we are hiring an engagement artist

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Job Title | Engagement Artist

Contract | Permanent, part-time (fixed-term until March 2028, and subject to a 3-month probationary period)

Reports to | Artistic Director / CEO

Salary | £32,000 per annum, 0.6 FTE (pro rata £19,200 per annum)

Hours | 22.5 hours in a 37.5 hour week.  Office hours are generally Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.  This role will require flexibility around working hours during periods of delivery, and weekend and evening work may be necessary subject to the needs of the programme.  We operate a Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) system for additional hours worked.

Location | The core staff team typically work 2-3 days per week from Curious Seed’s office base at North Edinburgh Arts, Muirhouse and our temporary residency studio at Ocean Point, Leith, with some home working. The working pattern for this role will be agreed with the successful candidate. We envisage that there will be a mix of time working in the office / studio with other members of the team and, based on the requirements of the job, working in different locations.

Holiday Entitlement | 25 days plus 10 public holidays per annum (pro rata 21 days per annum), increases with length of service.

Pension | Curious Seed contributes 5% for employees. Employees contribute at least a minimum of 3%, and we recommend a matching employee contribution of 5%.

Benefits | Annual employee wellbeing allowance

THE ROLE

This is an exciting opportunity to develop a new role with Curious Seed, imagined at a pivotal time in the company’s evolution, as we celebrate our 20th year anniversary.

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced dance practitioner who is passionate about cross-artform work with a people-centred approach to community building.  You’ll bring knowledge and expertise to the co-creation of activity, nurturing a sense of ownership, wellbeing and connection for people in North Edinburgh and beyond.

As we settle into our new home base in North Edinburgh, you will work closely with the Artistic Director to collaborate on the growth of CURIOUS - Curious Seed’s creative learning and engagement programme.  You will support the strategic development, curation, and delivery of high-quality, impactful creative experiences for a wide range of participants - championing access to dance and arts participation for local communities.

The Engagement Artist will cultivate existing partnerships, as well as developing innovative ways for us to reach and build new audiences. We want to connect more deeply with the people we work with, creating positive, meaningful opportunities for engagement and creative learning through imaginative and inspiring encounters.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

  • Work with the Artistic Director to co-create, develop, and implement a programme of creative learning activity which connects to, and aligns with, Curious Seed’s artistic process and strategic vision

  • Initiate new engagement projects, and grow existing projects to expand the breadth and reach of our engagement work

  • Work with the Artistic Director and Executive Producer to foster new relationships and opportunities, including building new cross-sectoral partnerships in a variety of settings

  • Represent and advocate for Curious Seed’s work, attending networking events

  • Contribute to Curious Seed’s fundraising strategy for the learning and engagement programme e.g. identifying potential funders and providing input to funding applications

Planning & Delivery

  • Work with the Artistic Director to plan, facilitate and/or lead sessions and projects, collaborating with a range of participants across all creative engagement activities

  • Manage practical and logistical arrangements related to engagement activity, including scheduling and communications

  • Work with the Artistic Director to engage freelance contributing artists where relevant, collaborating with them to design the content of activity and projects

  • Work with the Administrative Producer to develop and issue contracts with freelance artists and agreements with partners 

  • Record and document activity and feedback from stakeholders and participants (e.g. written, film and photographic), where appropriate

  • Develop and deliver robust evaluation and research methods that analyse the impact and effectiveness of all creative engagement programmes

Policy & Safeguarding

  • Support Curious Seed’s safeguarding processes and procedures, and act as Deputy Child Protection Officer (DCPO)

  • Play an active part in the development, promotion and implementation of all Curious Seed policies across the engagement programme (including equalities, safeguarding, anti-racism, health & safety and environmental sustainability)

We are looking for an Engagement Artist who has:

ABOUT CURIOUS SEED

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

Our vision is to contribute to the creation of a culture in which everyone feels free to express themselves, and there is a belief that anybody can dance, through shifting perceptions of what creativity can be and who the arts are for.

Find out more about us here.

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR 2025-2028

LOCAL: Embed Curious Seed more deeply within North-East Edinburgh.

COLLABORATION: Develop deeper relationships with some of our long-standing collaborative partners and cultivate new partnerships with exciting artists and organisations.

AUDIENCES: Present performances that weave together threads of narrative, allowing a range of audiences in Edinburgh, throughout Scotland and abroad to connect and feel things in different ways.

CREATIVE LEARNING: Evolve and develop CURIOUS, our creative learning programme, with a focus on creative health and mental wellbeing.

INTERNATIONAL: Develop our international work through residency projects and sustainable touring models.

Curious Seed’s 2025-2028 Business Plan is available on request, by emailing producer@curious-seed.co.uk

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for the role please send us a CV and a covering letter (the letter to be no more than 2 sides of A4) or a video/audio file (5-7 minutes). 

In the covering letter (or video/audio file), tell us how you meet the requirements of the role outlining the skills and experience you have gained in previous roles or your ongoing practice. Considering the scope of the role, we’d also love to hear more about your motivation for applying at this time and what you feel you could bring to Curious Seed as Engagement Artist. 

In your CV, please include the names and contact details for two employment/professional referees.

To arrange an informal chat about the role, please email producer@curious-seed.co.uk. 

Please also complete the optional equal opportunities monitoring form using this link

Closing Date | please send your submission to producer@curious-seed.co.uk  no later than 12pm on Monday 23 june 2025.

SELECTION PROCESS

Your application will be read by the Artistic Director, the Executive Producer, and either a member of Curious Seed’s board, or an external consultant. We will consider your responses to the above, looking for evidence and examples of your ability and aptitude for the role.

We will respond to all applicants, after the closing date, regardless of whether you are invited to interview. 

First Stage: selected applicants will be invited to interview. These will take place in person in Edinburgh and are currently planned for the week commencing 7 July 2025. 

Prospective candidates from the first stage will then be invited to a second stage.

Second Stage: will take the form of a practical workshop, likely to be week commencing 28 July 2025 (exact dates tbc). You will be asked to lead a short section of the workshop with participants. Full details about this stage will be discussed with each candidate in advance to allow time to prepare appropriately. 

Any candidates invited through to the second stage will be offered a fee of £160 to reflect the additional time and commitment required by our selection process.

As part of the recruitment process, applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The successful candidate will provide references to include suitability to work with children, young people and vulnerable adults and will agree to being a member of the PVG Scheme, Scotland.  It will be expected that, as part of the job, the successful candidate will undertake safeguarding training relevant to the post. 

EQUALITIES

We recognise that inequality exists in the arts.  Curious Seed welcomes and celebrates difference, and we strive to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded at the heart of our thinking and planning. We are committed to promoting these values through our programme of work and in how we operate and ensure that decision making about who we work with and who we employ is based solely on job-related criteria and on candidates’ skills and attributes. 

We particularly encourage applications from people who are underrepresented in the sector, and welcome applications from all suitably skilled people regardless of their age, disability, race or ethnicity, faith or belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marriage / civil partnership, education, socio economic background, pregnancy / maternity, or caring responsibilities.