Open City is recruiting new trustees

About Open City

Open City is a charity empowering communities to learn about, feel connected to, and have a role in shaping places where they live.

We are on a mission to make the built environment more open, accessible, and equitable. We do this through:

- Our flagship event Open House Festival, opening up and celebrating London and its communities each September

- A year-round young people’s programme which includes city- making workshops at primary and special educational needs schools, as well as the award-winning mentoring programme Accelerate for young people traditionally underrepresented in architecture.

- A year-round programme of events, award-winning podcasts, tours, publications, video content and merchandise to democratise public knowledge about cities and the way we live in them

- Supporting, growing and cultivating dialogue across a network of over 60 Open House Festivals around the world, from Lagos to New York.

About the role

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 trustees work closely with the 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 interest in 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.

Our aim is to appoint three new trustees from a variety of backgrounds, and we are

particularly interested in candidates with experience in:

• charity fundraising

• HR and people management

• data and digital systems

Key Responsibilities

• Attend quarterly trustees meetings including the charity’s Annual General Meeting (week days between 6pm and 8pm alternating between in-person and online).

• Support the CEO and staff team with strategic issues facing the charity throughout the year.

• Attend a reasonable number of Open City events.

• Take an active role in ensuring the sustainability of the charity by supporting fundraising efforts throughout the year.

• Participate in one of the Open City trustee working groups.

• Champion the organisation and its programmes across your networks.

The appointment is unremunerated but reasonable expenses will be paid. Appointments are made for a fixed term of three years, which may be extended by a maximum of two terms.

Person specification

The successful candidates will be:

• respected in their field (mid-career onwards)

• well-connected across disciplines

• persuasive and passionate

• interested in the intersection of architecture and society issues

• enthusiastic about engaging people in urban dialogue

• a proud public ambassador for the work of 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

Our commitment to diversity

As part of our ambitions to improve equality and diversity, we welcome applications for this role from those who identify under any of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, which include race, age, disability, gender, religion or belief, and sexual orientation; and, from those who identify as being working class.

Please note – we do not wish to receive any contact from recruitment agencies regarding this vacancy.

How to apply

If you are inspired by the work of Open City and would like to be considered for the role of trustee we would love to hear from you.

Candidates should send a CV and concise covering letter addressed to the Open City Trustee search committee at 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 of trustees.

The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 18 April 2025.

For more information on the role and how to apply, please download our recruitment pack.