Role Description
Post: Artistic Director
Department: Arts
Reports to: Chief Executive
Salary: up to £120,000
We’re looking for a visionary cultural leader who can take Southbank Centre into a new era.
We’re looking for someone who has a real passion for Music, the Arts, and the role that Culture can play in people’s lives.
We’re looking for a collaborative, creative leader who can inspire our talented programmers and the many, brilliant, multi-disciplinary talents and partners who work at our venues.
We’re looking for an active listener who can channel the wants and needs of our audiences – both current and potential – and further extend our relevance across the capital and around the world.
We’re looking for an excellent communicator who will publicly promote and celebrate our artistic programme and our cultural values.
We’re looking for an impresario; a producer; a collaborator.
We’re looking for someone with a positive attitude, a sense of humour, a can-do energy.
The Role
The Artistic Director will be responsible for the overall artistic vision at Southbank Centre and reports to Elaine Bedell, Chief Executive. It’s expected that they will have a strong and dynamic relationship with the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Board and regular interaction with Board Governors.
The Director of Music, the Director of the Hayward Gallery, the Director of Creative Learning and Participation, the Head of Literature and Spoken Word, will all be direct reports.
The Artistic Director will:
- oversee an artistic programme that encompasses Classical Music, Visual Art, Contemporary Music, Poetry, Talks and Literature, Performing Arts, Dance, Festivals and Comedy.
- be one of the key members of a new, smaller, Southbank Centre senior leadership team, reporting to the CEO, and will join that team in being responsible for cross-organisational strategy and direction.
- oversee and develop a world-class artistic programme across all art-forms, spaces and platforms, which will be delivered at a local, national and international level.
- be responsible for finding the right ideas to fill our performance arts venues with seat capacities ranging from 300-2,700.
- embrace innovative digital opportunities, alongside our commitments to live presentation.
- have extensive interesting cultural and artistic networks that will inform their programming.
- create an innovative artistic programme which has excellence, equity and representation at its core.
- find ways of reaching new audiences, whilst satisfying established ones.
- have a new vision for the arts which embraces our changing culture, our cross-disciplinary ways of working and new audience expectation in a post-pandemic world.
- promote the value of education and participation in the arts.
- be responsible for the entire artistic budget and find innovative ways of meeting the challenges of a post-pandemic economy.
- provide cross-organisational leadership, support and inspiration for the extraordinary team of staff, artists and partners who help create and deliver our year-round artistic programme.
Key Responsibilities:
- To develop an artistic vision for the Southbank Centre that will place us at the centre of the UK’s cultural landscape.
- To build on the distinctive tradition of world-class Southbank Centre programming, with inclusion at its heart.
- To develop an integrated, coherent plan for the art-forms, spaces and venues at Southbank Centre when and where appropriate.
- To be the public-facing voice in support of the artistic programme and our cultural values and ambition.
- To develop exciting ideas and projects that will attract major funding and to take a very active role in Southbank Centre fundraising.
- To manage the artistic budget effectively across all areas and play a key role in extending reach and growing revenues across all SC artistic activity.
- To use and exploit technological advances and to develop new art-forms.
- To work collaboratively with the CEO and the Board to deliver Southbank Centre’s strategic and business plan.
- To achieve the right balance between risk-taking, bold and innovative ideas and commercial success.
- To develop and maintain excellent relationships with stakeholders, especially Arts Council England, potential and actual partners and collaborators.
- To develop strong personal relationships with the Chair and Board of Southbank Centre.
- To increase the representation of our audiences and artists, recognising that we sit at the centre of one of the world’s most vibrantly diverse cities.
- To provide leadership, support and direction to the artistic and creative learning teams.