Since 2011, the Turner Contemporary has been one of Kent’s, the south-east’s and Britain’s most exciting assets in the visual arts scene.
This role requires a driven person with passion and a commitment to contemporary arts. Also, the individual needs the skills and abilities to fully utilise the assets of the gallery – the spaces, the café, the shop – to maximise income in order to continue to provide free entry to anyone who wishes to enjoy the exhibitions.
The individual must be entrepreneurial in their approach, but politically aware to the environment and sector that they are working in. As well as the commercial side, this role is responsible for overseeing the operational side of the organisation – its finances, human resources, IT and administration.
The role:
Lead the long term strategic business planning, income generation and policy development for Turner Contemporary.
Ensure the effective, efficient and entrepreneurial operation of Turner Contemporary Enterprises and to review and improve our commercial strategy to maximise our ability to generate income.
Responsible for the management of the financial, commercial, HR, administrative, and legal functions required to operate Turner Contemporary (charity) and Turner Contemporary Enterprises.
Take strategic responsibility for the financial well-being of the organisation.
Manage change within the organisation and support the development of the staff and Board.
The candidate
Entrepreneurial business skills applicable to an ambitious not-for-profit organisation with significant commercial activities.
You will be a visionary, with strong creative ideas that translate into real achievable business plans.
Good political nous and the ability to build credibility within the organisation and with senior stakeholders and partners.
Will have significant relevant experience of strategic business planning and operational practices.
Significant experience of finance, financial control setting, monitoring and managing budgets.
Extensive experience of managing staff and associated employment issues.
Deadline: Friday 21st November 2014
To apply or for more information please contact Sonya Clampett at sonya@therightethos.co.uk
I’ve just read a study on MPs’ views on charities’ actions by nfpSynergy.
Given that it took 3 individuals to email 154 MPs how acceptable it was to for charities to undertake the 6 different activities listed below it left me a bit cold. Especially as the report was given such an ostentatious and grandiose title of “Charity Parliamentary Monitor” – phew, pretty impressive, eh?
The 6 charity activities in the report that MPs had to say were acceptable or not were:
“challenging government policy”
“holding a parliamentary reception”
“highlighting the effects of a policy on its beneficiaries”
“challenging the policies of political parties”
“a state-funded charity challenging government policy”
A bit of analysis by one of the 3 “box-tick counters” or someone else from nfpSynergy would have been useful.
I’m not sure what the point of the study is – what inference we’re supposed to take from these figures. Are charities supposed to turn around and say, “look only 42% of Tory MPs think its ok for us to challenge government policy -maybe we should think again about doing anything”
Or 90% of MPs think it’s acceptable to hold a parliamentary reception so that perhaps charities should be holding one every fortnight.
If someone is attacking you, your beneficiaries and what you believe is right and committed to campaigning about, shouldn’t you consider perhaps doing more of what they say they don’t like rather than trying to please them?
And is it that important what MPs say on what’s acceptable? Isn’t it much more important to assess how MPs respond to the campaigning actions of charities, learn from this and adapt your actions for the future to gain more campaigning success?
Just back from Lithuania where I ran an advocacy and policy influencing workshop for a children’s charity and their partners. They were all focussed on challenging the existing policy of residential care for children and promoting the need for community based alternatives.
Some were comfortable with advocacy, while for others it was something totally new. We started with seeking to define the external political environment by posing the question where does power lie in Lithuania?
We divided up into small groups, and as ever, I was surprised when they reported back with their different assessments. It does show, I think, the importance of making your assumptions on the external environment explicit in any advocacy work and being open to be challenged on these assumptions.
After some discussion, we got some degree of clarity that in seeking to promote policy or practice change we should look at three levels of power: the national, the municipal and families/ communities.
Having established these three levels, we then set out to construct three influence trees to show the different routes to seek influence on these three targets.
Having established our influence trees, we then began to debate how we might make progress in each of these three areas. To do so we used the theory of change approach. I have written about this many times in the past but the idea is so simple – you do something so that something else happens. We tried to set out our ‘so that’ chain for each area of focus.
