Acting Assistant Arts Director, WHAT

WHAT (Waterford Healing Arts Trust) wishes to appoint an Acting Assistant Arts Director for a period of up to 2 years to assist in all aspects of planning, delivering and promoting the programme of the Trust and managing the organisation.

The Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is one of Ireland’s leading arts and health organisations.  Our programme comprises contemporary art exhibitions, live music performances in wards, artist-in-residence programmes, art and music making workshops for health service users via a mobile Art Kart, Artist on Call service, Iontas Arts and Mental Health Settings and a range of other programmes.  We have built up a large collection of contemporary art which is on view throughout University Hospital Waterford and we commission artworks for specific sites within the hospital.  We also connect with the wider community through our weekly Open Studio and the annual Well festival of arts and wellbeing.  See www.waterfordhealingarts.com for more information.

We take a national lead in the development of arts and health practice in Ireland through our library, professional development programme and advice clinics.  In 2011, in partnership with Create, the national agency for the development of collaborative arts in social contexts, we developed the first national arts and health website artsandhealth.ie which provides information, news, resources and opinion for and by artists, art organisations, health service users, carers, healthcare professionals and others interested in the dynamic area of arts and health in Ireland.

The Acting Assistant Arts Director will:

•  Work with the Acting Arts Director on developing and delivering a multi-disciplinary arts programme of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust in co-operation with the Board of Directors and staff members.
• Liaise with HSE departments, artists, and other organisations on planning, delivering and evaluating the programme of the Trust.
• Project manage WHAT’s visual art programme i.e. curate exhibition programme, oversee installations, manage the mediation and maintenance of the art collection, co-ordinate commissions, loans, donations and requests for artworks
• Co-ordinate the WHAT Iontas arts and mental health programme and Well festival of arts and wellbeing in collaboration with partner organisations and artists
• Co-ordinate the Artist in Residence programme i.e. support the artists, liaise with HSE departments where necessary and monitor, evaluate and promote the programme
• Support WHAT’s national programme i.e. co-ordinate Continuous Professional Development training for artists and healthcare professionals, support the WHAT Artists Network, deal with national and international queries, host visits and advocate for WHAT
• Work within assigned budgets
• Write and co-ordinate the design and production of mediation and promotional materials – press releases, catalogues, fliers, invitations – and organise the dissemination of these
• Seek and secure funding for the arts programme through public and private sources
• Work in compliance with the Health and Safety and Infection Control standards of the HSE and all relevant policies of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust
• Line manage and support WHAT staff, freelance artists and volunteers when necessary
• Deputise for the Acting Arts Director in her absence

The Acting Assistant Arts Director will report directly to the Acting Arts Director of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust and will be based in the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health.

The successful candidate will have:

 Essential

• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• An ability to multi-task and work to tight deadlines
• Bachelors Degree in relevant field, i.e. arts management, visual art etc.

Desired

• 3 years experience of arts management
• An appreciation of the role of the arts within acute hospital contexts and of good arts and health practice
• Masters Degree in relevant field, i.e. arts management, visual art etc.

This post is for five days per week. Salary scale €28614 – €30940 per annum, depending on experience.

How to apply:

Please submit the following to Claire Meaney, Acting Arts Director, Waterford Healing Arts Trust, WHAT Centre for Arts & Health, University Hospital Waterford, Dunmore Road, Waterford by Friday 17 February 2017 at 2pm.

• Letter of application stating your interest in the position and why you consider you are suitable.
• Detailed Curriculum Vitae
• Names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of two referees with whom you have had a working relationship
• 2 examples of your professional writing – e.g. press releases, documentation, catalogues, articles, evaluation reports, funding proposals, sponsorship proposals

Candidates must be available for interview the week of 6 March 2017.

E-mail: ClaireA.Meaney@hse.ie

Telephone: 051 842664

For further information please visit www.waterfordhealingarts.com