Job title: Public Programmer

Employer: Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival

Reports to: Festival Director

Responsible for: Freelance practitioners.

Working hours: 3 days (21 hours per week)

Salary: £27,000 per annum (FTE), 0.6 pro rata, approximately £1350 per month

Holidays: 36 days, 0.6 pro rata including compulsory public and company holidays for Christmas and Easter office closure.

Contract: Part-time, 3-month probation period, fixed term till 31 March 2026. Continuation subject to funding.

Start date: October 2023, or dependent on candidate’s availability.

Location: 

Your usual place of work will be Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Office 211, Berwick Workspace, Boarding School Yard, 90 Marygate, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1BN

The role will also include some off site work.

Flexible working:

We are open to proposals for flexible working and combinations of office and remote work. Staff members live in the local area as well as Newcastle and Edinburgh. Both cities are 45 minutes away by train.

Relocation:

For any candidates considering relocation, we are happy to advise and assist where we can.

Working with: 

Your line manager will be Festival Director, Peter Taylor.

You will have responsibility for overseeing the work of practitioners engaged in the public programme’s production and delivery.

You will also work closely with Programmers Alice Miller & Myriam Mouflih; Festival Manager and Communications Manager – Hamish Young & Reba Martin on production and communication of programmes; and Deputy Director, Elisa Kay to support fundraising and strategic development of the public programme.

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF) has a long-term commitment to artists, critics, filmmakers and programmers – exploring new ways of working with – individuals, communities and younger people in Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

The 19th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival will take place in early 2024. We hold pluralist and revisionist ideas of contemporary cinema, its history and curation. Short, medium or feature-length Festival selections can include artists’ moving image and sound; arthouse, documentary or genre cinema; world premieres and freshly restored archival titles; live, installation-based or performative works. Together, they hold shared and overlapping interests in asking what new cinema might be.

BFMAF strives to understand and work towards optimal exhibition conditions for artists and filmmakers’ work within the resources and contexts we have available. In evaluating this, the accessibility of audiences and communities that we are involved with – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally are of utmost consideration.

For your further interest view the programme for the 18th Festival edition or download the Festival Guide.

During 2023-26, the Festival is receiving increased investment from Arts Council England and North of Tyne Combined Authority. This creates three brand new year round part-time programming posts in Berwick. The Public Programmer will join BFMAF’s expanded artistic team including Festival Director Peter Taylor, newly appointed Festival Programmers Alice Miller and Myriam Mouflih (both previously Associate Programmers) and a new Associate Programmer recruited via BFMAF’s annual Programming Fellowships scheme (Closing date: 11 September).

The Public Programmer role emerges from strands of year round programming and commissioning artists work in Berwick. These previous public programmes include:

• Co-commissioning and co-producing artists’ work in Berwick e.g. Mm a film by Margaret Salmon with Sacred Paws and the Berwick Bandits Speedway Team (with North East Screen);
• Film screenings and events curated with or by partner organisations e.g. Giles Bailey and CIRCA Projects’ Take the Credits! or ICO: Right of Way;
• Artist and programmer led skills development and training (in informal, school and higher education contexts) e.g: Screen Time (with Cinema Nation (with Film Hub North)
• Berwick Young Filmmakers (with filmmaker Kimberly O’Neil) or The Hurt Goes On 🤣 (with Film Bee, Berwick Youth Project and Maltings Visual Arts)
• Short film screenings and Arts Award support for Northumberland schools facilitated by Chloë Smith with animator Robin Webb

This new role will be pivotal in:

• Managing and re-evaluating current BFMAF’s current public programme work, producing new knowledges and solidarities to inform its further development;
• Developing fluid longer term partnerships  with local groups, histories and contemporary conversations – seeing how these can connect, be supported or expanded – through conversations with artists and filmmakers;
• Researching models of collaborative commissioning for place specific artistic projects. The emphasis here will be on value of experience for the artist and collaborators rather than quantity;
• Participating in stakeholder meetings in Berwick;
• Identifying and applying for funding opportunities – with the support of BFMAF Director and Deputy Director – to sustain the work and deepen its potentials.

An inspiration for the Public Programmer role is research commissioned by Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival with Louise Shelley and Ed Webb-Ingall. They consulted with 15 Berwick based community groups on potentials of working together with artists and the Festival informed by ideas of ‘the commons’. Suggestions included an annual artist commission working with a grassroots organisation and creating a Public Programme Cluster in Berwick.

The Festival is on the steering group of Berwick Culture and Community Zone and external larger scale projects that relate to our work include Destination Tweed, The Living Barracks and the UK Government’s Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal to redevelop The Maltings.

The Public Programmer can refresh these conversations (and create new ones) by sketching possibilities and priorities, based on mutual interest and their own experience.

