Festival Producer needed

EQUATOR FESTIVAL /  ShivaNova, the national cross-cultural arts company, is looking to take on a dynamic person with new creative ideas to work as Festival Producer on their projects and festivals – World in a Tent Festival events, and associated school and community events in the South East.    ShivaNova will be a national portfolio organisation with Arts Council England from  April 2023 with regular funding over 3 years to help develop partnerships around its community and festival work.

Equator/ShivaNova has produced diverse community, heritage and arts projects with touring and promotion of diverse artists in Kent including Ashford and surrounding regions, Chatham, Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury, Whitstable, Margate, Ramsgate, Tenterden, Rye, Hastings, Sevenoaks, Gravesend and London. Applicants will need to demonstrate experience in:

• Project development and co-ordination, workshops management including in schools, museums, community centres, community and refugee groups, venues and outdoor festivals, parks and spaces.  You will be actively involved in developing 3 multicultural World in a Tent Festivals in Ashford, Folkestone and Dover working with diverse communities in these areas – many of the festival events will be outdoors in different settings.
• Linked to our festivals will be the development of community projects using arts and heritage. Some experience in Education and community work would be useful as there will be co-ordination of workshops in schools and setting up after-school and weekend music/dance/ classes for young people and families within different diverse communities.
• Developing networks and partnerships through the Diversity Arts Network
• Liaising with venues, museums, schools, community organisations and local authorities, and developing partnership projects in the region with local groups.
• Liaising with artists and musicians, exhibition co-ordinators – issuing contracts, workshop and event schedules, health and safety guidance, doing risk assessments and safety checks.  Organising DBS checks for work with schools and young people
• Working with local businesses and companies, community groups and establishing local networks

You should be prepared to travel within the region, preferably be based in the south-east or London.  Ideally we are looking for someone who is based in Kent but will consider applicants from London, and other areas of the South. This is a part-time position at the moment with potential to being full-time and pay will be according to level of experience.  Some of the work can be done from your own base, and you will also be given the opportunity to undertake training to help with festival and project development.  As many of our events are over weekends and evenings we welcome applicants who are able to work flexible hours, or need to adjust their working schedule due to family commitments.  You will work with our regional partners, venues, community groups and schools, and will be overseen by the Artistic Director and the Board.

ShivaNova / Equator Festival actively implements an Equal Opportunities Policy, and especially welcomes applications from diverse backgrounds including African, Caribbean, Asian middle-eastern and Roma backgrounds.  It actively implements a Child Safeguarding policy, Anti-harassment, and Health and Safety policies, and has an Environmental Plan in place.

Please send in your CV with a covering letter by email to shivanova@aol.com.  Details of our work is included and for current information please visit our website and facebook pages:  www.equatorfestival.com, www.shivanova.com. Twitter: @EquatorFestival;  Facebook: Equator Festival; Facebook: WOW – Women of the World Festival; Twitter: WOW-WomenoftheWorld

Shiva Nova is seeking new Board Members

Shiva Nova with its partner organisation Equator Festival have been engaging with and working with culturally diverse and high quality culturally diverse artists and performers for over three decades. We are one of the very few culturally diverse-led organisations in Kent, and have been commissioning and developing new work and giving composers, musicians, dancers and artists the opportunity to perform in a range of venues and festivals in England, including the Southbank Centre, Kings Place, Jazz cafe, Rich Mix, Nottingham Lakeside, Warwick Arts Centre, the Marlowe Theatre, Turner Contemporary, Gulbenkian Theatre, Birmingham MAC and Symphony Hall, Wiltshire Music Centre and other towns and cities in Kent and in Europe.

Our annual Women of the World Festival has featured performers at the Southbank Centre and Kings Place, and in venues throughout Kent and the South-East. We regularly commission culturally diverse composers to develop new projects for our WOW series and also as part of Equator Festival events. We have also been engaged in strategic touring projects to help develop audiences in the South East for culturally diverse work. We have toured nationally and internationally and also with support from the British Council.

Our heritage work is centred around the minority communities that are based in the South East, and these projects are focussed on Nepalese, Roma, south Asian, and Syrian Arab heritages. Our projects are developed in partnership with these communities who are involved in developing the exhibitions and resources as well as leading cultural workshops for both young people in schools as well as the wider audience in our festivals and main events.

We established the Diversity Arts Network (DAN) in 2017 to bring arts organisations, artists, museums and community groups together in the South East to discuss diversity issues and help break down barriers, broaden the artistic offer, diversify audiences and staff, senior leadership and board membership, give culturally diverse artists more opportunities to develop work and overcome challenges in relation to this. We are in the process of developing a DAN website which will be a promotional platform for these organisations, projects and artists to promote their projects, share good practice and challenges, and develop new partnerships of regional and national significance.

