% Delivery

The majority of the work delivered by theQuaker Projects and Workshops Officer will take place at residential projects of various lengths and shorter workshops. The work will be a combination of arts based youth work, cross-age work, pastoral care volunteer and project management. There is usually approximately one residential event a month, as well as a variety of one day workshops spread throughout the year and across the U.K.

This work is conducted within the beliefs and values of the Religious Society of Friends. The role is responsible to the Leaveners Coordinator, who in turn is responsible to a management committee.

The post holderwill organise and deliver arts workshops and residential projects, and will also train volunteers in workshop facilitation skills, and managing volunteers. There will be opportunities for them to develop their skills through attending training with other organisations, and being involved in partnership work.

You will have particular responsibilities for recruiting new participants and volunteers, and initiating partnership work, as well as managing the Representatives that are nominated to the committee.

Specific projects you will take responsibility for managing, recruiting and delivering or finding people to deliver projects that include, amongst others, our annual Choral & Chamber Weekend, our All-Age Arts Weekend and workshops at Yearly Meeting Gathering 2011.

This post will be for 40 hours per week annualised. This position involves working some evenings, weekends and bank holiday; generally you will be expected to do 35 hours a week in the office, with the other 5 hours carried forward to working on residential projects. Time beyond the basic 40 hours, agreed in advance with the Coordinator, to be taken as time off in lieu within a month, at a time agreed with the Coordinator.

You are entitled to paid time off for the equivalent of all public holidays, plus 25 working days per year.

You will be required to undertake an enhanced CRB check and the outcome to be satisfactory to The Leaveners trustees.

Job Purpose

The main purpose of the role of the Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer is the planning and delivery of the all the work of The Leaveners within and outside the Society of Friends.

Main Responsibilities

The Job Holder is responsible for:

1. To be extremely self motivated to maintain, promote and support the provision of arts programmes for Quakers. In all aspects of the role the aim is to aid the spiritual development of the Religious Society of Friends as an all-age faith community.

1. Proactively recruit new participants on projects by liaising and making links with other Quaker and appropriate non-Quaker organisations, Area and Local Meetings, placing adverts in appropriate magazines whilst working alongside the publicity officer, use of social networking and being innovative with the aim of making sure that every Quaker with Britain Yearly Meeting knows about our work.

1. Planning, organising and administering all aspects of the Quaker Arts Workand delivering a large proportion of it, as set in agreement with the Coordinator. This includes being the main point of contact between all involved, evaluating the work and ensuring projects remain within budget.

1. Recruiting volunteers, and occasionally paid project or workshop leaders/facilitators. Supporting them in planning issue-based workshops initiated by The Leaveners or as requested by Local/Area Meetings in Britain. This includes organising and implementing facilitator training and delivering feedback on volunteers’ behaviour, skills and training needs.

1. Finding ways to ensure that young people in particular have an opportunity to participate in the strategic planning and development of The Leaveners.

1. Maintaining links with outside organisations and ensuring that The Leaveners Quaker Arts work is adequately and appropriately represented at organisations such as Quaker Schools and events such as the National Association of Youth Theatres, Britain Yearly Meeting, Junior Yearly Meeting, Quaker summer schools, etc. Initiating and delivering partnership work with other organisations.

1. Regular attendance at Leaveners management committee meetings, including overseeing the induction and support of the Representatives on the management committee. The Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer will convene and manage the Projects Subcommittee, sit on the committee and ensure minutes are taken and distributed.

1. Ensuring that projects are run within Leaveners policies and procedures including our Guidelines for Community Living, Child Protection and Equal Opportunities Policies as set by The Leaveners management committee. It is also part of the role to work with the management committee to ensure that these policies are maintained and kept up to date.

1. To support the Finance Manager through administrative tasks and by recording received cheques promptly in the log book daily.

1. To work with the coordinator and the finance manager to set the budget for the organisation.

1. To ensure evaluation forms are completed by participants and facilitators and write reports, including a project report for each piece of work done and policy documents for the organisation.

1. To undertake fundraising tasks, such as applying to relevant trusts or meetings for funding and supporting our participants to apply for funding to attend our projects, and increase their ability to engage with the arts.

1. To write text for leaflets, our magazine Leavenings, and other publicity materials, or manage volunteers to produce needed text.

1. Other general duties set by the Coordinator in line with this position.

Supervision

Regular supervision sessions will take place between the post holder and the Leaveners Coordinator, and they will have a support person who is a member of the Leaveners management committee, we will also seek out external mentoring opportunities for the applicant.

The post holder will be required to report on past work and identify future work, as well as reflecting on all aspects of the role.