I was energised by this training as we were able to both convey the basics of advocacy but also to begin to develop an advocacy strategy. People learnt some new skills but also began to apply their new learning on their issue of concern. At the end of the course, people took down their flip charts with all of their work on them – they now seemed ready to begin their advocacy work.
One of the drawbacks of having had a gap in my blogs is that I now find myself with a long list of things I have wanted to blog about – and this blog is one of them – maybe not too topical but just too interesting to ignore.
Cast your mind back to 2012 and the elections for the police and crime commissioners. This was an initiative by the government to inject more democratic accountability into the strategic direction of local police services.
What really got me going was the refusal by the government to allow a free delivery from the Royal Mail from each candidate to each address in the constituency. This was to be the first time that such posts had been elected, there was precious little media coverage, and all this made the refusal to grant a free delivery all the more hard to understand.
I remember as a Parliamentary candidate, on the two occasions that I stood, that the free delivery from the Royal Mail was so important to allow candidates to make contact with every household in the constituency. Especially if you were operating on a tight budget, as I always seemed to be, this was such an important element in ensuring that voters knew about all of the candidates.
But in this brand new election the government had refused to offer this to the candidates. How then were people going to make up their minds? Certainly in my local area, I received almost no information at all.
So I decided for the first time, since I was able to vote, that I was going to abstain – this was a hard decision – I have always voted and think it is so important to do so. So many people have suffered and fought for us all to have the right to vote. Not only was I going to abstain, I was still going to the polling station to spoil my paper to show my disdain for this process. And I started agitating my friends and family to do likewise.
Then on the eve of poll, I received an email from 38 Degrees. It was such a clever and well written email. Despite the late hour, it made me sit up and take notice.
They focused on one issue: the privatisation of back-office police services. It highlighted that this was an issue (and had been earlier voted for by 38 Degrees supporters as a topic for action) but didn’t lecture me or tell what to do other than invite me to look at what the three candidates had said on this issue. I clicked through on the three links, was intrigued by their different opinions, and as I cared about this issue, I suddenly found myself motivated to vote in this election.
Pretty impressive. Even now some 15 months on I am still impressed by this action. Despite my resolve to abstain, I was touched by this email, enthused by the need to vote and then I took action by voting. For me 38 Degrees were playing a vital part in re-energising democracy. They didn’t tell me how to vote but provided me with information that might encourage me to exercise my right to vote.
As we enter the run-up to the European Parliament elections in May and then the General Election the year after, I am hopeful that we will see similar imaginative actions to energise people into casting their vote.
At the end of last year I ran a day of campaign training for the Sheila McKechnie Foundation’s residential weekend. In addition to their campaign award winners, there were also campaigners, who had applied to join this weekend training.
What was remarkable about this group right from the outset, was their passion for change on their issue. They all had a story and were so clear on the change that they were seeking on their issue. And their hunger for learning was so strong. As a trainer it was superb to be in such an environment. As we covered each campaign tool, you could just sense them reviewing it, and seeing how they could use each tool to strengthen their campaign.
I have written before about the danger, as campaigning becomes ever more professional, that the spark and passion for change is lost. There is a danger that campaigning just becomes another professional discipline.
I have been reading the new book by Liam Barrington-Bush, Anarchists in the Boardroom – how social media and social movements can help your organisation to be more like people. See http://www.morelikepeople.org/the-book/
Very early on in his book, I was very taken by a compelling point he makes: he expresses his surprise on joining a NGO, which was set up to campaign, but by the time that he joined it, the passion and spark had been lost and it had become just another large bureaucratic organisation. How does this happen? Is it inevitable?
I know when I have been recruiting campaigners, looking for professional competence and experience is really important. I look for a track record of making things happen. But I also look for that spark and passion on the issue.
In the past I have been rung by head hunters promoting a senior and often very well paid campaigning post, but I have had to deflect their approach as it was just on the wrong issue for me.