Essential 

An experienced programmer or producer with:

• A demonstrable commitment to equal opportunities, fairness and dignity at work;
• Experience in socially-engaged community-led projects and programming;
• An ability to draw upon knowledge of artists’ moving image and new cinema, making it relevant and accessible to audiences;
• A demonstrable commitment to artists’ and filmmakers’ creative and professional development, working with them to develop projects and exhibit their work;
• Experience in project design and management, including setting budgets, scheduling, risk assessment and evaluation;
• Strong competencies in converging knowledge and sharing ideas towards the collective endeavours curating, producing and delivering a festival;
• An affinity towards Berwick-upon-Tweed – its communities, histories and environment;
• A talent for making people feel at ease in creative contexts which may be new to them.

Desirable

• Some experience fundraising for projects or small scale arts organisations;
• Some experience curating or producing arts projects with younger audiences (16 plus);
• A valid DBS check and knowledge of safeguarding best practices;
• Knowledge using online project management systems equivalent to Filmchief and ClickUp;
• Drivers’ Licence,
• Based in the North of England or Scotland and within commutable distance of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Programme research and development

• Research artists, filmmakers, writers, and other practitioners for contribution work to public programmes and their development;
• Deepening partnerships and evaluating formats of BFMAF’s current young peoples’ programmes (16-30): Berwick Young Filmmakers, Screentime, schools screenings;
• Joining and instigating conversations with local community groups, grassroots projects and schools; developing and facilitating projects and public programmes informed by local concerns, lived experiences, and contemporary artistic practices;
• Take part in Festival programming meetings with Festival Director and Programmers, identifying crossovers and creating opportunities to fruitfully connect Public and Festival programmes and audiences;
• Contribute to fundraising for specific projects/programmes of work.

Festival and Public Programme Production

• Contract artists and freelance practitioners for programmes and co-commissions;
• Identify optimum presentation formats and sites for the Public Programme e.g. screenings, exhibitions, podcasts publications; formal arts venues, youth or community hubs, pop up venues, public libraries etc.
• Contribute to a good understanding of how environmental sustainability relates to your work at BFMAF and seek out ways to reduce the environmental impact of BFMAF projects and commissions;
• With colleagues, consider barriers that prevent communities and individuals from participating in BFMAF e.g. access needs or financial costs; and contribute to conversations on the best ways to remove these e.g. supported attendance, bursaries, captioning or subtitling, online programmes etc.
• Supporting the Volunteers Coordinator to identify potential groups/individuals who might be interested in volunteering, assisting them to shape opportunities which must meet the needs of those groups e.g. school leavers.

Festival and Public Programme Presentation

• Attend Festival and/or year round events, supporting and participating in their production and presentation;
• With colleagues, welcome and host programme participants and audiences;
• Introduce programmes and lead Q&As at live events, including liaison with technical staff;
• In the run up to the Festival, supporting the Volunteers Coordinator to identify potential groups/individuals who might be interested in volunteering, assisting them to shape opportunities which must meet the needs of those groups e.g. school leavers;

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is a Disabled led organisation committed to developing positive policies and working practices which promote Equal Opportunities and prohibit unlawful or unfair discrimination.

In recognition of these aims, we particularly encourage applications from people from the Global Majority (global majority refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and/or have been referred to as “ethnic minorities”); Disabled people; and others who have experienced barriers or discrimination at work.

According to provisions in the Equality Act 2010 we will implement a ‘tie-break’ provision at interview stage if two or more candidates are equally qualified for the role and one has protected characteristics that are under-represented within our team. Where possible we will recruit the candidate with the under-represented protected characteristic(s).

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is Disabled led and welcomes Access Riders from candidates. We are keen to support reasonable adjustments requested during application and recruitment processes e.g. submitting an audio or video recording as equivalent to a written application, or asking for extra time at the application or interview stage.

Currently a Festival employee receives support via the UK Government’s Access to Work (AtW) scheme. This funds practical support at work for people with a disability, health or mental health condition. We are happy to support applications from others who are eligible.

If you have any access needs, or barriers to access that you would like to discuss, please do not hesitate to let us know either before applying or as part of your application. Contact: hr@bfmaf.org

Thanks for your interest in working at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival! The application deadline is 10 am Monday 25 September. Please complete the application via the online Public Programmer Application Form providing:

• A motivation letter (up to 2 A4 pages or 1000 words) letting us know:
  • Your specific interests in the Public Programmer role and Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival at this time;
  • How your experience, skills and knowledge match up with the person specification and job description;
  • Some brief ideas and curatorial interests that you can bring as Public Programmer to Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival.

• A CV that demonstrates how you fit the person specification and job description.
• Details of two referees, who will be contacted should a job offer be made.
• Completion of an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.

Contact us at hr@bfmaf.org to discuss the role and any aspects of your application.

Application Deadline:10:00 am Monday 18 September

Interviews: Week commencing Monday 2 October (tbc)