Paid opportunity for Admin Assistant to Festival Director

[safdirector]

Sydenham Arts Festival Ltd is looking urgently for an Administrative Assistant to Festival Director Jonathan Kaufman, starting in November.

This is a part-time role ideally suited to a locally-based person with high competence in IT, project management and/or administrative skills. The successful candidate will need to commit to an average 15 hrs per week from mid-November to end of July 2014.

Please email director@sydenhamartsfestival.co.uk for more details. Closing date for applications 10 Nov.

Details of SAF 2013 here:

http://sydenhamartsfestival.co.uk/

Sydenham Arts Festival Team

[Alfred Adler]

"Assistant" in more ways than one; the job description says duties include tea making and all for 7 pounds an hour

So, a 7 hour shift would reap the princely sum of 49 pounds yet they want 'high competence in IT, project management and/or administrative skills'. What planet are these people on?

[safdirector]

We're on planet earth.

'Alfred Adler' may not know this, but the festival was started by a group of volunteers in 2009, myself included (Jonathan Kaufman, Festival Director). Our team worked for three years with virtually no pay whatsoever, to bring to Sydenham an immensely successful and well-loved festival.

Only in the last 2 and a half years have we had the funding to enable some of our key team members to be paid - small fees I should add - in order for the festival to continue. This means that even those of us being paid now are still donating enormous amounts of our time for nothing in order for Sydenham to have one of the most vibrant festivals in London. And this is not to mention our large team of volunteers, those venues who donate their spaces for free, the local businesses who support us financially every year and those musicians, performers and artists who over the years have taken part in the festival for next to nothing.

So yes, we're not pretending that £7 per hour is great pay, but at least it's minimum wage. In fact, as Festival Director I'm actually on a lower pay rate, and put in an estimated 1500 hours each year. Such is the nature of arts creation.

Perhaps 'Alfred Adler' would like to contact me to discuss, as I assume he/she is one of the applicants to the original job ad, and we can explain in more detail how we have calculated our pay rate.

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

regards
Jonathan Kaufman
Festival Director

[Nigel]

Jonathan
Very well said . Simple fact is we owe the whole SAF team a huge debt of gratitude for creating a festival of spectacular quality and proportions .
I think Mr Adler is mixing up with real world with the ideal world , a common mistake .
A very good morning
Nigel

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[Eagle]

Alfred

Surely this would be work experience for a keen young person. Wage not fantastic , but would stand well in their CV.

[leenewham]

Well said Jonathan.

[Tim Lund]

We're on planet earth.

regards
Jonathan Kaufman
Festival Director

Indeed.

Only connect the prose and the passion.

[Colonel Abrams]

"Paying the London Living Wage is not only morally right, but makes good business sense too."

Now who said that?

[Maria]

That's a childish rhetorical question (as childish perhaps as your chosen brand new "name", Colonel?).

We all know who said that and I'm sure Jonathan would be the first to agree with the quote when considering the context in which it was made. But he doesn't run a profit making business which as you know Ed M was addressing. Did you not read how his work has been described? What he runs is much more akin to an unpaid Arts Charity which we, as a community, so very often benefit hugely from whereas he hardly ever does from a financial point of view.

This attitude reminds me of a few 14 year olds who ranted about going on work experience for no pay; slave labour, they said! We are just being used here, they added! What they didn't consider was that during those two weeks they would gain absolutely loads of contacts, a potentially glowing reference, new skills and experiences - whereas the employer would just mostly spend the time explaining to them how to acquire those skills and profit from those experiences.

But you, and Alfred Adler, don't sound to me like infantile 14 year olds... strange...

[Colonel Abrams]

That's a childish rhetorical question (as childish perhaps as your chosen brand new "name", Colonel?).

We all know who said that and I'm sure Jonathan would be the first to agree with the quote when considering the context in which it was made. But he doesn't run a profit making business which as you know Ed M was addressing. Did you not read how his work has been described? What he runs is much more akin to an unpaid Arts Charity which we, as a community, so very often benefit hugely from whereas he hardly ever does from a financial point of view.

This attitude reminds me of a few 14 year olds who ranted about going on work experience for no pay; slave labour, they said! We are just being used here, they added! What they didn't consider was that during those two weeks they would gain absolutely loads of contacts, a potentially glowing reference, new skills and experiences - whereas the employer would just mostly spend the time explaining to them how to acquire those skills and profit from those experiences.

But you, and Alfred Adler, don't sound to me like infantile 14 year olds... strange...

Are you on the payroll too?

[leenewham]

Sigh.

The people behind the arts festival deserve our support. They put in a huge amount of effort every year and it's brilliant for the area.

I find the response by some to Jonathan's initial request for help rather troubling.

And no, I'm not on the payroll.

[Nigel]

Lee
Me too - I didn't hear anyone worrying about how people would be paid when Jonathan and his team took huge risks to mount the festival .
As we all know it is simply a lot of talented people giving a lot of time to do something fantastic .
I think we should be bloody grateful we have the SAF team and I hope Jonathan finds his assistant and goes on to deliver an even better festival next year.
A very good evening
Nigel

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[marymck]

To be honest, I am a bit surprised as I thought everyone involved was a volunteer. Seems a bit strange to me that some should be volunteers and some paid.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Rachael]

To be honest, I am a bit surprised as I thought everyone involved was a volunteer. Seems a bit strange to me that some should be volunteers and some paid.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Lots of organisations work on a mixture of a core of paid staff and volunteers. It's perfectly normal. Pretty much every charity works that way, I don't see why the festival should be any different.

[Alfred Adler]

"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.

[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.

[stuart]

Mary,

I, and I presume you, have been delighted to give free unpaid voluntary help to the Arts Festival and other community ventures. The issue is that when we do that we necessarily do what we want and when we want. In particular it can't get in the way of earning our basic income.

The great thing is community ventures can get started on a wing and a prayer in this way. But if it is to progress and become a professionally run sustainable event then the organisation will require more. Not what and when the volunteer can but when the event requires. This implies paying for it.

This should be self-policing as no organisation like this is going to pay what it can get for free. And when we see evidence of a gravy chain then we can take issue. But I can see none yet. Can you?

And the Arts Festival and other community organisations (like SydSoc) were never purely voluntary. It always paid for some services and facilities. That ends up in people's pay packets. The only change is these were 'off-books' - that is they didn't employ anyone directly.

If we want he Arts Festival to continue, grow and/or get better it don't come for free.

Stuart

[Alfred Adler]

"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?

[stuart]

You seem very defensive. Are you on the payroll?

And may we ask how many hours you have given to the Arts Festival for free?

Stuart

[Alfred Adler]

Stuart,

Charity is not about self-aggrandizement