Following a rising level of unemployment during the Covid 19 pandemic, the last eighteen months have seen both the arts sector & arts graduates suffer, with the latter coming out of education with a limited choice of job options in their field.
Increasingly young workers are moving away from the region to find work elsewhere, with Cumbria LEP’s study of Skills and Employment in Cumbria identifying a growing deficit of the working age population to replace the previous generation of workers, predicted to shrink by nearly 20,000 people by 2026, a situation in which the area will be left struggling to find enough workers to fill the vacated roles.
In response, Eden Arts have launched two new kickstarter scheme positions, which are a great opportunity both for young people to gain employment and training in the arts sector and also to encourage the retainment of young talent in the county.
Project Manager, Bryoney Cartlidge says in a statement, “A lot of the work Eden Arts is doing aims to redress the issue of the workers deficit in the arts sector in two ways; firstly, by training and retaining the future-changers of tomorrow by creating new jobs in the arts, and secondly through Eden Arts activities, which make the area a more attractive offer for young people to want to stay in by offering a lively arts and culture scene.”
The two new positions are Project Assistant and Marketing & Social Media, and each placement runs for 6 months. To be eligible to apply, applicants must be aged between 18 – 24 years old and in receipt of Universal Credit. While no prior experience in either roles is necessary, arts enthusiasts are encouraged to apply!
Training on the job, the Project Assistant will play a key role in supporting all the planning and delivery of Eden Art’s festivals, cinema events and activities in both an administrative role and working on live events. Also hitting the ground running, the Marketing & Social Media Assistant will learn to spread the word, promoting cultural events by creating exciting content for social media and engaging directly with the company’s online audiences.
Eden Arts’ work has an impact locally and regionally and the company works hard to maintain high standards of cultural activity. Key to this work is ensuring that the region remains an attractive place to live in and work in.
Eden Arts Director Adrian Lochhead added “for any place to be thriving it needs to have a good balance of cultural activity, we need to have things that younger people find relevant and fun – and we need to employ those younger people in our cultural organisations so that they learn about our profession and guide our decision making. So we are looking for passionate people, people who want to ensure that we live in a progressive place. You don’t have to be an art expert to join in our mission – you just need to have passion, commitment and desire!”
Both job briefs are available to view online at www.edenarts.co.uk/kickstart
To apply for either position, interested candidates need to refer to their local job centre for applications. Deadline 30th June 2021.
