Open City seeks Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment
Introduction
Young people are the least enfranchised group in British democracy. Denied voting rights, financial independence and rarely trusted to make decisions that will affect their own lives, let alone the lives of others, the voices of Britain’s young people are rarely heard.
In the built environment too young people have little say in planning, development or architecture. Research by property developers, Grosvenor, revealed that 89% of young people aged 16 to 18 have never been asked their opinion on the future of their neighbourhood and at no stage in the planning process is there a specific requirement to engage young people. With 750 youth centres in England and Wales closed down since 2010, there are few remaining spaces for young people to meet and socialise free from surveillance and control.
Meanwhile, many opportunities for young people to pursue careers in city-making are largely closed to all but those from wealthy or exceptionally well-connected backgrounds. For example, while the LSE’s Millennium Cohort Study found that black teenagers are the most likely demographic group in society to aspire to be architects and engineers, intersecting barriers including lack of access to wealth, state schools squeezing out creative education, and structural racism, inhibit many young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds from achieving their ambitions.
Open City believes that young people have the potential and motivation to drive conversations about the physical spaces of their city, the urban realm and society as a whole. Urban debate is better when young people are supported to realise their ambitions to become the landscape architects, structural engineers and planners of tomorrow. The potential social purpose of architecture is enriched when it is drawn up with the input of young people’s lived experience and expertise. We must unlock the city for young people, by giving them the opportunity and the power to influence its future.
We believe London and the UK face a profound need to develop ambitious and creative strategies for better empowering young people of all backgrounds and ages to develop the skills, platforms and connections to have a louder voice in city-making. In this context we are recruiting for a new senior member of staff to lead the charity’s education, equity and empowerment work, forge new connections with partners and collaborators, and to support London’s young people to take a seat at the heart of debate over London’s future. Join us in making London a more open, equitable, and accessible city for all its young people.
Job Description
£35-38,000 Pro-rata depending on experience
Four days a week
Based in London
Open City is recruiting for a Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment to develop the charity’s pioneering work with young people, particularly from under-represented backgrounds. As the abstract above outlines, we believe British young people experience profound systemic challenges, especially those from under-represented demographics. We are seeking an ambitious and empathic practitioner to drive the evolution of our work with and for young Londoners around architecture, landscape, engineering, construction and city planning.
About Open City
Open City is a charity dedicated to making London and other cities more open, accessible and equitable. We help citizens of all backgrounds to understand and engage with how the urban landscape is made, and have a role in shaping its future. We run a rich public programme opening up dialogue about architecture and the city in creative ways including events, publications, courses, films, podcasts, festivals and tours throughout the year. Our international network, Open House Worldwide, unlocks physical buildings and important debates in cities from New York to Lagos for large celebrations of architecture and city-making. In London, the Open House Festival is now in its 30th year and is one of the largest cultural events in the country giving around 250,000 ordinary people access to buildings and conversations they are normally locked out of.
Open City also runs a number of pioneering education and empowerment programmes equipping children and young people, particularly from under-represented backgrounds, with skills and routes into careers in city-making and design. As the new Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment you will lead and develop this critical programme.
Main Responsibilities
The Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment will join the charity at a time of exciting and holistic change. The charity has a number of new staff including a new chief executive and several new trustees who have joined during the pandemic. Open City is now moving in a bold new direction placing the social purpose of architecture, and wider city-making professions at the heart of it’s ambitious agenda. In this role, you will be empowered to drive the charity’s work supporting young people aided by creative and dedicated colleagues. Open City is a small organisation requiring a hands-on approach to all aspects of fundraising, planning, delivery and evaluation of its programmes but is also an extremely creative environment, free from institutional constraints and always looking to improve and evolve its work.
As the new Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment you will be responsible for:
Developing and driving an expansive vision for Open City’s education and youth empowerment work that puts young people at the head of ambitious and socially-purposeful projects as the charity emerges from the pandemic.
In collaboration with the chief executive and head of development, pursuing and securing funding from a mix of sources to support Open City’s youth empowerment work.
Delivering the existing education and youth empowerment projects Open City has committed to (see section on existing projects below)
Meeting with and reporting to Open City’s board of trustees’ Education and Equity sub committee.
Planning and delivering educational and empowering events throughout the year around London including existing programmes and new ones.
Expanding the Accelerate programme in collaboration with the existing Accelerate tutors and the new Head of Accelerate.
Managing the Head of Accelerate, relevant freelance staff and future hires within your team.
Promoting and advocating your work through social media and at industry events.
