Paid opportunity for Admin Assistant to Festival Director

[stuart]

Alfred,

I take it your answer is zero. The Arts Festival is a company limited by guarantee. I am one of the guarantors. Are you suggesting I did that for self-aggrandisement?

Pretty poor result if I did

Stuart

[Alfred Adler]

Stuart,
no, I am sure you are in it for the right reasons but asking someone to list their charitable contributions, whether it is a time or monetary commitment, is what I was objecting it.

[stuart]

Well then you must give me the freedom to say I object to people seeking to undermine a popular community venture with snide, ignorant and unjustified slurs. Particulary when they don't appear to be doing anything useful.

I hope I am wrong and you and your Colonel friend are indeed Sydenham's secret benefactors. Perhaps we could hope for a better result

Stuart

[Alfred Adler]

What were snide, ignorant and unjustified slurs?

[stuart]

Do you not read your posts before submitting?

Stuart

[Alfred Adler]

Stuart,

the issues you could address, rather than taking a pop at me, is answer what others have asked.

For instance, what happened to Rod Taylor's request for a certain degree of transparency?

Are the artists paid?
Do the artists pay to be listed?
Who exactly is paid and who isn't?

This should be publicly available information, if you are in receipt of public funding.

[leenewham]

Alfred, Stuart is right.

But what you wrote came across as being rude and attacking and attacking the Arts festival.

If you did not intend this, then a quick apology will suffice.

What it boils down to is this:
Do we want people to give up their spare time to create a better local community or not?
If we do, then we need to join in, help and encourage such good will.

If not, then question everything someone does until it makes doing that work unpleasant and unfulfilling and you will stop anyone spending their precious time doing it.

Simples (sorry Robin).

[stuart]

Stuart,
the issues you could address, rather than taking a pop at me, is answer what others have asked.

I do not have that information. And I do feel rather out popped by your good self.

Stuart

[safdirector]

Rod Taylor asked that the festival be 'transparent.' Although I don't see that we are legally obliged to do so (and as a company limited by guarantee, and therefore non-profit making, you can actually view our accounts at Companies House by the way), I will spell out briefly who is paid and who isn't. Hopefully this will allay any concerns from anyone out there who thinks we are somehow exploiting public funds.

As like most festivals that I have spoken to about this, many of our 'guest events' take part by taking advantage of our extensive promotion and support (we run their box office, provide volunteers, full public & liability insurance, temporary event notices etc) whilst contributing a one-off payment of £50. We call this our 'brochure fee' and it covers the costs of printing our glossy full-colour festival brochures and Artists Trail broadsheets every year (approx. £5000 to print by the way). We also take a very reasonable 10% of the box office for those events on whose behalf we sell tickets (through our physical box office, online and on the door).

Visual artists that take part in the annual Artists Trail also pay a similar figure to exhibit their work at the festival. This is in lieu of any commission that we might take on sales of art work (as we tried in year 1).

I should add that the vast majority of artists and participants seem to find this arrangement very satisfactory, and those who don't generally don't take part.

Fortunately, as we now have the funds to pay certain artists to take part, we have been able over the last few years to bring artists of the calibre of John Hegley, Sir Andrew Motion, Roger McGough, Blake Morrison, Benjamin Zephaniah, Dick Gaughan and others to Sydenham.

Where we organise our own (mostly free) events, such as Arts in the Park, Street Celebration, The Remarkable Race of 1913, 21st Century Folk etc then again we are in the very fortunate position of being able to remunerate many of those artists and performers that take place. While sadly we don't have the deep pockets we'd need to pay every single artists and performer who takes part in the festival, we do provide a platform for new and emerging artists to showcase their work. Hopefully in the future, we will have the funds we need to ensure everyone is fairly paid.

And yes, some of our organising team are now paid fees for some of their time. These include the festival director, the assistant creative directors, the finance officer, the box office manager, the volunteers manager, the marketing manager, the graphic designers and the website manager - without whose dedicated efforts and commitment the festival simply could not happen.

However, without exception, those of the team who are paid are giving up the majority of their time for free - or we would not be able to meet the costs of staging the festival. To this extent, we really are largely a volunteer team.

And as mentioned in my previous post, we obviously rely also on a very large team of volunteer stewards, box office staff, technicians and leafletters* every year - many of them returning - and including some who go on to join our team permanently, as well as the ongoing support of the local authority, local businesses and fantastic voluntary organisations such as Friends of Home Park and Friends of Mayow Park.

* NB: all volunteers can now claim out of pocket expenses in line with our expenses policy.

I hope this goes some way to alleviate any concerns some may have.

regards
Jonathan Kaufman
Festival Director

[Rachael]

"If it helps, perhaps it's best to think of our advertised role as a voluntary one, with reasonable daily expenses?"

To be fair, that would have been more of an accurate description. But by listing a job opportunity as carrying a salary of 12k (pro rota) it just seemed a bit mean.

Don't apply then.

You seem very defensive. Are you on the payroll?

Can you hear that nonchalant whistling? That's me, strolling away from the troll.

[Maria]

What it boils down to is this:
Do we want people to give up their spare time to create a better local community or not?
If we do, then we need to join in, help and encourage such good will.
If not, then question everything someone does until it makes doing that work unpleasant and unfulfilling and you will stop anyone spending their precious time doing it.

...... and that is why I am relieved, when coming back to the Forum today, to see so many of us trying (possibly fruitlessly) to reply to the two fairly new posters. My worry is that one of these days Jonathan might just say something like oh sod this, the ungrateful bunch, what in heaven's name is wrong with Sydenham, why should I bother, think I may try Dulwich instead - Something along those lines, anyway. Perish the thought, I say.

PS no, I'm not on the payroll either, just one of the many who hugely enjoys our Festival and doesn't want to loose it.

Think I'll join Rachael in the whistling while strolling away from the troll & co. It really is not worth it!

[leenewham]

I totally agree Maria.

[hazy]

me too

[paultreacy]

I was delighted and honoured to have been a part of the Creative Quarter exhibition and have learned a great deal from the experience of having been curated for the first time and included in a group of some brilliant artists. However, I paid a high price financially but will always treasure the experience and knowledge gained. As to why I took such a financial hit, well I'll not go into that here but lessons have been learned by all concerned.

Hugely grateful too to C+C Gallery for their having taken a gamble on such an innovative show and they too took a financial hit. But experience is being gathered all the while and who knows what might lay ahead for the festival? We can but try.

I think it's wonderful that there's a paid opportunity now for someone from Nov through July and that Jonathan and others are at least getting some financial support for their labours and dedication.

Perhaps in future years as the economy improves, people will buy more art and artists, such as myself, galleries and other venues will actually not have to take such financial risks in order to partake of such festivals.

- Paul Treacy

[marymck]

I agree Paul. I also hope that, if the festival continues to grow, there will be more paid opportunities for local people to do some of the temporary jobs currently done by volunteers - young and old. It would be lovely for example if the festival could offer youths some paid experience for their CVs.

Thanks to Jonathan for the info about the structure and organization and good luck with future projects.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Alfred Adler]

I have reflected on my post (s). My issues with low pay in general should not have been vented at the terms and conditions of this role, which would of course provide a useful opportunity for someone to get involved and have their expenses paid. I apologise for upsetting anyone attached to the festival. I certainly didn't engage brain before posting, and believe it or not, it wasn't my original intention to set out to harm the vibe around such a great opportunity for local people to feel proud of their area. I do support the festival and recognise that volunteering is a valuable part of how such an event can function.

[14BradfordRoad]

Top guy Alfred. We all vent off (just a wee bit) at times!

[leenewham]

More Kudos here AA.