Open City open call for trustees
Open City is recruiting a number of new trustees to provide collective leadership and oversight of the charity, and to support its staff, volunteers and many ambitious programmes.
Open City
Open City makes London and other cities more open, accessible and equitable. We help all citizens of all backgrounds to understand and engage with how the urban landscape has been made, and have a role in shaping its future.
We achieve this in multiple ways:
We run a rich public programme opening up dialogue about the city in creative ways including events, podcasts, publications, courses and tours throughout the year.
Our international network of festivals, Open House, unlocks physical buildings and important conversations in cities from New York to Lagos with large celebrations of architecture and city-making. In London, the first Open House festival is now in its 30th year and is one of the largest cultural events in the country attracting around 250,000 visitors to explore the city and the stories behind it.
We also run a number of pioneering education programmes equipping children and young people, particularly from under-represented backgrounds, with skills and routes into careers in city-making and design.
Our Trustees
Open City trustees work closely with our staff offering strategic support and advice throughout the year, supporting fundraising and programming to ensure that Open City is sustainable in its operations and pioneering in its mission.
Trustees should have a strong knowledge of issues affecting the built environment sector and a passion for the work of Open City. They should bring an ability to support our fundraising activities in various ways such as publicising our work within their networks and making productive introductions from their contacts. We welcome applications from a variety of backgrounds and are particularly interested in candidates with experience in:
Policy and government
Charity governance and administration
Engineering and infrastructure
Architectural history or curation
Fundraising
We believe organisations engaged with empowerment of communities to effect change in the urban landscape should be representative of the society they serve. As such, we particularly welcome applications from communities who have been traditionally under-represented in architecture and other built environment professions.
The successful candidates will be:
Respected in their field
Well connected across disciplines
Persuasive and passionate
Interested in the intersection of architecture and social issues
Enthusiastic about engaging people in urban dialogue
A proud public ambassador for Open City
Capable of bringing in new fundraising opportunities
Committed to diversity and equality
Able to deal with strategic issues affecting the organisation
An excellent communicator with the ability to represent Open City in the wider community
Key Responsibilities
Attend quarterly trustees meetings including the charity’s Annual General Meeting (for the time being these are digital meetings held generally on week days between 4pm and 6pm)
Support the director and staff team with strategic issues facing the charity throughout the year
Attend a reasonable number of Open City events throughout the year
Take an active role in ensuring the sustainability of the charity by supporting fundraising efforts
Participate in one of the Open City trustee working groups e.g. Fundraising Working Group and the Education and Equity Working Group
Champion the organisation and its programmes across your networks
The appointment is unremunerated but reasonable expenses will be paid. After a fixed number of years on the board, trustees may choose to renew their commitment to Open City or step down.
Application Process
Candidates should send a CV and concise covering letter addressed to the Open City Trustee Search Committee to trustees@open-city.org.uk. The covering letter should articulate clearly why the candidate would like to join Open City and what skills, time and connections they believe they could bring to the board and charity. The deadline for expressions of interest is Monday the 23rd of November at midnight.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to meet representatives of the Open City staff team to discuss the work of the charity and their background followed by a separate formal interview with representatives of the Open City volunteers and trustees in the week of the 7th of December. Successful candidates will be notified within the following week with their inaugural trustee meeting taking place in 2021
If you have any questions about the role, please write to the Open City Trustees Search Committee on trustees@open-city.org.uk.
