JBC BLOG & NETWORK: Head of Arts at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head of Arts, Nigeria and West Africa

Location: Lagos

Role Type: Business Delivery

Pay Band: 8

Duration: Indefinite

Reports to: Director, Programmes

Role Purpose

To set, enable and deliver the strategic direction and leadership of the Arts Programme in Nigeria and the West Africa Cluster and contribute to the objectives of the British Council in Nigeria.

Geopolitical/SBU/Function Overview

Nigeria is one of the largest economies in Africa. It is also the most populous country with over 180 million citizens. The UK is its largest trading partner. Nigeria holds significant political power in the region and internationally and its society retains a positive attitude to the UK. Therefore, there continue to be major opportunities for the UK and British Council to build on our strong existing relationships with the Nigerian government, institutions and customers/audiences.
Nigeria is the British Council’s largest operation in Sub Saharan Africa. It delivers activity in all our Strategic Business Units, (Arts, English, Education and Society), and operates with both internal and external resources.
The West Africa Cluster is made up of Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria.
The Arts programme in Nigeria delivers more than 25% of our overall programme impact and Nigeria is a priority country for the region. This post plays a key role in the achievement of this impact through leadership of the Nigerian team and will support the team to manage a diverse range of relationships in the sector. This post will lead on the delivery of the regional arts strategy across the cluster.
The post holder will be the team leader for the delivery of our West Africa Arts Strategy which is derived from our global and regional arts strategies. The programme aims to catalyse three main changes:
An increase in the number and quality of UK collaborations, exchanges and connections with artists and creative entrepreneurs in West Africa as a result of better skilled young artists and creative entrepreneurs in West Africa with enhanced capacity to connect, share and exchange with each other and with their contemporaries in the UK.
Stronger networks (informal or formal) and communities of (young / emerging) artists in West Africa will have a stronger voice in, and for their communities and can engage in more institutional UK– WA partnerships that are mutually beneficial and to scale.
There will be more up-to-date and diverse awareness and representation of WA arts in the UK and vice versa.
This is delivered through a regional framework adapted at cluster level and delivered by country teams. We have three main areas or work;

Enterprise:

Hubs Programme: to strengthen communities of artists and creatives in hubs in West Africa and UK for artistic exchange, collaboration and peer to peer learning. This will include training for hub managers and for other trainers e.g. NESTA enterprise, grants to hubs for developing skills and collaborative projects.
Creative Hustle: a seminar series for young artists and creatives in all the countries in the cluster, to build their awareness of creative sector livelihood pathways, build and strengthen networking by young artists and creatives, build our own network on an ongoing basis and connect with our target audiences to maintain a pipeline for insight and programme development.

Festivals:

Festivals Programme: to connect UK and West African festivals for artistic exchange, skills development and networking. The programme will have two main strands: Festival Management Training for skills development and Festival Fund to facilitate reciprocal artist programming of young artists in UK and WA festivals and travel, exchange and collaboration between festival managers of UK and WA festivals.

Brokering and connecting:

Sharing our knowledge and networks with the creative sectors in the UK and sub Saharan Africa
This post and the SBU leads for Schools Education and Society; Director Research and Director Higher Education, Skills and Enterprise report to Director Programmes and are members of the Nigeria Senior Leadership Team reporting to the Country Director Nigeria.

Main Opportunities/Challenges for this Role

The main opportunities and challenges for the role are:

Leadership: Joining the regional arts leadership team to bring insight and energy to our work across the region.
Programme Delivery: managing a diverse team in delivering impact for the UK and West Africa across our expanding programme
Business Development: Developing large scale, multi country, multi-year partnerships for the programme that result in income as well as increased reach and impact.
External and Internal Communications: Strengthening the communications and profile of the programme with internal and external stakeholders

