Chair Recruitment Pack
March 2014
Contents
1. Background information
2. The Chair role
3. How to apply and timetable
4. Equal opportunities
1. Background
Spitalfields Music is a creative charity serving East London through two annual music festivals and a year-round music education programme. It reaches around 50,000 people live and a further 1 million through broadcast and online activity each year.
Spitalfields Music operates both within the context of the national music scene, working with some of the leading musicians in the UK and as a strongly local charity, rooted in East London and devising its work to meet local need. The organisation was founded in 1976 out of a commitment to the power of the highest quality music to be a positive force for individuals and communities.
Spitalfields Music sees its year-round music education programme as having equal status to its festival programme. This comes from its deep commitment to access and inclusion, giving Spitalfields Music a very particular character as an organisation, blending both the charitable and the entrepreneurial. Based in Spitalfields, the charity has been at the heart of one of the most dynamic and interesting parts of London for nearly four decades.
With a turnover of just under £1million in 2013/14, the charity receives 20% of its income from statutory sources, earns 20% through ticket sales and fundraises 60% from trusts, company and individual giving. This is an unusually diversified set of income streams for an arts charity.
In 2012 the charity won an unprecedented ‘double Oscar’ for the classical music industry in the form of two Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. In 2014 the charity’s education programme is 25 years old and in 2016 Spitalfields Music will be celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Phoenix School participant, June 2012
Music Festivals
‘Spitalfields Winter Festival stands as high above the all too familiar,
commercialised Christmas-music extravaganzas as Dickens’s A Christmas
Carol above a Jacquie Lawson e-card. The novella is crammed with seasonal
colour, but a literary masterpiece; while the festival, exuding wintry cosiness
and spiritual flavour, is conceived with true intellectual refinement.’
The Sunday Times, December 2013
Our Summer Festival in June and Winter Festival in December are characterised by an eclectic musical programme in unusual and interesting venues and a guarantee of the highest quality. World-class artists, particularly from the baroque and contemporary fields, are programmed alongside local people showcasing work which they have often made as part of our year-round programme. Festivals mix established artists, such as the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, The Sixteen, The English Concert, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and newer talent, such as La Nuova Musica, Arun Ghosh, EXAUDI in a unique blend.
One third of tickets are £5 are under and we have a scheme called Buy One, Donate One through which our audiences buy an extra ticket, donating it so that someone who cannot afford a ticket can attend. As a result of such initiatives, we have one of the most diverse classical music audiences in London.
“ One of the pleasures of Spitalfields Music’s festivals is their human warmth.”
Daily Telegraph, June 2012
Year-round music education programme
“ I will never forget that day – people stood up and they were cheering!”
Young participant Summer 2012
With a national reputation for quality and innovation, Spitalfields Music’s year-round programme is very well established and includes around 250 workshops each year for participants aged from 6 months old to 90+. Projects take place in schools, libraries, hospitals, childrens centres, the local farm, in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham, reaching some of the most challenged communities in the UK. In an area in which over 100 different first languages are spoken, music has a unique potential.
The programme has a particular reputation for:
- Training musicians to work in education and community settings
- Training non musicians to incorporate music into their regular practice
- Innovative models for integrating music into school life
- Activity which encourages inter-generational and inter-cultural collaboration
- Innovative approaches to introducing the very young to music
Future plans
The charity has some ambitious plans for coming years including:
- Increased levels of national and international collaboration both within the education and festival programmes.
- An expansion of our digital activity to reach a broader and greater audience both within East London and nationally and internationally.
- Establishing a new home for the charity, which includes workshop and rehearsal space to share with others, acting as a way of drawing other creative charities into East London.
- Extending our commitment to training by establishing a hub for emerging music organisations, supporting their early development through training and mentoring.
2. The Chair’s role
Context
The current Chair of Spitalfields Music, Sir Alan Moses, will be stepping down as Chair in August 2015. He will leave in place an able and committed board, an excellent and hard working management team, a good financial position and a set of creative opportunities for the charity. Spitalfields Music is seeking a new Chair to join the board from September 2014 to be ready to assume the Chair role from September 2015. The executive search and recruitment of the new Chair will be run by a Nomination Committee, led by board member Nicky Oppenheimer, with support from Sarah Gee and Michael Keating.
The opportunity
We are looking for an inspirational Chair to work closely with our Chief Executive to lead the next phase in the life of Spitalfields Music, particularly in:
· harnessing the skills and experience of the trustees to the benefit of the charity
· acting as line manager for the Chief Executive
· helping shape the strategic direction of the charity
· ensuring appropriate governance
We are seeking an individual who is able and interested to take an active role with us in the coming three years, as the charity focuses on renewing and developing our programme of work, building our income streams, increasing our public profile and securing a physical base for our community programme.
Governance
Spitalfields Music is both a registered charity and a non profit distribution company limited by guarantee. Even though many duties are delegated to the Executive staff, the board sets the context for delegation and for specific delegated powers, and the ultimate joint responsibility for every aspect of the charity’s operation lies with the Board of Directors.