I do think that we should place importance on passion and enthusiasm in our campaigning. Don’t just take it as read. Let’s see commitment and passion for the cause valued highly when we recruit campaigners and then let’s nurture and encourage that passion – it’s a very special thing.
Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Fairtrade Foundation
Apart from your current organisation which other organisations that campaign do you admire and why?
So many! Greenpeace continues to be both brave and innovative – not least the Russian illegal detention of the Arctic Sunrise 30, but also their ability to drive serious issues with a sense of fun – I loved their Star Wars campaign to turn Volkswagen from the ‘dark side’ and the Chainsaw Barbie campaign to Mattel. I’m impressed how38 Degrees has woken everyone up to the power of online in driving nimbleness and democratisation of mass-scale campaigning that every organisation can learn from, and springboarding from online to focussed local organisation and direct action. Traidcraft did an awesome job as part of the successful campaign to win the establishment of a Grocery Code Adjudicator – a supermarket watchdog with teeth – and continues to plug away solidly on trade justice issues where many other NGOs have flagged!
Generally are organisations getting better at campaigning since you began your career? If so, what’s changed?
I think campaigns have got smarter in terms of pushing for specific policy or public goals, and in being creative in how they seek to reach the public and their targets. I do think we’ve lost ground a little on local and grassroots organisation – traditional NGO campaigning has become much more individual action oriented, but at Fairtrade, we have great experience of the power of local mobilisation. Fairtrade towns campaigns have been the backbone of building public awareness and applying change and pressure on companies and public authorities, and we’re proud of that!
Which campaigner inspires you most?
It’s probably clichéd right now to say it, but Malala is pretty awesome – such bravery and such maturity at such a young age. She never asked to be in a global spotlight, and I have occasionally worried about Western media or political manipulation. But you only have to listen to one interview with her to know that she has all the great qualities of a legendary social justice campaigner. Loved her response to the Nobel Peace Prize outcome – that winning peace is more important than winning prizes!
What three attributes make a good campaigner?
Firstly vision – a clear sense of the change you seek – vision requires you also to understand the world and power dynamics you’re dealing with. Second, dogged perseverance – very few campaigns are won overnight and most get knockbacks, so refusing to give up, and looking for new ways around obstacles is critical. Thirdly, creative flexibility – being able to react and adjust plans if they’re not working, or find a new creative way of bringing the campaign alive again if it’s flagging, or seizing quickly on a new opportunity you hadn’t seen at the outset.
What’s the most rewarding or exciting campaign you’ve worked on and why?
The massive mobilisation for Jubilee 2000/Drop the Debt Campaign from 1997-2002 was a pretty exciting time for international development and economic justice campaigning. With hindsight, we didn’t always get it right, and of course it’s still not been won, but it was an amazing global effort, especially in the global South, and delivered some good progress in writing down some of the excessive debt burdens and challenging the nature of conditions being imposed. Our campaign for Fairtrade bananas since 2000 has been pretty successful – around 1 in 3 bananas sold today are Fairtrade – and we’ve had great fun with it, but more to the point, I’ve had the privilege of seeing its positive impact for banana farmers and workers. Again we’ve not yet reached our goal and need to turn the tables now – campaign for there to be no unfair bananas left in the UK, until the industry as a whole is delivering living wages and sustainable livelihoods for banana workers and farmers. If we can do that on bananas, it could be an iconic victory that could spill over to other global supply chains and business practices.
How do you feel campaigns will change over the next five years?
There’s going to be a push for even greater transparency of information and decision making, at local, national and international level – whether it’s campaigning health or child welfare, or private sector responsibility and corporate accountability or local and national government policy. People will take more matters into their own hands as we go further into an open access era of campaigning – technology is putting more power to campaign in the hands of many more people, by making information more accessible, creating new networks that transcend local or national boundaries, but also potentially to find their own solutions through peer-to-peer or shared economy, as we’re seeing in lending, community energy generation, car sharing etc. In Fairtrade we’re calling it ‘Unlocking the Power of the Many’!