Main Accountabilities

Strategic Leadership of the West Africa Arts Programme
Responsible for our strategy for arts and creative industries work in Nigeria & the West Africa Arts Cluster, spotting new opportunities and developing artistic vision and operational plans for country arts programme
Leadership of Arts in the region with fellow cluster leads, regional arts director and business manager
Partnership and Relationship Management Developing new partnerships that extend the impact of our work and/or provide funding for it. Creating relationships with key players in the creative sector.
Operational Management and Governance
Accountable for financial / non-financial targets and risk management for the cluster Arts Programme. Manage the governance of the West Africa Arts programme.
Staff Leadership
To provide management to country colleagues responsible for delivering our work in arts
Line management of Programme Managers to corporate standards.
Functional and Regional Leadership
Represent Nigeria & the West Africa Arts Cluster across the SSA region on all our work in arts work
Be an active and constructive member of the Nigeria Senior Leadership team which supports the Country Director to provide overall management of the operation.

Key Relationships

Internal:

Country Director Nigeria, Cluster lead West Africa
Director Programmes Nigeria
Director Arts sub-Saharan Africa and the regaional arts leadership team
UK colleagues in Arts Group specifically country sector advisers and Art Form Leads
SBU leads in Nigeria and across the Cluster
Country Directors & in country arts leads, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana
SSA regional colleagues with arts responsibilities

External:

Arts institutions and organisations operating across West Africa
Major arts institutions in Nigeria
Key media contacts in West Africa
Other relevant international organisations active in the region
Potential public and private sector resource partners across the cluster
Key UK stakeholders in the creative industries and cultural organisations

Role Requirements

Threshold requirements:

Passport requirements/ Right to work in country: This is a locally appointed post and so the post holder will need to hold a Nigerian or ECOWAS passport or have existing right to work in Nigeria.
Direct contact or managing staff working with children?: No
Notes: The post will hold primary responsibility for our arts strategy in the cluster, and so will operate across all countries and will be required to travel occasionally in Nigeria and the region.
Regular attendance at evening and weekend events are a normal part of the job.

Person Specification

Language requirements (DELETE IF NOT APPROPRIATE):

Minimum / essential:

Written, Spoken and Aural English at Graduate Level

Qualifications

Minimum / essential:

Graduate Level

Desirable:

Project Management or Arts Management Certification

Assessment Stage:

Shortlisting.

Role Specific Knowledge & Experience

Minimum / essential:

Extensive experience in the arts and creative sector either within an institutional, government or non-government setting in Nigeria and at least one other context, preferably the UK or another West African country
Experience of programme planning, monitoring and management in at least two formal / organisational contexts
Experience managing a large team or a small organisation
Experience of commissioning and managing consultants and partner organisations
Sector knowledge in the field of arts and programme management
Partnership development and fundraising
Managing relationships with stakeholders
Knowledge of digital media tools
Monitoring and evaluation experience with previous programmes

Desirable:

Strong knowledge of UK creative sectors
Experience of presenting arts work in the UK

Assessment Stage:

Shortlisting

British Council Core Skills

Managing People: Leads a large and varied team: Level 4*
Managing Projects: Leads larger projects: Level 4*
Communicating and influencing: Uses influencing techniques: Level 4
Managing Finance and Resources: Plans and deploys resources: Level 4
Managing Risk: Develops the culture: Level 3
Managing Accounts and Partnerships: Plans and leads on accounts and partnerships: Level 4
Developing Business: Leads business development: Level
Connecting with others - Most Demanding
Building trust and understanding with people who have very different views
Being accountable - Most Demanding*
Showing real dedication to the long-term mission of the British Council or the team Shaping the future - Most Demanding
Changing the nature of what we do and the benefits we gain by thinking and planning with creativity
Making it happen - Most Demanding
Achieving stretching results when faced by change, uncertainty or major obstacles Creating shared purpose - More Demanding*
Creating energy and clarity so that people want to work purposefully together Working together - Most Demanding
Creating the environment in which others who have different aims can work together