There is one sub-committee: the Finance and Legal Committee. There are two advisory groups: a Programme Advisors Group and a Development Committee. The board also forms time-limited working groups when required. The current board has a broad range of professional, corporate, arts and education experience and backgrounds to support the development of the charity. In 2013 a new group of trustees joined the board and succession planning and recruitment of new trustees are dealt with proactively.
Time Commitment
The post of Chair is a part-time, unpaid, non-executive appointment. The Chair will be appointed for an initial three-year term with an option to renew for a second term. In addition to the four board meetings per year, the Chair is likely to also join the Finance and Legal Committee (four meetings a year) and the Development Committee (three meetings a year). The chair is expected to attend some of the charity’s activities – festival performances and education projects through the year as well as making himself/herself available for consultation with the Chief Executive and meeting with diverse stakeholders as required. The total commitment is likely to be around one day per month plus performances and events, although initially this may be more as the new Chair gets to know the organisation.
The Person
· Strong leadership experience as a main-board executive and non executive director, ideally with some prior experience in a chairing capacity, whether in the commercial, public or not-for-profit sectors
· Strong understanding of the role of non-executive Chair, with a focus on leading and developing board members and working closely with the Chief Executive to provide leadership to the wider organisation
· Excellent communication and presentational skills, comfortable in an ambassadorial role and appearing in a wide range of public forums
· Passion for music and music education
· Excellent interpersonal and team skills, used to working with a wide range of senior stakeholders from diverse backgrounds
· A fluent and persuasive communicator, comfortable with public speaking, who can represent the organisation externally as well as internally
· Well networked and willing to use contacts for the benefit of Spitalfields Music
3. How to apply and process
If you would like to have an informal, confidential conversation Nicky Oppenheimer and Abigail Pogson will be delighted to discuss the appointment further. Please call Helen Bailey on 020 7377 0287 or email her at if you would like to speak to them.
Application is by CV and a supporting statement outlining the reasons for your interest in the post and why you believe yourself to be suitable. Please include your full contact details including daytime and evening telephone numbers.
Please send your application to attaching an equal opportunities monitoring form, included in this pack, which will not be seen by anyone reviewing the application.
Applicants with the most appropriate mix of qualifications and experience will be invited to meet representatives of the Council who are members of the Council Nomination Committee, comprising Nicky Oppenheimer, Sarah Gee and Michael Keating.
The deadline for receipt of application is 25th April 2014 with meetings with candidates expected to take place in May and June 2014.
4. Equal Opportunities
Spitalfields Music is committed to promoting equality of opportunity and inclusion across the organisation’s work. To achieve this, the organisation understands and approaches diversity in its most broad and inclusive sense. This includes differences defined by social and cultural categories including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The organisation further acknowledges differences that cut across social and cultural categories but are equally significant to equality of opportunity and inclusion such as health, education, economic and material disadvantage.
Equal Opportunities and Diversity monitoring form (2 pages) – please return with your application
Spitalfields Festival Ltd is committed to equal opportunities in employment and volunteer recruitment. Recruitment and selection procedures are monitored to ensure that individuals are selected on merit and that there is no unfair treatment. This data is collected solely for equality monitoring and will not be used as part of the selection process.
Your reply will be treated in confidence (this sheet will be removed before any assessment of your application takes place). You are under no obligation to answer all the questions below.
Position applied for: ......
How did you hear about the role?:......
______
Age
How old are you? (please circle):
Under 20 20-29
30-39 40-49
50-59 60+ Prefer not to say ……….c
......
Disability
In general, a person is considered disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial, long-term and adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Do you consider yourself to have a disability? (please circle):
Yes No Prefer not to say ……….c
......
Gender
Are you (please circle):
Female Male Prefer not to say ……….c
......
Sexual orientation
Which sexual orientation category best represents you? (please circle):
Lesbian Gay
Bisexual Heterosexual Prefer not to say ……….c
……………………………………………………….
Religious belief
Do you have a religious belief? If so, please state what it is:
...... Prefer not to say ……….c
Monitoring Ethnicity
Please select the ethnic category that best represent you. As you make your decision, please think about what ethnic group means to you, that is, how you see yourself. Your ethnicity is a mixture of culture, religion, skin colour, language and the origins of yourself and your family. It is not the same as nationality.
A White
British
Any other White background, please state ......
------
B Asian or Asian British
Bangladeshi
Indian
Pakistani
Any other Asian background, please state ......
------
C Black or Black British
African
Caribbean
Any other Black background, please state ......
------
D Chinese or other ethnic group
Chinese
Any other, please state ......
------
E Mixed Heritage
Asian and White
Black African and White
Black Caribbean and White
Chinese and White
Any other Mixed background, please state ......
F Prefer not to say ……….c
Thank you – please include this form with your application
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