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Quaker Projects and Workshops Officer

Person Specification

Essential

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Desirable, but not essential

To have a commitment to the spiritual education and faith development of Quakers and in particular the religious education of young people associated with the Religious Society of Friends. / To have experience of running arts or drama workshops to young people associated with the Society of Friends.
To have sympathy with and knowledge of the spiritual values, beliefs and practices of the Religious Society of Friends, and to demonstrate the ability to work within this ethos. / To have good working knowledge of Quakerism and Quaker processes.
To demonstrate a commitment to the role that drama, music and the arts can play in the personal and spiritual development and social education of young people. / To have experience of and a commitment to the role drama, music and the arts can play in the personal and spiritual development and social education of young people.
To be highlymotivatedand able to self manage your time.
To demonstrate a commitment to providing/contributing to opportunities for development for young people. / To have experience of and a commitment to providing/contributing to development opportunities for young people.
To have relevant experience or qualifications. Such as experience of delivering participatory arts, drama or music workshops or directing/scripting drama productions or improvised work. A degree in drama, theatre studies or music or a youth work qualification. Or equivalent experience/qualification.
To be able to work weekends, bank holidays and evenings, willing and able to sleep on the floors of Quaker Meeting Houses and run projects in places with basic accommodation.
To demonstrate the ability to be able to proactively recruit new volunteers and participants
To demonstrate the ability to be a leader and manage a team on a residential event, and act in loco parentis.
To demonstrate the ability to write policies and reports clearly for the committee and other organisations. / To have the ability to write policies and reports clearly for the committee and other organisations.
To have a driving license.

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About The Leaveners

Who are the Leaveners?

The Leaveners is the Quaker Performing Arts Project, a charity founded in 1978. We run 35-40 creative arts projects a year, many of them residential, all over the country, and occasionally abroad. In 2009 we worked intensively with over 400 people and with over 30 volunteers. Our projects are divided into three types, Music Making, Creative Arts and Theatre & Performance.We sell a range of popular Songbooks and CDs. Over the last year 80 Quaker meetings supported us financially and 25 venues welcomed our events. The Leaveners is the only Quaker performing arts organisation in Britain, and we are here to serve and be responsive to the needs of Quakers in Britain. We are committed to constantly examining all aspects of our work to keep improving the quality of what we deliver and to ensure that we are living examples of Quaker testimonies.

Who runs the Leaveners?

We are led by our membership. Our management committee includes participants (half aged under 22) and volunteers as well as management, arts and finance specialists. We employ four staff including the Coordinator, an Arts Worker responsible for planning and managing the delivery of our Quaker Arts Projects, a part-time Finance Manager and Publicity Officer. Most of our work is delivered by volunteers, with larger projects often managed by volunteer committees. As a learning organisation that aims to deliver high quality cutting edge work we aim to improve the skills of our staff and volunteers through training, mentoring and individual feedback and reflection.

What are we aiming to do?

We believe the arts have a unique and important role to play in building a shared identity for our community. The creative arts produce intense shared experiences and communicate our stories, values and beliefs both to ourselves and to others with singular power and effectiveness.

Our mission statement states:

The Leaveners welcomes anyone whether a Friend or not to experience the power of the creative spirit to release energy, vision and a commitment. Through the use of participatory art, especially music and drama, we aim to give expression to contemporary Quaker values and faith and to raise awareness of issues of social injustice, non-violence and spirituality.

How will we do this?

The vision is enacted through a programme of regular or one-off projects, productions, events, partnership projects and workshops. We aim to ensure our projects reflect the current needs and inspirations of our stakeholders. Our commitment to community, spiritual experience and worship is central to all projects. Community building might include activities in small ‘base’ groups or fellowship over a meal. Opportunities for spiritual experience vary, from intense singing together to cooking, living and preparing food together on a residential project. Worship takes many forms - epilogue held on our events for young people at night, a busy Meeting for Worship for business or the powerful silence at the end of a concert. We will run a mixture of ambitious, innovative projects and reliably popular events. We will continually examine and improve our working practice and structures, ensuring safety, clear direction and sustainability. We will assess projects carefully and take steps to minimise risk – but without compromising the excitement and energy of our work. We will work with people throughout their lifetime. We will bring people together to experience the power of the creative spirit.

Music Making

We have a commitment to using music to build our community and express Quaker values within Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and beyond, through projects, commissions and performances.

‘In Leaveners Quaker Music Making Projects I have experienced an exciting sense of forging a British Quaker musical identity. Being involved in this process involves a real engagement with; first and foremost, what makes us Quakers.’ Mark Russ, Leaveners facilitator

Shared identity and community

We run a number of Music Making projects through the year; in 2010 we will be running at least two residential music making projects, as well as music workshops at Quaker Meetings, at Yearly Meeting and at

Junior Yearly Meeting. We will also form a committee of volunteers to begin preparation of the second edition of our Quaker Song Book - Sing in The Spirit Songs, by, for and about Quakers that reflect aspects of our faith and journey and express Quaker values. The songbook has become a fantastic common resource for strengthening our shared identity, both within BYM and the wider community; it is used by Quakers all over the world, and has been featured on National Premier Christian Radio.

Singing and playing together creates a unique spiritual experience and builds a close community for participants and these projects are amongst our most enduringly popular. We will promote our music and drama workshops to Quaker meetings around the country, enabling us to reach as many Friends as possible. We will maintain our annual number of workshops. We offer communities new experiences to deepen fellowship and worship together, releasing the creative spirit through the joy of music making. We will run music training to develop the skills of our facilitators.