What advice would you give someone starting their career in campaigning today?
Get stuck in with both your heart and your head – focus on something you really believe in and care about, but also make sure you do the hard graft study of the politics and the gritty details, so you know your stuff and can apply political intelligence alongside your passion for change. If you’re just setting out and seeking a first step on the ladder, consider volunteering or an internship with a campaigning organisation or team – I know many people who gave their time in the first instance, built up their skills, knowledge and experience, started at the bottom but went on to paid campaigning roles in organisations they have really wanted to work for.
Whilst Policy and Campaigns Consultant at Independent Age
Generally are organisations getting better at campaigning since you began your career? If so, what’s changed?
Yes they are. People understand that campaigning is good for organisational growth; supporters can engage in more activities more easily than they ever could in the past. Both have their downsides too. I think charities need remind themselves that campaigns are an expression of their purpose to change the world and by campaigning you remind yourself of why you exist, both corporately and individually.
Which campaigner inspires you most?
Bob Holman, founder of the Easterhouse Project in Glasgow. I’ve also got a lot of time for my old colleague at The Children’s Society, Jim Davis who whenever he spoke made me wonder why I wasn’t doing more to change the things he faced on a daily basis.
Apart from your current organisation which other organisations that campaign do you admire and why?
Save the Children for the scale of their ambition and their understanding of how to mobilise their supporters. Greenpeace for their persistent activism and keeping alive the spirit of radical intervention; Glasgow University – not really a campaigning organisation, but they produced probably the most uplifting video I’ve ever seen about why change is important.
What three attributes make a good campaigner?
Idealism, scepticism and stubbornness. Good analysis helps, so does thinking differently.
What’s the most rewarding or exciting campaign you’ve worked on and why?
Safe and Sound, with The Children’s Society. I remember when we achieved one of our goals The Guardian wrote a leader about the campaign praising us for our persistence and consistency over time. They said we were ‘a stuck record’. I liked that. I think all campaigners should aim to be a stuck record, going on and on until we get what we want.
How do you feel campaigns will change over the next five years?
On the one hand I think there’s a risk that they might simply become marketing tools, yet on the other hand I think there’s a real opportunity to share the reality of the lives and conditions that charities are trying to change by bringing in the voices from the fringes of society into the corridors of power.
What advice would you give someone starting their career in campaigning today?
Be an optimist of the heart and a pessimist of the mind. I think Gramsci said something to that effect.
Apart from your current organisation which other organisations that campaign do you admire and why?
I really admire campaign groups like the Western Sahara Campaign UK and Free West Papua Campaign which keep campaigning relentlessly on issues that governments would rather forget. Thanks to their campaigning these issues are kept on the international agenda, but it must be tough going and frustrating sometimes.
Generally are organisations getting better at campaigning since you began your career? If so, what’s changed?
I began campaigning in the 1980s. At that time most campaigning was pretty much a choice of having a demonstration or calling a boycott, and working out how many badges you could fit on your jacket. Campaigning is in another league now in terms of the scope of campaigning activities and professionalisation. Perhaps one of the biggest shifts has been how campaigning has become more mainstream, rather than being dominated by the left as it used to be. The changes allowing charities to campaign have probably played a big part in that.
Which campaigner inspires you most?
Working on a country like Burma I have met so many amazing people campaigning for freedom and human rights in their country. They are literally risking their lives campaigning in Burma, which puts the complaints we have about working in the third sector here into perspective. If I had to choose campaigners outside Burma I think I’d go for a couple of people who might for some be more controversial characters. First Peter Tatchell, who never gives up, is always willing to speak up for the vulnerable and oppressed, is never afraid to speak his mind even if he knows he’s going to get stick for it, and is certainly effective at getting issues onto the agenda. Secondly I’d choose Bono. I can’t understand the level of vitriol directed against him. He might not be perfect but he has made a huge difference in getting development issues up the international agenda. I saw that myself working on the Jubilee 2000 campaign at Christian Aid. Most celebrities do bugger all to use their profile and their millions to try to make the world a better place, and yet Bono is the one being attacked.