ShivaNova has just become an NPO with three years funding from Arts Council England and will be using these funds to consolidate its work on community engagement with diverse communities in Kent and developing its culturally diverse festivals and heritage projects in this region as well as the Diversity Arts Network. With this in mind we are looking to recruit 2 more board members who are interested in the work we are doing. 

Structure

Shiva Nova is a company limited by guarantee which comprises a board of directors and part-time staff as follows:

• Artistic Director
• Education/Project Development Manager
• Marketing and Outreach Manager

Additional staff and consultants are recruited on a fixed term or freelance basis as required for fundraising, delivery of projects, festivals and events.

Shiva Nova plans to diversify representation on the board especially with two members from culturally diverse, disability and LGBTQ+ backgrounds.

Board

The board comprises four members (which includes the Artistic Director). We are seeking to strengthen the skills of the board to best support the organisation into the future. The full Board meets at least four times a year.

Future Plans

We have successfully secured Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation status for three years for arts activity including commissioning, festivals and events as well as the development of the Diversity Arts Network. We will raise funding to digitalise our activities to ensure continuing engagement with the wide range of audiences developed during the Covid pandemic and to enable us to further engage with audiences in our communities, nationally and internationally.

We will further develop our programme of outdoor events derived from successful  music events held throughout 2020 and extend our reach into heritage site, outdoor venues and natural settings with our outdoor multicultural festivals,especially venues or natural settings previously not associated with presenting culturally diverse music or performing arts.

Our aim is to bring music and arts to and from culturally diverse communities so that members of those communities as well as those from less diverse communities share and participate in their heritage and legacy. We will hold events in unexpected places working with venue and heritage site partners to create engaging events. Through our commissioning we will engage new and innovate work, which we will video and disseminate to community members unable to visit in person as well as a virtual global audience. Over the period of this business plan we will continually collect data to analyse and ensure that we are retaining as well as widening our audiences and our reach.

The Role of Board Member

Shiva Nova is now seeking new Board Members to support the organisation into its next phase of    development, to ensure robust governance practices are in place, and to work closely with  the Artistic Director on the future of the organisation.

The Board governs the organisation, supported by the Staff Team. The focus is on driving the organisation’s development, rebuilding after the impact of the COVID pandemic in a financially sustainable manner, and developing our offer to the people    and the wider public.

The general duties of a company director are set out in law. You can read about them in detail  at (provide link to company house info). All independent board members are unpaid and give their time voluntarily.

We provide an induction to all board members to ensure that they are fully aware of their legal duties    as well as gaining an understanding of the organisation, its work, and beneficiaries.

In summary, a board member

• Seeks to ensure that the organisation acts consistently with its purposes
• Acts with care and diligence; board members must manage the affairs of the organisation with the same care and diligence that it is reasonable to expect of someone managing the affairs of another person
• Puts the interests of the organisation first, in circumstances capable of giving rise to conflict of interest between the organisation and any person responsible for their appointment
• Fulfils their duties under company law.

We ask our board members to adhere to the 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life. These are:

• Selflessness
• Objectivity
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Openness
• Leadership 

Time Commitment 

The Board meets formally at least 4 times per year, with additional meetings if required. We hope to undertake an annual board away day also. Board members may also be asked to sit on sub-committees and represent the Board at performances, events, and stakeholder engagement throughout the year.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion 

Shiva Nova is committed to equality of opportunity for everyone. We value the diversity of our communities and are committed to ensuring that no group or individual is unfairly excluded or disadvantaged in terms of their ability to access the wide programme of services the organisation provides and with whom it employs and works.

Shiva Nova will aim for diversity in the membership of its Board to reflect our community to ensure that a diversity of experience, identity and opinion is represented. We will ensure that no individual suffers discrimination because of any of the protected characteristics as outlined by The Equality Act (2010):

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race (includes colour, nationality, and ethnic origins)
• Religion and/or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Skills and Experience of Prospective Board Members 

All our Board members need:

• Integrity and a successful record of achievement regardless of age, profession, or other characteristics.
• An ability to work successfully as part of a team and co-operate with other members of the board and the staff team
• A genuine interest in and commitment to Shiva Nova’s activities and a willingness to learn about the context in which it operates
• To exercise discretion at all times and not disclose confidential information to any third party without the agreement of the Board
• Independence and not have interests that conflict with those of Shiva Nova. We require all board members to declare their interests which are kept on a register.

In addition to the above, Shiva Nova is seeking board members with specific professional skills and experience in one or more areas below:

• Experience of the finance, accounting , especially for organisations with not for profit status
• Knowledge and understanding of community engagement and learning, disability, social deprivation

How to apply 

The Board will assess all applications and meet with those whose skills and experience match the person specification (above) most closely.

For an informal conversation with Priti Paintal, please contact shivanova@aol.com

Application is by CV and covering letter to the email above by (31 January 2023).