Responsible to:	Director
Contract type:	40 hours week
Salary:	£45,900
Line manages:	Programme Manager (who line manages the Programme Coordinator) Artist Liaison and Programme Manager Freelance staff as engaged Artists commissioned by Woolwich Works

About this job

The Head of Programming leads the public programme for Woolwich Works, taking responsibility for the Trust’s public performances, artistic rentals, and community engagement activities. Working closely with the Director, they will curate and evolve our year-round programme of performance and live events, embracing music and comedy, food and markets, craft and visual arts, performances for children and families, festivals, cultural events, workshops and more. They will collaborate with the Resident Artistic Companies to develop their presence in our building and engagement with the wider community.

We are open to programming new activities that drive audiences to our spaces and build Woolwich Works as an essential home of live events. Working across our spaces - varying in capacity from 60 to 1800, programming directly and working collaboratively to deliver activity across the site and in the wider area each year, we are taking a step forward in the volume and ambition of our public facing work as we move towards our 5^th birthday and onwards.

We want to develop a range of events that excite and draw audiences to Woolwich - the Head of Programming will work closely with the Marketing team on audience development, driving footfall and engagement with the venue, its activities and performances, and with Development on gaining sponsorship and philanthropic support for the programme.

Leading a team of 4, they will work collaboratively with our production and operations teams to ensure that artists, promoters and audiences have an outstanding experience with us, leaving them wanting to return and work with us again.

Is this job for you?

We’re looking for someone with a successful track record as a commercial programmer, assembling and managing high quality performance and engagement activities that achieve or exceed target attendances and generate a profit.

You’ll be passionate about building a broad and exciting programme of live performance and events, as well as brokering deals. You’ll need to be comfortable and practiced with contract negotiations and budgeting, used to doing deals and building hire packages to entice promoters, producers and artists to work with us. Ideally, you’ll also have experience of devising programmes that engage a broad audience, and the ability to work collaboratively to deliver high quality creative experiences and opportunities is essential.

You will be a supportive line manager to a high performing and busy team, be able to articulate your thinking clearly and champion knowledge sharing and skills development, as well as ensuring that they have the right systems and structures in place to do their jobs well.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead the public events programme, engaging with promoters and clients, to proactively book activity, achieve financial targets as set by the Director and ensure that the programme is of high quality, commercially successful and drives ancillary income.
2. Lead and support the Programming team in the development and production of projects and relationships, ensuring that the needs of each project are clearly articulated to the wider team for delivery.
3. Work closely with the Director to shape and implement the programming strategy, build and implement new programme ideas that are both commercially viable and compelling for audiences; lead the development of key programming moments such as Brassworks, our flagship festival promoted by Woolwich Works.
4. Maintain positive working relationships across a range of artistic partners - working collaboratively with the Resident Artistic Companies to support the Woolwich Works public programme and community engagement work. Develop relationships with a variety of local artists and organisations and build a network of promoters and artists wishing to work at Woolwich Works.
5. Develop effective strategies for community engagement through event activity, collaborating with community partners and finding innovative ways of engaging with and building a programme to reflect the diversity of Woolwich Works local community.
6. Support Audience Development working closely with the Head of Marketing, ensuring appropriate content is programmed to support the delivery of the strategy to attract a broad and diverse range of audiences, whilst achieving box office targets.
7. Manage budgets and income targets relating to ticket sales, event and community hires, and controlling public programming costs. Work closely with the Head of Events and Commercial Development to integrate our own F&B offer into public facing activities. Work closely with the Development Manager on developing compelling fundraising asks.
8. Manage a busy calendar of events by working closely with the commercial team to ensure both departments achieve their goals, resolving diary clashes and highlighting project production requirements to ensure outstanding event delivery and smooth venue management.
9. Ensure high quality and safe event delivery, working closely with the operations and production teams to ensure each event is achievable, safe, of a high standard and sits within the parameters of the Woolwich Works license.
10. Contribute to organisational strategy participating across a range of initiatives, working with Directors and Heads of Department to successfully implement Woolwich Works’ business plan.

General responsibilities

Lead, support and develop the programming team, fostering a high-performance culture through clear goals, mentoring, and professional development opportunities.

Support the development of future talent by welcoming and mentoring work experience placements, interns and apprentices, creating an inclusive and supportive environment.

Take personal responsibility for ongoing learning, undertaking training and professional development as required to meet the evolving needs of the organisation.

Ensure full compliance with all relevant legal, licensing, health and safety, safeguarding, and internal policy requirements.

Promote and maintain a safe working environment, following the Trust’s Health and Safety Policy and all other relevant policies, procedures and encouraging others to do the same.

Undertake designated responsibilities, such as a First Aider, Fire Marshal or Duty Manager if required and appropriately trained.

Protect the organisation’s data and information assets, ensuring all work complies with the Trust’s data protection policies and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Always act in the best interests of the Trust, complying fully with all relevant organisational policies and procedures.

Carry out any other duties reasonably expected of the role.

Person specification

Woolwich Works is open to a range of flexible working to fulfil the whole of the above specification. This might be a single applicant, a partnership or job share, or something else. If you wish to propose something other than a single applicant, please articulate in your application the model you are proposing and how this will fulfil the job specification.

We’ll decide whether to invite you for an interview by reviewing your application against the responsibilities above and the skills below.

Minimum requirements

Please note that if you cannot demonstrate that you meet this minimum requirement, your application will not proceed through shortlisting.

• Significant experience as a successful commercial programmer in a relevant venue or organisation

Essential skills and experience

• Contract negotiation
• Budgeting
• Performance hires
• Booking artists and performers and negotiating deals
• Event production and delivery
• Significant experience of managing a team
• Experience and understanding of marketing and communications

Desirable skills and experience

1. Experience of devising and delivering successful engagement programmes
2. Experience of Artifax or similar venue management software
3. Live event health and safety management

Conditions

Hours:	40 hours per week. Sometimes evening, weekend and bank holiday working may be required for which no additional payment will be offered. You’ll be expected to work operationally for major events.
Location:	You’ll be based in Woolwich, southeast London. We may require you to work elsewhere or travel within the UK as part of your job.
Holiday:	You will have 25 days’ holiday per calendar year plus public holidays (or days off in lieu of public holidays as business needs require).
Probationary period:	Six months
Notice period:	Prior to receiving written confirmation of the satisfactory completion of the probationary period, either you or the Trust can terminate employment by giving one month’s notice in writing. Following satisfactory completion of the probationary period, the notice period will be three months.
DBS check:	You must tell us about any unspent criminal convictions when applying for this job, and undertake an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (‘DBS’) check if appointed (and at least annually thereafter). Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us, but we will consider the nature of any disclosed convictions and their relevance to the job and the Trust. If you don’t disclose information relating to unspent convictions, we’ll withdraw any offer of employment that we may subsequently make, or terminate your employment.
References and right to work:	Any offer of employment will be subject to the receipt of two satisfactory, written references, one of which must be from your most recent employer or professional contact. You must have the legal right to work in the UK.