Join Our Trustee Board
We are looking for energetic and engaged Trustees who share our values and our commitment to help us develop a thriving and sustainable arts centre. Could that be you?
How we're making the dream a reality with your help...
Who we are
Summertown Arts Community brings music, dance, theatre, poetry and the visual arts to Summertown and to the wider Oxford community, by hosting a rich programme of classes, performances and activities and providing affordable working spaces for artists. Based in what was the United Reformed Church in Summertown, we have been in existence for less than a year. We are moving into a new and exciting stage; having raised the funds to buy this remarkable and historic building, with its elegant frontage in the heart of Summertown, its performance spaces, and other useful rooms and facilities. Now we seek to expand our trustee team to help us make the vision a reality.
We aim to develop Summertown Arts as a vibrant hub for productive arts activity. We will serve not just Summertown, but the wider Oxford community. We will welcome all in to engage with the arts as participants, learners, audience, viewers and neighbours, building a sense of community and providing local access to arts activity for all, whatever their age, level of experience or ability; contributing to public creative health and well-being. We will provide companies and artists with much needed affordable spaces to develop their practice, create, rehearse, present to the public and share their expert knowledge through teaching and workshops, contributing to sustaining a thriving arts community which can afford to live and practice in Oxford. We aim to provide opportunities for young people seeking careers in the arts to gain knowledge and work experience from professionals, and to provide opportunities for all, through volunteering. We will collaborate with schools, venues, festivals and institutions throughout Oxford to enrich the cultural and artistic offer available to the city and wider area.
The role
Our board of trustees has ultimate responsibility for our strategy, activities and assets. We currently have six trustees and we are now looking to recruit up to six more trustees including people with the following backgrounds:
- A new Chair of Trustees with substantial knowledge of and experience in the arts.
- Someone with professional knowledge the law
- Someone who is a qualified accountant or finance professional
- Someone who with a background in facilities management, ideally in an arts and/or community context
We are also keen to hear from candidates who do not meet these specific criteria, but believe they could actively contribute to our thinking and our future success. We would like to recruit at least one younger trustee, ideally under 30. Previous experience as a Trustee is not necessary. We are committed to a full and appropriate induction, mentoring, training and support for all new Trustees.
The trustees currently meet monthly, normally between 4 and 6pm on a weekday. There will also be opportunities for trustees to sit on committees and working groups, which do not necessarily meet during the working day. We would also expect Trustees to attend some events and activities at Summertown Arts when possible. Trustees are unpaid, but we can cover expenses, including travel and childcare costs.
Application and selection process
Before you apply:
1. Please read the trustee role description and requirements below. You are welcome to arrange an informal chat with a current trustee. To do so, please email Paul Shuter, our current Chair, at [email protected].
2. To apply, download and complete our application form here.
- This includes a statement outlining why you would like to join our board of trustees, and how your skills and experience fit the role description.
- If you have any access needs please get in touch and we can help you apply in a different format.
- Please ensure your application reaches us by Monday 16 March.
- Please don’t send us a CV or covering letter.
3. We will hold interviews and discussions with prospective trustees in the week of 20 April.
4. We will inform all applicants of our decisions by email. You are welcome to seek feedback on your application.
General duties of a trustee
The Trustees of the charity also act as Directors of the company, and therefore have legal, financial and ethical duties under company law and compliance with charity legislation.
As a Trustee you will have various legal responsibilities including:
- making sure we comply with the charity’s governing document and the law;
- making sure we carry out our purpose for the public benefit;
- acting in the charity’s best interests;
- making sure we manage the charity’s resources responsibly;
- acting with reasonable care and skill.
What you will bring to the role
The most important quality we are looking for in our future trustees is interest and enthusiasm; we need and want people that are as convinced of the value and power of the arts in everyone’s lives as we are. We are fully committed to diversity and inclusion and actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds with different skills, experiences and stories to join us in developing our working practice.
Other qualities that will be useful include:
- Understanding of the current environment in the charity sector and/or arts sector;
- Ability to provide strategic analysis and the right level of challenge and support to our discussions;
- Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in our work and our board;
- Good interpersonal and team skills, with the ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds in a constructive and respectful way;
- Good skills in networking, influencing and communication;
- Sufficient time to devote to the role (meetings, time for reading papers, and potential attendance at or involvement with specific SAC projects).
Specific roles we're recruiting for
1. A Chair with substantial experience in the arts
Our ideal person will have some of the following experiences:
2. A Trustee with professional knowledge of the law
3. A Trustee that is a qualified accountant or finance professional
4. A Trustee with facilities management experience (ideally in an arts and/or community context)
Our ideal person will have some of the following experiences:
- managing / directing arts companies, projects or venues;
- creative background;
- practitioner experience;
- arts in the community / in education experience;
- arts funding experience; grant applications, lobbying;
- a range of experience: having worked for different types of organisations in different roles;
- knowledge of the current arts scene and status of the arts in wider society, a commitment to improving the situation of the arts;
- understanding of independence in the arts, of the make-up of the arts workforce and the place of freelancers in it.
2. A Trustee with professional knowledge of the law
- An understanding of the legal requirements of charity accounting;
- To be able to advise on finance and taxation questions, including when and where to seek professional advice.
3. A Trustee that is a qualified accountant or finance professional
- An understanding of the legal requirements of charity accounting;
- To be able to advise on finance and taxation questions, including when and where to seek professional advice.
4. A Trustee with facilities management experience (ideally in an arts and/or community context)
- To support our core business advising us what we may need to know and do to ensure our building, infrastructure, and services are safe, efficient, and productive.
Thank you from all of us at Summertown Arts Community.