Vacancy: Creative Places Coordinator, Gaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh

Creative Places Coordinator, Gaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh

Deadline for applications: 22 January 2025

Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh is seeking to employ a Coordinator for the ‘Creative Places’ project in the Uíbh Ráthaigh Gaeltacht. The Creative Places project is a community-led arts development initiative of the Arts Council and is supported in Iveragh by the Arts Council, Ealaín na Gaeltachta, Kerry County Council and the Iveragh Language Plan, working in partnership with the Iveragh Taskforce and Éigse na Brídeoige.

This is a vital role that will engage with local communities, including local arts and cultural workers and practitioners as well as key local and regional development organisations. It builds on an 18-month R & D period completed in Q1 2023.

This role will be flexible, open to part time or full time hours with an average of 3-4.5 days per week, as agreed according to the needs of the project and to the needs of the successful candidate.   It will be a 24-month fixed-term employment contract, with limited scope for extension/shortening. There may be some remote working. It is a priority of the role that there will be constant and regular engagement with the community in the Iveragh Gaeltacht.

Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh is an equal opportunity employer and qualified applications are assessed regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, social experience, race or ethnicity, incapacity, civil or family status, religion or membership of the Traveller community.

We are committed to providing a supportive working environment and are willing to put reasonable arrangements in place to ensure that all candidates can participate fully in the application and interview process.

Project Vision and Mission

Our common long-term vision is an inclusive and sustainable Gaeltacht community, rooted in its unique geographical and cultural heritage; fluent, confident and diverse in its creativity, resourceful and imaginative in the face of common challenges.

Our mission for this project is:

·       Foster broad consultation strategies to ensure that the Creative Places Iveragh is articulating community-based aspirations and ideas, with long-term planning ahead.

·       Develop strategic partnerships between local artists, new and old community groups and community development agencies with a focus on achieving socially progressive outcomes.

·       Work with embedded community development networks to build a co-ordinated arts infrastructure that uses a creative, inclusive and diverse approach within the multilingual context of Uíbh Ráthach while supporting, commemorating and celebrating the status and heritage of the Gaeltacht area.

Key competences and experience

·       Experience of engaging with communities, artists and organisations

·       Experience in community consultation and community-led process in the arts

·       Well-developed understanding of socially active arts practice

·       Good understanding of rural contexts and communities

·       Very organised

·       Excellent facilitation skills

·       Excellent collaboration skills

·       Excellent project management skills

Given the context of the Gaeltacht Uíbh Ráthach, we will give priority to applicants who:

·       They are able to function from the

·       Will be willing to settle in the area for much or all of the duration of the contract

Work description

Work with project partners and the public to achieve the following strategic objectives, structured around four themes:

People & Community

Support the different communities and generations of people living locally to have increased and regular access to a rich and diverse range of arts and cultural experiences.

Create opportunities for local artists and creative makers to engage meaningfully with and support the public in developing and growing their careers.

Facilitate community groups who wish to work with creative practitioners to achieve their identified goals through collaborative practice.

Creative Culture

To engage with new practices and approaches to ensure that the traditional language of the Uíbh Ráthach community is strengthened and regenerated through prioritising and supporting creative expression in the Irish language.

Work with the new communities of Iveragh, including members of the Ukrainian community to ensure that their unique cultural heritage becomes part of the evolving cultural profile locally.

Infrastructure for Cultural Development

Build working relationships with embedded local community development networks and publicly funded local arts institutions.

Governance, Evaluation and Sustainability

Ensure that strategic planning and funding for the arts, and artists, is fully and holistically integrated into the ongoing overall planning framework for the area.

Ensure that all Iveragh Creative Places initiatives are underpinned by active green arts best practice strategies and the promotion of climate action.

Key responsibilities

·       Develop, with the working group, a work programme for each of the three years that builds on the results of the R & D period, as well as the continuous learning of the programme.

·       Coordinate and manage the execution of this work programme.

·       Coordinate and manage the work of artists, support staff and other third parties involved in the delivery of the programme.

·       Ensure that the agreed evaluation and evaluation programme is fully integrated into the programme from the outset.

·       Monitor and manage the project budget, in conjunction with the working group and Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh.

In fulfilling this role, it is essential that:

 ·       It seeks the input of the whole community, including arts practitioners, and considers the needs of the whole community.

·       The public will be contacted in Irish or English as they choose, and in other mother tongues where possible.

·       There is a commitment to nurture and support the daily use of Irish in the community.

There will be continuity from the period of Research & Development and construction.

Reporting, Additional Resources and Support

The Coordinator will report to the Steering Group and the manager of Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh. They will have nominated contact persons within the steering group and have monthly or six-week reporting and planning meetings with the group. These meetings will include agreement and reporting on the ongoing work programme and related expenditure, budget updates and timesheets as well as reporting and discussion on emerging issues and opportunities.

The budget of the project will be managed by the Coordinator and approved by the working group, within the financial and governance systems and structures of the Comhchoiste. Budget-related administrative support will be provided within the project. All payments shall be made through the EFT.

Office and meeting space with high speed internet access will be provided in gteic@Uíbh Ráthach in Baile an Sceilg.

The project will have dedicated part-time administrative support (2 days per week).

The project will be supported by the services of an artist consultant from the socially active arts field and an external evaluator who will work with the project from the outset. The project will also be in contact with the research team for the Creative Places project nationally and with the national Creative Places Network.

Project partners will facilitate contacts within the community and add contacts and other support as possible and necessary.

Project partners will provide their channels of communication to advance the work.

Timescale

This is a fixed-term employee contract with a duration of two years, starting February 2025.  The role is flexible, from an average of 3-4.5 days per week during this period. period. It is recognised that there will be periods of greater and lesser intensity, and that the appointee and the working group will agree on a schedule, which will be reviewed regularly throughout the duration of the contract to ensure the necessary flexibility. Some remote working can be facilitated.

Pay Scale

The full-time equivalent rate of pay is EUR 45,500 per year, with a pro-rata salary paid according to the agreed work schedule (3-4.5 days per week).  It is therefore estimated that the salary will be paid in the range of EUR 27,300 to EUR 40,950 pa. A maximum of EUR 93,480 over the term of the contract, including employer PRSI.

Applicants are informed that:

Copies of the Creative Places application to the Arts Council and associated supporting documents are available on request by emailing eolas@comhchoiste.ie.

How to apply

You must submit the following documents by email with Cumas Ceantar Uíbh Ráthaigh as a subject line to eolas@comhchoiste.ie by Wednesday January 22th 2025

·       Up-to-date CV

·       Further details on the relevant experience to date

·       Proposed approach to the proposal of no more than five A4 typing pages describing the approach to a short delivery blueprint, including general budgetary information/breakdown

·       Proposed approach to the timeline

·       Contact details (with e-mail addresses & telephone numbers) for two referees

Selection Criteria (pass or fail)

Applicants will be selected to proceed for shortlisting based on a pass in each category listed below. If an applicant has fail in any category they will not be shortlisted.

Applications at this stage will be considered as follows:

Shortlisted applicants are expected to be invited for an interview during the week beginning 27 January 2025

Alternative methods

Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uíbh Ráthaigh are seeking to encourage an experienced Project Coordinator through this process. If no applicant is deemed suitable, the Comhchoiste reserves the right to use other recruitment methods.

Inquiries

Please email eolas@comhchoiste.ie with subject ‘Cumas Ceantar Coordinator