Hi all,

Please see below an opportunity to work as a critical friend for the new Creative People and Places programme in South East Northumberland. I’ve cut and pasted the brief at the end of the email. Hopefully they will get a strong candidate as it’s a good project based in an excellent museum.

 

 

Thanks

 

Dave

 

 

Dear Dave O’Brien

I am writing to introduce myself and the Creative People and Places programme in South East Northumberland and let you know about the role of Critical Friend, which has just been put out to tender.

 

As you may well know, Creative People and Places (CPP) was initiated by Arts Council England to focus investment into parts of the country where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average.  There are now 18 CPP areas across England, including a programme in South East Northumberland. 

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/our-investment/funding-programmes/creative-people-and-places-fund/

 

The three year programme in South East Northumberland is managed by a Consortium Board (led by Woodhorn Charitable Trust) and a staff team is being put in place.  I began working on the programme in May and will be joined by other members of the team from August.   Our task is to turn the business plan into a creative reality and also measure the impact of the programme!

 

To support this process each CPP area will be working with a Critical Friend and we are now inviting tenders for this role.  The brief has been publically advertised and we are also keen to get the message to specialists in the field, hence this email to you now.

 

The attached document provides the brief for the role of Critical Friend but if you would like any further information please feel free to get in touch.  I am out of the country from the end of this week until 6 August but Keith Merrin (Chair of Consortium Board) is around until  26 July and his contact details are in the brief.

 

With best wishes

Rachel

 

Rachel Adam

Project Director

Creative People and Places – South East Northumberland

 

Direct Line: 01670 624475

Mobile: 07768 557650

 

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

www.creativepeoplenorthumberland.com

 

Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives

QEII Country Park

Ashington

Northumberland

NE63 9YF

 

Woodhorn Charitable Trust is an independent charity which manages Woodhorn as a museum and visitor attraction and the home of the Northumberland Archives. The Trust also manages Berwick Museum, Berwick Record Office and delivers heritage, arts and cultural education and outreach work with people throughout Northumberland and online. Registered as a Charity in England No. 1129712 and a Limited Company 6893854.   ­­  

 

 

 

Creative People and Places, South East Northumberland

Brief for Critical Friend (July 2013)

 

1.      National Context

Creative People and Places (CPP) is a programme initiated by Arts Council England to focus investment into parts of the country where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average.  There are now 18 CPP areas across England, including a programme in South East Northumberland:  http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/our-investment/funding-programmes/creative-people-and-places-fund/

 

All Creative People and Places programmes will be working with a Critical Friend and this brief follows guidelines provided by Arts Council England to all programmes.  The Critical Friends working with each CPP area will also be linked to each other, via a National Evaluation and Peer Learning Coordinator, appointed by A New Direction.

 

 

2.      Mission of CPP in South East Northumberland

To create long-term change in levels of arts participation, driven by the creativity and ambition of the people living in South East Northumberland, and having a demonstrable effect on the well-being of local people and levels of social energy and activism within communities.

 

 

3.      The CPP consortium in South East Northumberland

The consortium is led by Woodhorn Charitable Trust and includes Northumberland County Council, Northumberland Public Health, Northumberland College, Voluntary Sector Assembly and Queen’s Hall Arts.

 

A full copy of the Creative People and Places South East Northumberland bid can be seen at http://creativepeoplenorthumberland.com/ along with a summary of the mission, aims and objectives of the project.

 

 

4.      Purpose of the Critical Friend

The Critical Friend will assist the South East Northumberland CPP consortium board and staff to identify how best to gather evidence and report on the work of the programme and the context in which it is carried out.  The Critical Friend will also help define the evaluation briefs for specific parts of the CPP programme in South East Northumberland, with reference to the national evaluation framework. 

 

The Critical Friend role

The Critical Friend will provide an independent view of the CPP programme in South East Northumberland and prompt honest reflection and appraisal (or reappraisal) by those involved. The critical friend will do this by:

 

·         asking provocative questions;

·         providing additional data, evidence or lessons from elsewhere that offer a different perspective; and

·         critiquing processes and/or reports.

 

The Critical Friend will:

·         Provide advice and guidance on how to capture and report evidence of practice and impact;

·         Act as a broker for knowledge and learning on evaluation methods and on public engagement in the arts;

·         Signpost to useful tools, techniques and approaches for gathering and reporting evidence on practice and impact;

·         Assist to produce accurate monitoring returns and excellent annual and final evaluation reports by providing critiques of draft monitoring returns and reports;

·         Quality assure research methods and tools used as part of project evaluations; and

·         Quality assure project evaluation reports

 

The Critical Friend will also:

·         Observe at least one consortium board meeting

·         Attend at least one event to promote public influence over arts provision in the area

·         Attend at least one event to engage the public in the arts organised by the project

·         Produce a report once a year, reviewing the critical friend process, using a template provided by the national CPP programme evaluation.

 

 

5.      What we are looking for in a Critical Friend

The Critical Friend will be expected to:

·         be open and honest;

·         remain external to the CPP programme in South East Northumberland (eg a critical friend should not be part of a project’s governance arrangements or be involved in delivering any aspects of the project);

·         build and maintain a relationship of trust with the project in particular the people responsible for producing monitoring returns and evaluation reports

·         bring knowledge and understanding of process and impact evaluations, partnership working and public engagement in the arts and/or decision-making processes;

·         support the CPP programme in South East Northumberland to become self-sufficient with respect to evaluation needs over time, so that by the end of the third year the programme should be able to carry out self-evaluations unaided;

·         assist the CPP team in South East Northumberland to capture and share lessons from their work; and

·         operate as part of a team at programme and project level

 

 

6.      Contract

The guidelines from Arts Council England recommend that the role of the Critical Friend translates to around 12 days freelance work per year.

 

The contract will be with Woodhorn Charitable Trust on behalf of the South East Northumberland CPP consortium board and will run from September 2013 to March 2016.

 

 

7.      How to apply

To apply for the role of Critical Friend please provide the following information:

·         An outline of the approach you would take to the role

·         Examples of two projects you have recently delivered

·         Contact details for two referees

·         Confirmation of fees for delivery of approximately 30 day’s work between September 2013 and March 2016.

 

Selection Process

The criteria for selecting our Critical Friend will be:

·         Knowledge, skills and experience that demonstrate the best fit with the role description

·         Clarity of approach for delivering the contract

·         Value for money

 

Please email your proposal to Rachel Adam [log in to unmask] by the end of Thursday 22 August 2013.

 

Interviews will be held at Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives, Ashington, NE63 9YF on the afternoon of Tuesday 10 September 2013

 

 

Further Information

For further information please contact:

Rachel Adam (Project Director) [log in to unmask]

Keith Merrin (Chair of Consortium Board) [log in to unmask]

 

 

The Creative People and Places programme in South East Northumberland is funded by Arts Council England and Northumberland County Council including Northumberland Public Health.