Beaford Arts is seeking a talented freelance Curator to work with us on creating a major exhibition for the Hidden Histories project in north Devon.

We are seeking an experienced, creative, and passionate Curator to oversee the design and delivery of a major exhibition celebrating the culmination of the Heritage Lottery Funded Hidden Histories project.

The exhibition will take place at the Burton Gallery and Museum in Bideford, during May and June 2019 across two gallery spaces, reflecting the scale and depth of over three years of exploration into the Beaford Archive collections, which include the iconic photographs of artist James Ravilious and some of the earliest work of Oscar winning cinematographer Roger Deakins.

This is a freelance post across 12 months, allowing time and space for an innovative curator to fully respond to the diverse activity and media produced by this unique project; including formerly unseen photographs by the aforementioned artists, 80 newly recorded oral history interviews, film, new work produced through 6 artist residencies, responses from 6 primary schools, contributions from 20 workshops with north Devon's Memory Cafe network, digital content co-created with users of the project website, and multi media input from a large cohort of volunteers and project experts.

The successful candidate will have a flair for producing high quality arts and heritage experiences for the public, an eye for detail and design, and will be an excellent team player.

Freelance fee: £12,500 for a 12 month contract.

The project

The Beaford Archive is a photographic record of people and community in rural north Devon containing more than 80,000 images covering the 120-year period 1870 to 1990. According to the Royal Photographic Society, it is “…a unique body of work, unparalleled, at least in this country, for its scale and quality”. However, few of these images are currently accessible to the public.

Beaford Arts has secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out a major conservation and digitisation exercise that will curate and publish online around 10,000 unseen images that together illustrate the late 20th Century social history of rural north Devon.

Hidden Histories is a three-year project and will include:

• Digitising, cataloguing, archiving and publishing to the web approximately 10,000 existing 35mm black and white negatives from the James Ravilious and Roger Deakins Beaford Archives
• Production of a new fully searchable website to provide a showcase for existing digitised work, newly digitised images and audio, and new work as it is produced
• A programme of oral history, learning and community activity which will create new work and engage people in learning and education
• A project exhibition in May and June 2019 showcasing and celebrating the outputs and achievements of Hidden Histories

Main duties and responsibilities

The Curator will take overall responsibility for the successful development and delivery of a major exhibition in the Burton at Bideford during May and June 2019. They will oversee the selection, interpretation and display of a varied body of project content including but not limited to: black and white photographs from the James Ravilious and Roger Deakins collections, at least 80 Oral History recordings, film of various strands of project activity, a wealth of multimedia responses from children at 6 primary schools, the work of 6 artists in residence, responses from the project journals of around 25 volunteers, memories recorded at 20 reminiscence workshops in north Devon, and digital contributions made via our online archive www.beaford.org

This is an excellent opportunity for a creative mind to apply innovative and exciting ideas about the presentation of art, heritage and community responses with the support of an experienced and passionate team of colleagues: how can this exhibition embody the interactivity, beauty, playfulness, and insightful narratives of the Archive and Hidden Histories?

The photographs the Curator can draw from for this exhibition include compositions considered to be high quality examples of the artists’ work AND around 10,000 newly digitised negatives from the Archive that are for use as valuable historical documents. It is therefore essential that the successful candidate has a sensitive approach to the presentation of the range of photography in the collections and an appreciation of the artists’ intentions in their creation.

A collaborative approach is very important – the Curator will work closely with the Project Coordinator, Hidden Histories Project Board, and the Marketing & Audience Development Manager, while also liaising with an extended team of project experts and volunteers who have contributed to the outputs and reach of Hidden Histories, in order to reflect the scale and depth of this unique heritage project for north Devon. However a clear vision and experience in the stewardship of an idea from conception to final cohesive outcome is also crucial to this post, to ensure that the final exhibition is of a suitable quality to showcase this internationally significant record of rural life.

The Curator has overall responsibility for managing the process of curating the final exhibition, including:

• Working to an overall Exhibition plan formed by the Hidden Histories team in partnership with the Project Board
• Selecting images for Exhibition in consultation with the Project Board and Project Coordinator
• Liaison with Oral Historian for inclusion of audio/transcription work
• Organising exhibition production including printing, framing and preparation of interpretation materials and technologies
• Managing production of catalogue in consultation with the Project Board
• Liaison with the Burton Museum and Art Gallery on exhibition curation and layout
• Sourcing all necessary materials and equipment for the exhibition
• Liaison with the Project Coordinator and Education Leader on exhibition of related activity specifically Community Trails, and multimedia responses from both the team of Hidden Histories volunteers and the Memory Café attendees
• Liaison with the Project Coordinator and Education Leader on a programme of workshops to accompany the exhibition.
• Leading on the installation of the exhibition, as well as overseeing the ‘get out’
• Organisation of private view with the Burton Museum and Art Gallery
• Working with Marketing Manager on appropriate marketing strategy

Contributing to Hidden Histories team

• Contributing to the Celebrating Your Heritage events across north Devon in Summer 2019 ie. designing the exhibition to have elements that could be toured to the key communities
• Provision of monthly blog entries and other content to build interest in the final exhibition
• Contributing to evaluation and other core team work as needed – the Beaford Arts / Hidden Histories team work collaboratively and findings or opportunities from different areas of work are shared routinely

Reporting

The post-holder will report to the Hidden Histories Project Coordinator and will be expected to liaise closely with the Project Board and Marketing Manager.

Person specification

Essential

• Educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant subject
• Proven experience of curating high quality and multimedia public exhibitions to set deadlines
• Proven experience as a creative thinker and problem solver
• A good track record of professionally managing and marketing public arts events
• Demonstrable experience of budget management
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent IT skills including database management
• Excellent team-working skills

Desirable

• Experience of showcasing community outputs and responses
• Experience of working with photographic archives
• Experience of working with innovative technologies for exhibition curation/display
• Knowledge of the history and/or geography of north Devon

Timescale and fees

This is a freelance role working remotely from the Beaford Arts and Hidden Histories team, but the successful candidate will be required to work frequently from the Beaford Arts office in South Molton to ensure there is a suitable level of collaboration between the different members of the team.

Timescale and fees

A fee of £12,500 is available for this role and the work will be spread over 12 months. However we expect that the workload will increase nearer to the exhibition dates. The successful candidate must be available for the exhibition installation week (Monday 29th April 2019 – Thursday 2nd May 2019), the exhibition Private View event (Friday 3rd May 2019), and for the exhibition ‘get out’ (w/c 24th June 2019).

Please note that any additional expenses such as travel are inclusive of the above fee.

Freelance appointees are responsible for their own tax and NI contributions.

To apply, please tell us why you are interested in the role and evidencing your suitability according to the Person Specification. Please also attach your current CV, including details of two referees who we may contact if we invite you to interview, and a Recruitment Monitoring Form. For informal enquiries, please email recruitment@beaford-arts.org.uk

The closing date for completed applications is Midday Tuesday 29th May 2018.

It is anticipated that the interviews will take place on Tuesday 5th June 2018.

Hidden Histories of rural north Devon: Opening up the Beaford Archive has been further supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Elmgrant Trust, Fullabrook CIC, Leader 5 Torridge and North Devon, and the North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Beaford Arts is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation. Beaford Arts is a charity, registered in England and Wales with registered number 279784.