Louise Orwin & Co

Participation officer call out

Job Description

Responsible to: Louise Orwin 
& Michael Norton (Producer)

Louise Orwin & Co is currently looking for a Participation Officer to support their 2019 projects. The role will involve building and developing relationships for the company’s outreach and participation work, as well as creating a ‘Local Ambassador’ programme across several cities in the UK to deepen relationships with audiences and workshop participants. This participation officer will be a core member of Louise Orwin & Co’s strategic development, helping to reach out to new and exciting communities across the UK.

About the Company

‘Work that demands and deserves to be seen.’ (Exeunt)

Louise is an award-winning writer, researcher and performance maker, making research-driven performance projects that sit on the boundary of live art and experimental theatre. She makes work about subjects that are close to home, hard to get your head around, and need to be spoken about. It is often work about what it means to identify as female today, in a fast-moving, media-saturated world that prizes patriarchal, heteronormative narratives. Louise’s work is provocative and brash, intimate, awkward at times, and generally filled with a heady dose of pop culture

Her work has received consistently great critical acclaim. Pretty Ugly, which delved into how teenage girls interact with the internet today, went viral in 2014 and was featured in press all over the world: on the radio (Woman’s Hour, BBCR4), TV (Fusion News, ABC, US), and broadsheet press (Vogue, The Telegraph, The Independent, El Pais etc). A Girl and A Gun, which explored women and violence on film, has been featured in The Guardian, Vice Magazine, and on the BBC Radio. She has toured both shows throughout the UK and Europe.

She has just re-developed her latest show Oh Yes Oh No, a show about female sexuality and recovery from trauma. The show’s initial premiere at CPT in 2017 saw the show open to 4* reviews and sold out shows. The show will go to Edinburgh in 2019 as part of the British Council Showcase, and tour through Autumn 2019 and into Spring 2020.

She is currently developing her latest work, CRY CRY KILL KILL, a show about rage and what it means to be a survivor, which features live wrestling. The show  was a finalist for The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award 2018, and began its development at the Barbican. The show will be developed through 2019 and premiere in 2020.  

The Role

The Participation Officer will be responsible for:

  • Building outreach practice & participation plan

  • Targeting participants in strategic communities for workshops, with particular attention towards survivors of sexual violence, and trans and female participants

  • Develop Local Ambassador scheme with strategic partner venues across the UK.

  • Participate in regular company strategy meetings with  Louise Orwin & Co.

Required

  • 3-5 years of demonstrable community engagement through the arts

  • Skilled at communicating with a wide range of communities and backgrounds.

  • Knowledge of the arts sector across the UK, particularly in Leeds, Sheffield, Preston and Colchester.

  • Strong team communication skills.

  • Experience of developing and distributing community engagement strategies.

  • Empathetic team member who is committed to inclusive practices and respecting safe spaces

  • Comfortable working around difficult and sensitive themes (including Louise’s work around trauma and sexual violence)

  • Strong facilitation skills

  • Comfortable working remotely

  • Flexible work schedule

  • Knowledge and experience with online file-sharing software (google, slack, dropbox, etc)


Preferred

  • Background working with marginalised communities or survivors of sexual assault

  • Personal relationship with one or more of these locations

  • Driving license

  • Foreign Language skills


Working Agreement

  • Project runs May-December 2019

  • Fee: £3000 paid in three instalments (June, Sept, Dec)

  • Hours: Approximately 25-30 days of work

  • Location: remote work and field work in and around tour venues


We would particularly like to encourage applications from those who identify as disabled, POC, LGBTQIAA+ or as working class to apply.

Please send a CV and covering letter to michael@louiseorwin.com by April 25. Interviews will be conducted on May 1.

Please contact us with any questions or access requirements.

More can be found on Louise’s work here: www.louiseorwin.com