We are now inviting applications for an Access Support Worker, to work on a freelance basis on Into The Wild – an alternative development programme for early career artists.  The contract is for a total of 20 days between January and September 2023, paid at £250 a day. Total fee is £5,000 inclusive of VAT.

Below please find:

  • What is Into The Wild?
  • Job Description
  • Person Specification
  • Fees
  • Dates
  • Accessibility
  • How to Apply

What is Into The Wild?
Into The Wild is an alternative artist development programme, supporting ten early career artists from across England to push their practice forward, learn tools for developing their work, meet and collaborate with other artists, and ask questions about how we can create more equitable and accessible art worlds together as a result. This comprises of:

  • Bi-weekly Monday intensive workshops (10am to 5pm)
  • Monthly online talks (7pm to 9pm)
  • Group trips to Manchester, Eastbourne & Amsterdam
  • A weekend residency at Wysing Art Centre Cambridge
  • Mentoring
  • Budget/support for participants to create their own projects/events/exhibitions

Into the Wild is financially supported by Arts Council England and the artists at Chisenhale Studios who each pay a levy and give their time.  Further details about the programme can be found at http://www.intothewildchisenhale.co.uk/  and here on this Studios website.

Job Description:
The freelance Access Support Worker will assist in our support of participating artists who are disabled, chronically ill or neurodiverse (typically around 5 artists in the group), and help us ensure the accessibility of our digital content. This is a supporting role, and will be carried out in collaboration with the Artist Facilitator as well as any other support workers the participants may already have in place.

This work could include some of the following:

  • Helping with note taking/transcription
  • Organising additional travel/accommodation
  • Working with personal assistants & BSL interpreters
  • Advocating for artists specific access requirements
  • Supporting artists in planning group projects
  • General pastoral care & signposting to other support services
  • Check-ins with participants
  • Supporting the Artist Facilitator to create & add closed captions/audio descriptions to recorded talks & workshops for our YouTube channel

The specifics of the above will depend on the needs of the selected artist participants, who will be chosen at the start of December. We will work with the successful Access Support Worker to work out the best approach to spreading their time across the different requirements and managing their time effectively and appropriately once those exact details are known. This will be planned out with the support of the Artist Facilitator in advance of the programme starting in January, and supported through regular check-ins with them and Studios’ staff.

Person Specification

  • An intersectional understanding of the social model of disability
  • Experience of supporting people with varied access requirements/complex needs associated with disability/illness/neurodiversity
  • Well organised, excellent at time management & prioritising within agreed budget
  • Experience of working collaboratively to achieve shared outcomes
  • Capacity to work flexibly, within agreed parameters of the jobs scope, in support of participants needs
  • Confident using software necessary to make digital content accessible i.e. creating closed captions (non essential but desirable)

If you have access requirements you’d like us to know about, we encourage you to send us your access rider along with your application. For guidance, Disability Arts Online has a free access rider template here: https://disabilityarts.online/magazine/opinion/access-rider-open-template/

We will work with the selected candidate to help ensure they have the support they need to fulfil the role.

However, this does not include travel costs to the the bi-weekly sessions so the post holder will ideally be based in London.

Fee
This will be a freelance contract, so you must be self employed and pay your own taxes in the UK.

We will pay a rate of £250 a day, x20 days, to be worked as needed between January and September 2023 (see below for details on dates).

Total fee = £5,000  (inclusive of VAT)

We are not able to support travel costs, so the post holder should ideally be based in London.

Dates
The programme begins with an introductory weekend 14 and 15th January 2023. Intensive workshops then run every other Monday 10am to 5pm, starting 23rd January. Online talks are the last Wednesday of every month in the evening. These all run until the end of June and we will take three trips during this period.

We will work with the Access Support Worker and the participants to prioritise the trips, workshops and talks that require the most effective support, within the allocated number of paid days. As we will be recording many of the workshops and events, the Access Support Worker will be responsible for making those accessible to wider audiences via our YouTube Channel. It is therefore feasible to allocate half a day to one day a week – from January through June, either attending sessions or working on the accessibility of recordings.

From July, participants will work on their own projects/take part in mentoring, with final sharing events in August/September. Working days will be set and planned for closer to the time, and we will work together to ensure there is sufficient time remaining for this final phase.

How to apply:
You can apply in writing or an audio file or video.

To submit application please email: andrea@chisenhale.co.uk with the Subject: ACCESS SUPPORT WORKER

If you have an access statement, please attach this to your application. If you have any questions about applying, email andrea@chisenhale.co.uk by 18th November 2022. 

Deadline: midnight of Sunday 27th November 2022 

Send us:

  • 1 page statement or 6mins video/audio on your interest in the position, your relevant experience in respect to the job description and person specifications
  • An up to date CV, max 2 pages, with your relevant experience detailed
  • Email address for a referee (someone you have worked with or for)

Please make sure that the files you send us do not exceed 5MB.

Applications must be received by midnight on Sunday night 27th November 2022.

The panel looking over applications will comprise of:

  • A previous Into The Wild Participant that has benefited from Access Support
  • Sophie Chapman (Facilitator of Into the Wild)
  • Andrea Davidson (Director at Chisenhale Studios)

We will interview a short list of applicants in early December, and notify all applicants of our decision by the end of December 2022.