The Old Fire Station on George Street opened in November 2011 and houses two separate organisations – Arts at the Old Fire Station (AOFS) (a professional arts centre offering performance and rehearsal spaces, a gallery, artists’ studios, and a shop) and Crisis Skylight Oxford (a centre for homeless people offering free education, training and support to people that are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or have been homeless in the last two years).
We believe that the people, activities and opportunities within the Old Fire Station – and the values that underpin everything we do – enable people to find their own ways to become better artists, more resilient individuals and part of stronger, more inclusive communities. Together, they will create outcomes that we could never have planned for or predicted.
To find out more about Arts at the Old Fire Station, visit
To find out more about Crisis Skylight Oxford, visit
‘OUR PLACE’Artist /Project Coordinator
We are looking to employ an artist/project coordinator to curate our exciting new visual arts project running from April 2018 through to January 2019. The successful applicant will plan, curate, deliver and evaluate ‘OUR PLACE’ (working title), a project that will explore the relationship between participants and the Old Fire Station and surrounding areas. This theme is deliberately loose as it is envisaged that it will be explored and refined with Crisis clients as part of the research and development.
The aim of the project is to:
- enable people facing severe disadvantage to develop their skills and confidence as artists and contributors
- increase the skills of professional artists in working with vulnerable adults
- engage the public in a high-quality exhibition and series of workshops
- help AOFS and Crisis develop their model of social inclusion
The artist/project coordinator will:
- plan for and enable Crisis clients’ participation at all stages of the project from research and development to evaluation
- deliver artistic taster workshops to Crisis clients
- coordinate the recruitment of 2/3 professional artists to work closely in a professional artistic mentoring role with Crisis clients
- oversee the work of the project artists in liaison with AOFS and Crisis staff and be one of the artist/mentors
- lead on the curation of a six-week exhibition in our public gallery in November/December 2018
- assist in the design and delivery of at least one talk/workshop for the public exploring the content of the exhibition
- work with the Participation Coordinator to evaluate the project in January 2019
The working title for the project is ‘OUR PLACE’ but this may change as the participants design the detail of the project. he
The fee for the project will be £5280 payable in 4 instalments on successful completion of the relevant stage of the project.
The artist/project coordinator will be jointly managed by Sarah Mossop, AOFS Visual Arts Programme Manager and Rowan Padmore, Crisis Arts Coordinator. Sarah will lead on supporting the artistic process and Rowan will lead on supporting participant engagement.
The anticipated timeline for the project is:
February/March 2018 / Call out and appointment of curator/artistApril to June 2018 / Planning, research and development with homeless people
Recruitment of artist mentors to work with participants
July to September 2018 / Devising and creating with homeless people
October 2018 / Intensive finalisation of work
November 2018 / Curation and installation
November to December 2018 / Interpretation and public workshop/s run by homeless people with artists
January 2019 / Evaluation report
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If you would like to apply for the role of ‘OUR PLACE’Artist/Project Coordinator at the Old Fire Station, please send us the following:
- your CV
- a statement about why you would be suitable for this role (no more than 1000 words)
- up to 8 images of your work as jpeg, pdf or weblink
- the name of two referees who can comment on your practice and your suitability to a role working with vulnerable adults.
Applications should be sent to by 10am on Monday 5th March 2018
Deadline for applications – 10.00am on 5th March 2018
Interview date tbc asap
Employment start date April 2018
Appointment is subject to DBS checks.
We look forward to hearing from you.