Creative Practitioner, Watford Palace Theatre

Watford Palace Theatre is currently recruiting for a Freelance Creative Practitioner to devise and facilitate creative content and support workshop development for WPT’s ‘Elton John’s Glasses Community Project’. Awarded full HLF funding and working in partnership with Watford Museum and Watford Football Trust, the project will be running alongside rehearsals of our autumn production of ‘Elton John’s Glasses’ by David Farr with the aim of encouraging local participants to creatively explore their heritage and nostalgia as a resident of Watford. These explorations will culminate in a sharing event during early September 2017. Overseen by the Participation Team at Watford Palace Theatre, The Creative Practitioner will be expected to:

 Create, plan, facilitate and lead on up to two workshops a week over the course of July/ early to mid August. These will aim to generate creative material with up to 10 participants based on a response evoked by themes, memories and associations with living in Watford during the 80s and 90s, with a focus on Watford Football Club. These responses will help to facilitate content for the sharing event and also feed into a the making of a walking tour based on the reminiscence of the participants
 Co-curate and create a responsive piece of work during the sharing event, working with attendees to represent and embody their collective memories. The creative process will be informed by the practitioner’s creative art form. This could include, but is not limited to: spoken word/storytelling/ poetry making workshop, sketching or painting people’s responses to objects presented at the sharing event, making a short film or documentary, an installation of memories, etc. The material generated will be accessioned to Watford Museum’s collection
 Work closely with external partners to support the creative aspects of a Walking Tour
 Liaise with the Project Coordinator to frequently update on progress of workshops and sharing event planning
 Work closely with a Participation Assistant and Project Volunteers during planning and facilitation, arranging to meet before workshop sessions to insure full briefs are given
 Attend any other relevant meetings both at WPT, Watford Museums, Watford Football Trust and within the EJG project team, facilitating any emerging creative crossovers
 Assisting the Evaluator and Photographer to provide a report of participant experiences

This is an exciting time to work with Watford Palace Theatre as we begin to move our participatory work in a new direction. This project has a large amount of creative freedom, and would suit a Practitioner who has a keen interest in generating responsive, live work with a focus on heritage and
localism. Due to the short delivery period, previous experience in workshop facilitation will be necessary.
There is no requirement to be from or have a relationship with Watford, but the successful candidate must be able to research and contextualise their knowledge of the area thoroughly and efficiently before beginning facilitation. An interest in football and/ or knowledge of Watford Football Club would also be looked upon favourably, but is not a requirement.

Commitment and Fee

The Creative Practitioner will be expected to plan and deliver up to 2 sessions a week with different groups over a period of 5 weeks across July and Mid August, as well as prepare and curate a responsive piece of work to take place during the sharing event in Early September. The current starting date of the contract has been set at Monday 3rd July.

This role has flexible working days and will be discussed once an offer has been made and participants have been secured, but we estimate a commitment of two days a week for 5 weeks, plus the sharing date in September.

A flat fee of £1,400 will be paid for this role.

Submissions

To apply, please send us a creative proposal no longer than 500 words detailing your provisional plan for workshop facilitation with local participants, and two possibilities of what the live creative response could look like within your preferred art form during the sharing event.

Please also attach a CV/ Portfolio/ Website link- a platform you feel best represents your previous work and gives a clear idea of the kind of work you make. Please note that websites such as LinkedIn, Spotlight or Casting Call Pro will not be accepted.
Please send submissions to roisin@watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk. All applications must be submitted on Monday 19th June by 9am. Applications submitted after this time will not be considered. If you have been successful at this stage, we will contact you to arrange an informal interview before offering the role.

For more information visit https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk/