Job vacancy – Wessex Museums

£31,000 – £34,000
(Depending on experience, pro rata, 0.8 FTE,
fixed-term contract to 31 March 2023)

Wessex Museums is a thriving consortium of the four principal museums across Dorset and Wiltshire that tell the stories of Wessex from prehistory to now, namely: Poole Museums, Dorset Museum, The Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum.

Our purpose is to build the resilience and relevance of our museums by sharing the story of our region through its outstanding cultural heritage in ways that inspire, connect and add value to people’s lives. Over 300,000 people visit the partner museums each year.

Wessex Museums has recently secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver outcomes that support a strategic approach to learning and engagement across the consortium. This coupled with our ambitious collaborative programme funded largely by Arts Council England, means we have a special opportunity to explore new approaches to museum learning and engagement that will help to secure its future sustainability at a time of significant change for our museums.

Wessex Museums is looking for a strategic learning and engagement expert with strong leadership abilities and digital engagement ‘know how’, to develop and implement a fresh and more strategic approach to the partnership’s learning and engagement in the post Covid-19 landscape.

Crucially, the post holder will take the lead in supporting colleagues to join up learning and engagement with our shared programming, and in the process, develop new and innovative projects that extend the depth and reach of our audience engagement, particularly with C&YP and parts of our local communities with whom we currently have low levels of engagement.

The role will require creativity, innovation, digital, coaching and problem solving skills, as well as a person with values firmly grounded in partnership working. This is a unique opportunity for the right candidate to shape a new role with Wessex Museums at a time of change, by building bridges between important aspects of our work – audience development, diversity and inclusion, learning and community engagement, public programming, digital and organisational resilience.

The Wessex Engagement Lead will be employed by Dorset Museum on behalf of the consortium, and the post holder will be an integral member of the Wessex Museums team. The role is home based with a regular desk space available at Poole Museum. The post holder will also be expected to work across all the Wessex Museums sites and build supportive relationships with colleagues in the partner museums.

Dorset Museum is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons.

If you are interested in applying for the role, please contact: Wessexmuseums@bcpcouncil.gov.uk for the job description, person specification and application form, or download them online from: www.wessexmuseums.org.uk/careers

How to apply: Application is by application form. No CVs will be accepted. Please complete the application form and equal opportunities monitoring form and return them by email to: secretary@dorsetcountymuseum.org

The closing date for applications is: 12noon, Monday 3 August 2020.
Interviews will take place week commencing 17 August via Zoom.