RECRUITMENT OF
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
November 2014
Dear applicant
Thank you for your interest in this exciting job. This pack includes information about what the job entails, and general information on Bath Festivals. This should give you an initial idea whether your skills and experience match our needs.
Anna White (Marketing and Communications Manager) would be happy to talk to you and answer any further questions. Please contact her initially by email .
This is a great opportunity to make a real contribution to the success of our three festivals, working with a great team of exciting freelance artistic directors and our friendly staff team.
The appointment will be made initially for a fixed term, finishing 30 June 2015. There will be the possibility of extension, depending on Bath Festivals’ future plans for 2015/16 and beyond.
If you wish to apply, please complete the application form and send it to by 10am on Wednesday, 3rd December. Interviews will take place on Tuesday, 9th December in Bath.
With best wishes
Belinda Kidd, Chief Executive, Bath Festivals
JOB DESCRIPTION & PERSON SPECIFICATION
POST TITLE: Marketing & Communications Officer
RESPONSIBLE TO: Marketing & Communications Manager
WORKING WITH: PR freelancers, Development & Marketing Director,
Development team, agencies and suppliers
DATE: December 2014
Purpose of the post
1. Work closely with the Marketing & Communications Manager to help implement marketing, publication and communication activities for the Bath International Music Festival, The Independent Bath Literature Festival, The Telegraph Bath Children’s Literature Festival and the Learning and Participation programme.
2. To develop and build local and regional media opportunities for Bath Festivals and to support the Bath Festivals’ national PR freelancers with national PR work.
3. To contribute strategic, creative and technical ideas for future marketing campaigns.
4. To help ensure audience research and market knowledge are used to inform Bath Festivals’ plans.
5. To use marketing tools to clearly and consistently communicate Bath Festivals’ brand identity in innovative and effective ways that are relevant to targeted audiences.
Principal accountabilities
1. To implement day-to-day marketing activities including: direct mail; advertising; copy writing; web and e-marketing, online marketing, audience research, maintaining the website, e-newsletters and event management.
2. To support the implementation of audience development strategies for Bath International Music Festival, Bath Literature Festival, Bath Children’s Literature Festival and other performance events, ensuring that Bath Festivals’ own policy requirements are met, as well as those of its core supporters, primarily Bath & North East Somerset Council and Arts Council England.
3. To support Bath Festivals’ freelance Press and PR consultant with local and regional media campaigns for Bath International Music Festival, Bath Literature Festival, Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
4. To work with the Learning and Participation Co-ordinator to help promote Bath Festivals’ Learning and Participation programmes on a local, regional and national scale.
5. To work as part of a team for each Festival and event/series, alongside the Artistic Directors, Producers and other team members.
6. To work with the Marketing & Communications Manager in achieving sales targets.
7. To ensure the ongoing content update and maintenance of the Festival website www.bathfestivals.org.uk and social media channels.
8. To brief and work with external suppliers such as designers, printers, and the mailing house from the initial concept to the delivery of various campaigns.
9. To help brief and co-ordinate volunteers and work experience placements assigned to the marketing team.
10. To co-ordinate market research, audience research and monitoring, ensuring effective data collection and campaign measurement.