Recruiting and managing tutors, guest practitioners and speakers, workshop assistants and volunteers.
Actively engaging with and demonstrating an interest in the work and mission of Open City.
Supporting and collaborating with the Open City team across various programmes and live events where necessary.
Contributing to the overall curation of Open City and it’s programmes, proposing ideas, speaking on behalf of the charity and actively contributing to the development of the charity’s operations.
Contributing to improving Open City as a workplace and organisation on behalf of the staff who work there and the audience it serves.
Person Specification
Essential
Creative and adventurous approach to developing projects.
Excellent project management and delivery skills from inception to completion.
Experience in building and maintaining relationships with a variety of high profile stakeholders including funders.
Strong public speaking and presenting skills with the willingness to speak on behalf of the charity while finding opportunities to foreground the voices of others.
Experience leading dynamic hands-on workshops with young people.
Proven success of securing external funding from private sector supporters and/or grant-giving bodies.
Strong knowledge of the British education system.
Ability to set and work to budgets.
Experience managing freelancers and volunteers.
Highly organised and self-motivated with an ability to prioritise varied workload.
Ability to work alone as well as part of a small team.
Avid interest in London’s architecture and citizens.
Technical skills
Ability to work with Google Suites including Docs, Sheets and Drive.
Familiarity with Adobe Creative Cloud in particular Indesign.
Preferable
Knowledge of architecture and wider built environment professions.
Experience of using social media platforms to promote public or education programmes.
A good network of contacts within the built environment and/or academia.
Own laptop from which to work remotely.
Existing Programmes
Open City runs a number of widely-respected youth empowerment and education programmes including Accelerate, the only free course for teenagers from under-represted backgrounds interested in pursuing city-making careers, and others. As Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment you will lead these existing commitments in collaboration with Open City colleagues and be empowered to shape their future.
Upcoming committed projects include:
Open City has committed to deliver the 2021/22 year-long Accelerate programme with young people across London culminating in an end-of-year exhibition. Accelerate is supported by numerous partners including ft’Work Trust, The Bartlett, Central Saint Martins, Southwark Council and British Land.
Open City have committed to deliver a day of activities for young people aged 0 to 13 around Canary Wharf on the 11th of September as part of the nine-day Open House Festival.
Open City has committed to partnering with The British Library, RIBA, the Museum of London and Pitzhanger Manor to deliver family events for children with disabilities and special educational needs over the weekend of the 4/5th September as part of the nine-day Open House Festival. These activities are funded by the John Lyons Charitable Trust.
Open City is planning four days of early years events at Salters’ Hall (August), Ainsworth Estate (September), Siobhan Davies Dance Studio (October), Brixton Windmill (November) for children aged 0 to 3 years. Other venues will be programmed throughout the year.
Open City has committed to deliver a series of sensory and multi-disciplined workshops exploring architecture for children with special educational needs at the Village School, Woodlands School and College Park School between October and December. This activity is funded by the John Lyons Charitable Trust.
Open City has committed to deliver Architecture in Schools, a project for 15 Tower Hamlets schools and five Lambeth schools between September and December 2021. For the project Open City will deliver a training day for participating teachers and architects on the 6th September at Salters’ Hall, pair schools with architecture practices, organise building visits for classes, facilitate in-classroom workshops and organise an inter-school architecture competition culminating in an end of project awards/celebration event. The project is generously supported by the Canary Wharf Group.
Flexible hours and office
Open City has an office which is open Tuesdays to Fridays. However, the charity delivers many of its public and educational programmes in the evenings and weekends including Accelerate. The ability to work flexibly with your hours in this role is therefore vital. As a guide, candidates should anticipate working around one evening per week and two weekends per month.
Staff are expected to come into the office (which is currently in Tower Hamlets with the possibility of moving to the North Greenwich Peninsula in August) at least once or twice per week but the charity supports remote and home-working.
To Apply
To apply for this role, please email a CV and covering letter to phineas@open-city.org.uk articulating the vision you would bring to Open City’s education, equity and empowerment work and how you would achieve that vision with reference to funding and the context of other youth programmes within London’s architecture sector. If applicable, please also include a short portfolio of images and photographs from previous relevant projects. The deadline is 9am on Friday the 25th of June with interviews taking place in the morning of Thursday the 1st of July in London or online.
Please include “Head of Education, Equity and Empowerment” in the subject line of your email.
Please note, we are anticipating that this is a four day role but are open to alternative proposals including job shares where appropriate.
Successful candidates will be asked to make a short presentation outlining their vision in the interview.
Please get in touch with Phineas Harper if you have any questions about the role.