JPN NETWORK MANAGER- RECRUITMENT PACK

For details of the Communications Manager position, please click here.

The Jazz Promotion Network (JPN) was established in 2015 as a membership organisation to provide support for the jazz sector across the UK and Ireland. Membership is open to promoters, managers, agents, labels, journalists, educationalists and musicians. We currently have approximately 100 members (organisations and individuals) and hope to increase this by around 20 every year. We are a registered charity and our work is overseen by a Board, elected by the membership, including experienced jazz festival directors, educationalists, musicians, producers and consultants. 

Our core aims are as follows:

  • Create collaborations which will build audiences for jazz and related music 
  • Support the development of skills and opportunities for artists and promoters 
  • Encourage and enable partnerships and communications between members 
  • Facilitate and enable collaborations, partnerships and communications with other organisations in the UK & Ireland and internationally
  • Support and connect with education and participation activity in jazz at all levels
  • Contribute to advocacy and awareness of jazz music
  • Help foster growth and new thinking in the jazz ecology 

We already have a track record of delivering several successful annual conferences and a highly effective international partnership with Dutch Performing Arts called ‘Going Dutch’. With recent confirmation of project funding from Arts Council England we can now move ahead with a major programme of training and other activities across the UK and beyond from April 2020-June 2021, open both to JPN members and to others from the sector.  

The programme will include:

  • The JPN 2020 annual conference ‘Reach Out’ – to be held in Belfast from June 25-26, 2020; including showcases, keynote speakers and some topic-specific training delivered by our partners at The Hub
  • JPN partnership in a UK/Irish stand at jazzahead! 2020 in Bremen, with bursaries available for selected jazz musicians and promoters
  • A ‘workforce placement’ scheme for six jazz promoters wishing to experience and learn from another venue/festival/jazz support organisation
  • Six one day training sessions over the period, on topics requested at our 2019 Conference, such as business planning, sponsorship, using audience data and more, run in collaboration with Jazz North, Jazz South and others
  • An ‘action-learning’ project run in collaboration with Jazz South bringing together jazz promoters from across the South of England
  • Training sessions run in collaboration with Attitude is Everything on making our events accessible both for audience members and musicians with disabilities
  • Working with one jazz festival and one venue towards achieving AiE’s Charter of Best Practice, and using these as case studies for the sector as a whole
  • A one day ‘Open Space’ event open to all, to brainstorm ideas for future conferences and events
  • A Creative Lab run in collaboration with Birmingham City University bringing together jazz musicians and promoters with technical experts to experiment with ideas about the future of presenting jazz in performance
  • Participation in a jazz audience research project to be run by Birmingham City University in collaboration with other universities across the UK and Ireland 

The programme includes the appointment of two new part-time freelance staff- a Network Manager and a Communications Manager- the details of the former post are below. 

JPN is an Equal Opportunities employer and is committed to equality and diversity within our Board, membership and workforce. 

JPN NETWORK MANAGER

(This is the page for the Network Manager position. For details of the Communications Manager position, please click here.)

Reporting: this post will report to the Chair/Vice-Chair of JPN Board. 

Duties will include:

Managing and supporting the Workforce Development Programme:

  • JPN Conference– supporting the freelance conference producer on scheduling, logistics, delegate registration, and speaker planning for annual conference
  • Jazzahead– assisting on the stand and promoting/answering queries about JPN to UK and Irish delegates
  • Liaising with our project delivery partners for other events (e.g. training, creative labs, member meet-ups) to ensure dates, speakers and content are confirmed
  • Liaising with regional partners for year-round events to confirm venues, arrange catering, circulate information on events and liaise with attendees
  • Developing and implementing a system for allocating travel bursaries for eligible members
  • Liaising with the Communications Manager on the advertising of events and facilitating the registration process for delegates
  • Designing and budgeting for the workplace placement scheme, plus recruiting participants, administering placements and ensuring prompt reimbursement of expenses
  • Supporting Attitude is Everything with the creation and collation of venue accessibility case studies, plus working with the Communications Manager to ensure accessibility resources are relevant to the jazz sector and share them with membership
  • Supporting data collection from members and identifying suitable case studies to feed into Audience Research Project with Birmingham City University
  • Attending all project events and meetings to represent the organisation
  • Gathering evaluation and equality monitoring data from all participants to feed into final project evaluation

JPN Membership management

  • Year-round communication with JPN members including managing initial membership enquiries, and pro-actively seeking new members
  • General membership administration, including issuing all membership renewal invoices annually, chasing payments, processing new member applications, adding new members to the various systems (eg updating the board on new members, adding them to the  master member list, mailing list, Facebook group, website member list, etc.)  
  • Working  with the Communications Manager to announce new memberships via the JPN newsletter and elsewhere. Setting up systems with the Communications Manager to encourage submission of news items from members for the JPN Newsletter and collating relevant information from elsewhere

Board and Company Administration

  • Arranging board meetings by scheduling appropriate times and locations and booking venues, plus compiling agendas and other board papers in collaboration with the Chair and others
  • Minuting board meetings
  • Organising board subcommittees and meetings, collating notes for Board
  • Preparing notification of the company AGM and circulating meeting papers to the membership
  • Coordinating board member recruitment process and board elections at the AGM

Financial and General Administration (working with the JPN Treasurer where appropriate)

  • Budget management – updating and reporting on project budgets
  • Researching possible funding opportunities, and administering funding applications for future work
  • Raising invoices as required
  • Administration of JPN bank account, including processing payments
  • Reconciliation of bank transactions in order to prepare accounts
  • Supporting preparation of accounts and financial reporting for board
  • Ensuring insurance policies are up to date
  • Ensure trade association memberships are up to date
  • Administering JPN’s communication systems e.g. G suite, Slack, Zoom etc.

Staff Management:

  • Responsibility for overseeing the work of the Communications Manager 

Other Duties.

  • Attending other meetings and events as required, plus assisting board members and other team members in organising and running events
  • This list is not exhaustive and the post holder may be asked to carry out other relevant tasks as deemed necessary by the Board.

Skills/knowledge required: 

Essential:

  • Ability to provide and maintain a positive and welcoming image as the first point of contact for the organisation, and to be an advocate for jazz in general
  • Strong communication skills, written and verbal
  • Good time management, record keeping and task management
  • Self-sufficient with ability to work unsupervised and readiness to be flexible where required
  • Trustworthy and able to work with confidential information
  • Experience managing social media profiles and website content
  • A proven track record of working in the arts and/or arts-funded projects and organisations
  • Knowledge of the jazz scene in the UK and Ireland

Desirable: 

  • Experience of finance software (JPN uses Quickbooks Online)
  • Proficiency with cloud based applications such as Google Drive, Slack, and Zoom (or similar)

Remuneration/terms of employment.

This post is offered on a freelance basis with the post-holder expected to work from home or another location of the individual’s choosing. We estimate that the work involved can be done on an average of 2.5 days working days per week.  The fee payable for the 15-month appointment is £17,500 based on a FTE fee of £28,000 p.a. This therefore equates to a fee of £1,167 a month. Payment will be made monthly on production of invoices and agreed out of pocket expenses for attending meetings etc. will be reimbursed on production of receipts. 

This role carries a 3-month review.

To apply please submit a CV, contact details for two referees, and covering letter (max 2 pages A4) describing why you feel you are suited to this role, to opportunities@jazzpromotionnetwork.org.uk  

(This is the page for the Network Manager position. For details of the Communications Manager position, please click here.)

Closing date for applications February 29, 2020.  Interviews will be held on Wednesday March 11 in London.