11. To contribute to evaluations and reports, as required, either for internal or external use.
12. To take a reasonable share with other colleagues of various general office administration duties
13. To undertake any other duties commensurate with the post that shall from time to time be determined by the Marketing & Communications Manager, Development and Marketing Director and/or Chief Executive
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Specific skills/abilities essential to the post
· Demonstrable experience of working within a marketing function, ideally in the arts sector
· Ability to contribute to planning and implementing marketing campaigns
· Experience in and understanding of design, print and web production, communication and distribution
· An ability to oversee and manage project work outsourced to external contractors
· Experience of and enthusiasm in the use of digital and social media in communications and marketing
· Degree or relevant qualification and/or work experience
· A high level of computer literacy and the ability to use programmes including word processing, databases and spreadsheets
· Knowledge of Content Management Systems to update websites and produce email marketing campaigns
General skills/abilities essential to the post
· Enthusiasm for the arts, in particular music and literature
· The ability to manage working time and multi-task sometimes under pressure and occasionally at unsocial hours during festivals
· Ability to prioritise workload, meeting strict deadlines whilst maintaining a high level of accuracy
· The ability to work in a team, and to contribute energy, creativity and enthusiasm
· Ability to work on own initiative, taking a pro-active approach to work
· Good administrative and organisational skills
· Excellent written and oral communication skills
· Flexibility to work out of hours as required
· A high standard of literacy and numeracy
· Confidence, self-motivation, trustworthiness and responsibility
· Ability to consider the bigger picture and to think on the go
Skills/qualities desirable for the post
· Communications and PR knowledge and experience
· An aptitude for creative design
· Experience in using InDesign, Photoshop, QuarkXpress and/or similar design software
· Experience in copy writing and/or journalism
· Skills in and understanding of customer care
SUMMARY TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Salary: £15,000
Other benefits: 6% pension contribution from employer
Annual leave: 20 days per annum plus bank holidays, rising 1 day per annum up
to maximum 25 days per annum
Hours per week 37.5 hours
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Bath Festivals welcomes applications regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or disability. Unfortunately however the offices of Bath Festivals are not currently wheelchair accessible.
DISCLOSURE AND BARRING SERVICE CHECK
Please note that an enhanced DBS check will be required for this post, (previously CRB check).
ABOUT BATH FESTIVALS
Bath Festivals believes that festivals lift the soul and raise the spirit, make people feel good about the place they live in, and contribute significantly to the economy. Our leading music and literature festivals make the most of the world heritage city of Bath. We bring inventive, memorable and popular events to our many different audiences. We deliver inspiring work with children and young people, and provide support to the arts in our local area.
Our Festivals champion diversity and collaboration, celebrate the fusion of the traditional and the contemporary; open people’s minds, and showcase the work of both established and up-and-coming performers. We provide year-round learning and participation opportunities for children, young people, and act as a central hub for the arts in Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES), serving 120 festivals, events and local arts organisations through the Bath Box Office.
Bath Festivals has five main areas of activity: the Bath International Music Festival, the Independent Bath Literature Festival; the Telegraph Bath Children’s Literature Festival; an associated year-round learning and participation programme in the Bath & North East Somerset area; and the year-round Bath Box Office.
The company is a long-established, charitably registered independent arts organisation, currently receiving support from Bath & North East Somerset Council and Arts Council England. Other key sources of income are ticket and other sales, contributions from trust funds, private donors and a range of commercial sponsors.
Over the next three or four years the company is seeking to increase significantly its earned income and fundraising to balance reductions in public funding. We are also committed to expanding our work in the smaller towns and villages of North East Somerset.
Bath Festivals has a committed and skilled permanent staff, and a team of highly talented Artistic Directors. The Chief Executive, Belinda Kidd, joined the organization in November 2010, bringing substantial experience from a long career in the arts.
The Board is strong, energetic and committed. The current Chair, John Cullum, is well connected locally and has a strong track record in both the business and charitable sectors.
The Independent Bath Literature Festival
The Independent Bath Literature Festival is at the centre of local, national and international debate, featuring some of the most intelligent, creative, and cutting edge thinkers alive today. Audiences are stimulated and challenged, and can experience a vast and diverse range of work from around the world and the UK.
The new Artistic Director from 2014 is Viv Groskop, a prolific journalist, broadcaster and comedian. The Independent newspaper has been our title sponsor since 2012 and contributes strongly to its ethos and content, as well as providing a high national profile for the Festival.
In its seventeen year history the Literature Festival has hosted Nobel and Booker Prize winners such as Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel and Howard Jacobson; leading political thinkers from Tony Benn and Tariq Ali to Anna Politkovskaya and Eric Hobsbawm, poets ranging from poets laureate Andrew Motion and Carol Ann Duffy to Wendy Cope and Simon Armitage, and humourists from Garrison Keillor and Terry Pratchett to Steve Bell.
