Exhibitions and Interpretation Manager

Rawmarsh, Yorkshire
Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust

Salary £35,000 FTE

Office Location Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S62 7TQ

Hours of Work 37.5 hours per week, 11-month annualised contract, January closure.

Responsible To Head of Culture and Engagement

Role Purpose

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed mansion in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust (the Trust) is committed to delivering high-quality, creative and enjoyable visitor experiences.

The Exhibitions and Interpretation manager oversees the development, delivery and evaluation of the exhibition programme at Wentworth Woodhouse, ensuring all exhibitions are brought in on time, to budget and produced to the highest possible quality.

They manage exhibition content creation, coordination of internal and external stakeholders, related programming and installation and deinstallation of exhibitions.

They also oversee the development and implementation of interpretation for the House and Gardens at Wentworth Woodhouse, including written interpretation, tours, guidebooks.

Role Duties

Exhibitions:

• In collaboration with the Head of Culture and Engagement Design and plan an annual exhibition schedule, working towards a long-term exhibition strategy. Including content development, audience profiling, sourcing loans, scheduling and research.
• Ensure the successful delivery of an annual exhibitions programme, that reflects best practice and meets the Wentworth Woodhouse’s standards of artistic quality, excellence, diversity, accessibility and environmental objectives, in line with the Cultural Strategy
• Supported by the Head of Culture and Engagement, manage all practical arrangements for exhibitions including correspondence with artists and lenders, loan negotiations, artist contracts and MOUs, transport, shipping & customs procedures, environmental controls, indemnity & insurance, conservation, display preparation, installation/deinstallation.
• Ensure that the annual exhibitions programme is delivered on time and to budget.
• Oversee the scheduling, installation and evaluation of exhibitions in the Community Gallery, meeting community engagement objectives set out in the Cultural Strategy.
• Identify and regularly review risk throughout each exhibition programme
• Ensure all exhibitions are evaluated to review quality, financial impact and audience and peer reception to inform future planning and ensuring any follow-up action is taken
• Ensuring the ongoing maintenance of exhibition content and installations.
• Train staff and volunteers to ensure successful exhibition delivery
• Coordinate the production of exhibition build, graphics and printed interpretation liaising with external designers and producers.
• Contribute to and occasionally lead on exhibition-related grant applications, receipts and reporting.
• Maintain and develop appropriate networks with artists, freelancers, organisations, communities, sector groups and organisations, seeking out new sustainable partnership opportunities that benefit the exhibition programme

Programming:

• Devise, deliver and evaluate programming and community engagement with links to the exhibition programme at Wentworth Woodhouse
• Support the delivery of the cultural events programme as required.

Interpretation:

• Collaborate with stakeholder and partners to ensure the House and Gardens are interpreted physically and digitally. Including printed interpretation, audio guides and tours.
• Line manage the Head House Guide and Researcher

Collections and Archive:

• Manage the volunteer research team, to support research for exhibitions and Cultural programming
• Oversee the volunteer cataloguers, to ensure ongoing cataloguing of the WWPT Archival collection

General:

• Maintain good working relationships with partner organisations and colleagues across the sector
• Be an ambassador for the work of the Trust and ensure that visitors are kept informed of ambitions and work ongoing
• Help the Trust achieve its financial targets and help maximise sales through the visitor offer and exhibitions programme
• Comply with the Trust’s processes and procedures to minimise risk to the visitors, staff and volunteers.