Hidden Histories Project Coordinator, Beaford Arts

Beaford Arts is seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Project Coordinator for the delivery of a major new heritage project ‘Hidden Histories of rural north Devon: Opening up the Beaford Archive’, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The position is a full time fixed term contract for 36 months based at Beaford Arts office in South Molton, north Devon.

The Beaford Archive is a photographic record of people and community in rural north Devon containing more than 80,000 images covering the 120 year period 1870 to 1990. According to the Royal Photographic Society, it is “…a unique body of work, unparalleled, at least in this country, for its scale and quality”. However, few of these images are currently accessible to the public.

The three-year Hidden Histories project will carry out a major conservation and digitisation exercise that will curate and publish online around 10,000 unseen images that together illustrate the late 20th Century social history of rural north Devon. This will include digitising, cataloguing, archiving and publishing to the web approximately 10,000 existing 35mm black and white negatives from the James Ravilious and Roger Deakins Beaford Archives; the production of a new fully searchable website to provide a showcase for existing digitised work, newly digitised images and audio, and new work as it is produced; and a programme of oral history, learning and community activity which will create new work and engage people in learning and education.

The Project Coordinator will be responsible for the successful delivery of the Hidden Histories Project. The post-holder will:

Ensure that the objectives and outputs of the project are met, delivered on time and to budget

Manage and support project-specific freelance and part-time staff and volunteers

Work with Beaford Arts core staff team to secure broad and deep engagement with the project amongst the communities of rural north Devon

Take lead responsibility for coordination and delivery of project activities, working with Beaford Arts staff and with volunteers across the region

Full details of the job description, person specification and how to apply are available at www.beaford-arts.org.uk