The Festival is strongly connected to its city and its people. With events taking place in historic buildings throughout the town, we have a special opportunity to match architecture and theme.
The Festival takes place over 10 days in early March each year. Most events take place in Bath’s historic Guildhall, which has two event spaces with capacities of 350 and 75, and which hosts the main festival bookstall and a pop up café. We also use the Masonic Hall, the Holburne Museum, the Mineral Hospital and the historic Georgian streets of the city. The types of event range from best-selling authors in a large-scale venue such as the Forum – a 1930s former cinema with capacity of 1500 – to education workshops in the Holburne Museum for about 20 participants.
The Telegraph Bath Festival of Children’s Literature
The Telegraph Bath Children’s Literature Festival was established in 2007 by Bath-based children’s publishing professionals Gill and John McLay. In 2010 ownership of the Festival transferred to Bath Festivals. The McLays have taken a two year break as Artistic Directors for 2013 and 2014, but will be returning for 2015. In the meantime, David Almond, the well-known children’s author has been the Guest Artistic Director, alongside his role as Visiting Professor at Bath Spa University.
Staged in association with headline media partner, the Daily Telegraph, and retail partner Waterstones Booksellers, the largest dedicated Children’s Books Festival in the UK stages over 100 public, ticketed events and a healthy roster of events in schools throughout the South West. Like the Bath Literature Festival, several historic and modern city centre venues in Bath are used including the Guildhall, the Mission Theatre, Bath Central Library and the Forum.
The Festival regularly attracts some of the biggest children’s authors and illustrators from the UK and internationally. Past contributors have included: Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Morpurgo, Anthony Horowitz, Lauren Child, Shirley Hughes, Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen, Terry Deary, Cornelia Funke, Eoin Colfer, Darren Shan, Neil Gaiman, Anthony Browne, Francesca Simon and Malorie Blackman.
We strive to create a friendly, family atmosphere in which young book fans can come along to Festival events and meet their favourite authors and book characters. Events regularly feature much humour and interactivity, with book readings as well as craft activities, quizzes and games. Our learning and participation work is closely integrated with the Festival, so that we can reach a wider audience of children and young people who might not otherwise benefit from our programme.
Bath International Music Festival
The Bath International Music Festival has an illustrious artistic history and has long been an event of national significance and international reputation, presenting a dynamic mix of world-class performers. The Festival takes place annually over 12 days in late May/early June, and showcases a rich range of high quality events featuring orchestral and classical virtuosos, jazz giants, folk, roots and world musicians, innovative collaborations and unique commissions. Almost 2000 local performers take part in the Party in the City on the opening Friday evening. The whole city hosts events and many thousands attend.
Bath International Music Festival was established in 1948, and at different times has been led by Yehudi Menuhin, Michael Tippett, William Glock, Joanna MacGregor and Alasdair Nicolson. As a one year interim arrangement artistic planning for the 2015 Bath International Music Festival is being supported by James Waters from Festivals and Events International in association with Serious, working closely with Bath Festivals Chief Executive, Belinda Kidd.
The Bath International Music Festival stands out for the diversity of its programming and the thoughtfulness with which collaborations are created.
Audiences are stretched and stimulated, given the opportunity to make new discoveries, and to learn. Artists extend their creative practice by working in new ways, collaborating with musicians from other genres and other parts of the world, and playing in unusual and historic settings.
The musicians featured range from well-established international musicians to emerging younger talent, to students from a wide range of conservatoires, universities and colleges, to local musicians, both professional and amateur.
Learning and Participation Programme
Learning and participation are at the core of Bath Festivals programme, in the belief that participation in the creative arts makes a unique and vital contribution to personal growth, and the wellbeing of individuals and whole communities. Bath Festivals therefore has a significant programme of learning and participation activity, not only delivered through the three festivals, but also through major year round projects.
Through our learning and participation programme we aim to:
· Help children, young people and adults to develop their creativity, and their enjoyment and knowledge of the arts