What three attributes make a good campaigner?
First I think you have to plan long term and be relentless, using every possible pressure point to achieve your goal and keep at it doggedly. Second you have to be willing to speak truth to power even if it can be difficult and uncomfortable, remember a pragmatist has never changed the world. Third is focus. Remember your goal and keep focussed on it. Governments and companies which are feeling the pressure are especially good at throwing up initiatives and processes which fall far short of what is being campaigned for. All too often campaigners get diverted into engaging with these processes which are never ending, rather than staying focussed on their original goal.
What’s the most rewarding or exciting campaign you’ve worked on and why?
Being part of the Jubilee 2000 campaign from the beginning and seeing how it took off to become a global phenomenon was amazing. Persuading DFID to finally start giving aid to people in Burma internally displaced by conflict in ethnic states was especially rewarding because I had seen how desperate their situation was and knew we have made a real difference to their lives.
How do you feel campaigns will change over the next five years?
The role of non-issue based campaign groups like AVAAZ, Change.org, 38degrees and others is likely to continue to grow. We have seen for ourselves at Burma Campaign UK how that can have a hugely positive impact in reinforcing our campaigns. But at the same time I worry about a small tendency for this kind of campaign groups to play it safe. They often follow topical and mainstream agenda issues already in the news, rather than setting the agenda, and the testing of campaign actions to decide whether an action is popular enough to go ahead with presents real risks. How many people would have responded positively to a test campaign action for the Birmingham Six or Guildford Four at the start of the campaigns for their freedom?
What advice would you give someone starting their career in campaigning today?
Don’t think that just because you studied hard for a degree you can walk straight into a campaigns role. Be prepared to work your way up.
If you weren’t a campaigner, what would you be?
Writing satirical novels in between pottering around in the garden.
Apart from your current organisation which other organisations that campaign do you admire and why?
38 degrees for its simplicity and straightforward focus.
Prostate Cancer for their awareness raising and movember initiative.
Macmillan Breast Cancer Campaign – world’s biggest coffee morning. Involves those that perhaps don’t work
Get London Reading – Evening Standard – fantastic publicity via the newspaper and seems to be getting great results.
Generally are organisations getting better at campaigning since you began your career? If so, what’s changed?
Campaigns are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and creative: identifying months of the year, use of the digital arena (covering mobile, content marketing, video and Youtube, email and social media)
Much easier to donate than ever before because of technology.
It’s getting better partly because more support and knowledge is available to hone your skills.
Which campaigner inspires you most?
Camila Batmanghelidjh
What three attributes make a good campaigner?
Resilience
Courage
A genuine desire for change.
What’s the most rewarding or exciting campaign you’ve worked on and why?
I have only worked on one – Make Justice Work.
How do you feel campaigns will change over the next five years?
Increased use of digital campaigning and new technology – Although there is always the danger of campaign overload for the public, particularly for those like 38 degrees and Avaaz who use email.
Improved access to the best skills and contacts needed for lobbying etc. which can be acquired via specialist agencies such as Champollion – so you don’t have to have all the skills. Can buy in.
With the potential emergence of organisations like the US organisation the Frameworks Institute there is a chance that campaigning could be much more effective in terms of learning how to reframe the debate. There needs to be real switch in the best use of language which is particularly important when wanting to change public and/or political opinion.
What advice would you give someone starting their career in campaigning today?
Familiarise yourself with the political arena and its challenges if your campaign requires policy change.
Develop strong and positive relationships with media journalists. Best to have only 3 or 4 to deal with than a whole list of people you don’t know.
Look and learn from others.
Preparation, preparation, preparation – the more you know and understand about your subject matter the better.
Listen to the experts.
If you weren’t a campaigner, what would you be?
The only other place where I could create real change is in possibly government. So perhaps an MP….. But one like Barbara Castle!
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