Chief Executive,Bath Festivals
Brief to Potential Applicants
£55,000 + performance bonus
Introduction
Thank you for considering applying. This brief tells you about Bath Festivals, the job and the sort of person we are looking for. You are welcome in addition to speak informally to Stephen Taylor (Chair of the Nominations Committee). Email , telephone 0780 133 6133. Please also visit our website bathfestivals.org.uk.
Where we’ve been
The Bath International Music Festival began in 1948, though music festivals were held in Bath in the 19th century. The roots go back still further: Queen Elizabeth I came to hear choristers at Bath Abbey in 1668. Alas we know nothing of the musical or literary interests of King Bladud, said to be founder of Bath in 863 BC.
The first fifty years of the festival story is chronicled in Tim Bullamore’s book ‘Fifty Festivals’ (out of print), for example the key roles of Yehudi Menuhin, Rudolf Nureyev and Francis Bacon - and behind the scenes the permanent struggle to make ends meet, artistic tantrums, and the bogus but bedevilling dichotomy between ‘elitist’ and ‘popular’. Few now recall first hand the 1961 orgy in the Roman baths.
The Bath Literature festival began in 1995 and has grown to up to 150 events, showcasing the leading writers, thinkers, journalists and poets of the day. In 2007 Bath Festivals acquired the rights to the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature and this year marked the most successful such festival ever.
Throughout our history the participation of young and not so young people - who, for whatever reason, may not have been introduced to the joys of splendid music and literature - has been central to our purpose. That will continue with renewed vigour.
Where we’re going
Our future is driven by three factors. First, the world of festivals is changing fast and, having been there pretty much from the beginning, we want to stay at the leading edge. Second, the reality is that public money is in increasingly short supply. Rather than bemoaning that loss we are using the spur positively to connect better with a growing number of patrons and sponsors. Third and most importantly, we are excited about what can happen in the spaces between music, literature and other established art forms.
Under the leadership of our chairman John Cullum we have strengthened the board by the addition of five new members who between them bring a wide range of skills and contacts. We have created a strategic advisory group to further shape our long-term ambition. We have developed an underwriting scheme so that we can be bolder in contracting top quality performers. And we have begun to restructure the organisation more clearly around what needs to be kept in-house and what is best done externally.
The Bath Festival
In May 2017 we launch a new multi-arts festival for the city, building on the heritage of the literature and music festivals. This new flagship festival will have music and literature at the heart - classical, jazz, world and folk music alongside contemporary fiction, intelligent debate, science, history, politics and poetry - but embrace blends of the two as well as other arts. It will grow the number of world-class events we can bring to Bath and build our position as a leading arts organisation in the region.
The artistic directors of The Bath Festival are Alex Clark, David Jones and James Waters. Alex is an editor and literary journalist who frequently writes for The Guardian, The Observer and The Times Literary Supplement. She regularly chairs literary events and has also been on the judging panel for the Booker Prize. David Jones and James Waters are both leading figures in the music industry and experts in their own musical fields. They initially joined Bath Festivals in 2015 becoming Artistic Directors of the International Music Festival in 2016.
Bath’s biggest night of free music, Party in the City, will continue, with over 2000 people taking to stages across the city and 20,000 in attendance. We will enhance the learning and participation opportunities for over 6000 young people. And we will continue to produce the much loved Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
The job
As Bath Festivals travels through this dramatic change we see five critical elements in the chief executive role:
- Put strategy into action. Grasp the learning from the May 2017 Bath Festival to make 2018 bigger and better and to ensure all that we do furthers our core purpose, in particular our educational goals.
- Deliver artistic excellence. Guide the work of our artistic directors, contractors and staff within a brief agreed by the board to deliver multi-arts programmes which delight the audiences we are keen to reach.
- Build our relationships. Develop and maintain mutually beneficial connections with the Arts Council, Bath&NES Council, Bath Tourism Plus, our sponsors, patrons, members and volunteers, schools, other festival providers and the local business and charitable community.
- Increase our reach and reputation. Make Bath Festivals literally more visible in the city and attract more customers locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
- Maintain our financial health. Further reduce our dependence on public funding, secure new streams of income and spend our money well.
The job is based at Bath Festivals’ office in central Bath and is envisaged as full time, though four days per week with salary pro rata would be considered. In addition to salary there is a potential performance bonus linked to meeting audience and financial targets.
The person
You have experienced the practicalities of how the festivals and arts world operates: constructing programmes which are both bold and deliverable, inveigling people of all kinds to be part of the adventure, getting big things done on a shoestring, upwardly managing a board which is both marvellous and maddening, drawing a deep breath and going for it.
You will have your head round the basic disciplines of production, marketing, fundraising, contracting, people management and financial control but you are neither bureaucrat nor prima donna. You will bounce back from inevitable disappointments. You will not need much sleep during the festival itself. You will keep asking ‘What if…?’ but you will also see good ideas through to results.
Your enthusiasm for the arts will be boundless but grounded in reality.
What next?
If you decide to apply, and we hope you will, please send your cv with a covering letter saying why you are interested and what you would bring to Stephen Taylor by 17 December. Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held w/c 3 January.
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