Job: Assistant Curator of Open House 2020
Salary: £22,000 Pro Rata (£5,500 total)
Length: Three Months (Early July to Early October)
Contract type: Temporary, Full Time (three or four days a week proposals will be considered)
Open City is seeking two Assistant Curators to help with programming, planning, delivering and evaluating the 2020 Open House festival which takes place on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of September — one of the largest and most varied festivals of the urban landscape in the world.
This role might suit a Part 1 or Part 2 architecture student looking for some experience outside of conventional practice or a student looking for summer work before the university term begins in October.
About Open House and the role
Open House is all about people connecting with their city, understanding its remarkable mix of buildings and public spaces both close to home and all across town. This year, Open House will be a festival of rediscovering the richness of the city after months stuck inside — a jump-start for local economies and a celebration of the architecture, landscapes and places that we’ve all been missing.
We are seeking two assistant curators to work with us over an intensive three month period to help plan, programme, deliver and evaluate the 2020 Open House festival which comprises a mix of in-person events, tours and building tours, online films, online events, children’s activities and podcasts. The role will involve working with buildings, volunteers, external stakeholders and Open City staff to coordinate the 2020 festival which is rapidly evolving in the face of changing social-distancing regulations. It will involve a mix of website editing, event programming, thematic research, volunteer coordination, marketing, copy writing and a wide variety of other challenges.
Some of the specific tasks the role will involve include:
Assisting the Open House team with programming live events for the festival, this will include speaking with event participants, curating content and marketing the programme.
Assisting on the Open House online documentaries programme, approaching buildings to participate, arranging filming dates with filmmakers and potentially being an onsite assistant on filming days if needed.
Assisting with the Open House website, making sure that all public programme activities are appropriately published, sponsors logos are present, and Open House itineraries are laid out.
Assisting with the curation of social media campaigns in the build-up to the Open House festival.
Assisting the Open House team with answering general enquiries from the public, participants of the festival and volunteers by email.
The successful applicants will be able to demonstrate a variety of skills including:
Good written and verbal communication.
Eye for detail.
Voracious interest in London’s architecture and citizens.
Interest in public programming of events.
Competence on design software including photoshop and indesign.
Comfort working with social media and simple website editing (no coding experience required).
Ability to work independently on a project with initiative and creativity.
Office and working from home
The Open City office is at 18 Ensign Street in Wapping. The office is spacious allowing for socially-distanced desk-based working and is, therefore, open to staff who can travel there without using public transport. However, for the duration of the pandemic, no member of staff is obliged to work from the office and working from home is perfectly acceptable. As such candidates should have access to their own computer to work from home. The office benefits from secure inside cycle storage space but does not have a shower room and is not wheelchair accessible.
Applications
Please send a short covering letter, CV and portfolio of design work to Phineas Harper, Director of Open City at phineas@open-city.org.uk with the words “Assistant Curator Application” in the subject of the email.
The deadline is midnight on Wednesday the 8th of July with interviews taking place by phone on the morning of Friday the 10th of July.