Job Description
Job Title: General Manager
Hours: 4 days/week (4-day workweek)
Salary: £33,000 to £35,000 gross actual for a 4-day week [£41,250-43,750 pro rata]*
Location: hybrid model (flexible) with some in-person attendance required at events,
meetings and working in the PPP office, Mile End
Reporting to: Director, Museum of Colour
Responsible for: Accountant, evaluators, contracted staff
*Museum of Colour aims to be a 4-day working week organisation with staff able to devote the fifth day of their week to their lives outside work. To enable this, we budget for staff salaries that reflect a 4-day working week as a full time job. Staff offered a 4-day/week role are expected to work exclusively for Museum of Colour and not take on work for any other employer(s), unless by exception and with written agreement from MoC.
Key Purposes
• Working closely with the Director, organise and schedule the effective work and efficient day-to-day operation of Museum of Colour (MoC) core and project teams.
• Take lead responsibility for MoC’s financial planning, manage MoC’s budgets and general financial operation.
• Work closely with the Director on MoC’s fundraising strategy, particularly taking responsibility for MoC’s strategy and application pipeline for core funding, and maintaining key stakeholder relationships.
• Support the work of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board.
Duties and Responsibilities
Management and administration:
• Work closely with the Director, organise and schedule the work of the Museum of Colour team: leading on the organisational plan, maintaining familiarity with all MoC projects and the project plans drawn up by Development Producer/Project Managers, identifying likely capacity requirements and planning appropriately.
• Liaise with partners and stakeholders, working closely with the Director on relationship management, and leading or supporting the development of new partnerships and stakeholder relationships as appropriate.
• Act as the main liaison and support to the Board of Directors, organising and minuting meetings, preparing papers and reports, and ensuring all MoC’s statutory company obligations are timetabled and met.
• Lead on policies to ensure compliance with legal requirements, including but not limited to: data protection, equality and diversity, health and safety including risk assessment, protection and safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, sustainability.
• At such time as a Business Plan becomes appropriate, lead on the creation of a Business Plan for MoC.
• Take responsibility for MoC’s day to day operations and systems and ensure the organisation has appropriate structures in place to support its work, e.g. day-to-day administration and filing, IT hardware and software requirements, data security and backup, insurance, office services/equipment maintenance, asset management.
• Create a robust system for evidence gathering, monitoring and evaluation of MoC’s
work and impact, and archiving of the company’s work and records.
• Take lead responsibility within the MoC team for the security of, and development planning for, MoC’s online presence and digital assets. Create a system for asset management for loans and collection valuation, and take responsibility for MoC’s strategic plan to work towards accredited museum status.
• Take lead responsibility for all MoC’s relationships with workers and suppliers, including drawing up and issuing briefs/descriptions of services, recruitment/selection, negotiating and issuing contracts including commission contracts/service contracts/freelance agreements etc, and ongoing management to ensure contractual requirements are delivered as expected on both sides.
• Draw up and implement (over time) a plan for MoC becoming an employer, including appropriate plans for HR support, employment contracting and payroll (to be delivered by the GM) and relevant policies and procedures.
Financial:
• Take lead responsibility for MoC’s financial planning including the drafting, authorisation and management of and reporting on the annual organisational budget.
• Take main responsibility for payments and invoicing (ensuring prompt payments to freelance staff, artists and colleagues and following up any overdue invoices from MoC); banking and any credit arrangements if required; accounting, including maintaining all accounting records accurately up-to-date; production and review of management accounts and cashflow planning; VAT review as necessary; reporting financial information to colleagues and Directors promptly as and when required; monitoring project budgets and expenditure; when necessary, payroll calculation and HMRC payments; other tax/statutory requirements as appropriate.
• Work with the wider MoC team to create budgets for project delivery and fundraising applications; prepare and submit accurate and timely reports/claims to funders for drawdowns on grants.
• Take lead responsibility for the preparation of MoC’s Annual Report and Financial Statements (with appropriate professional support if required and as budgeted).
• Working closely with the Director, plan and implement MoC’s strategy and structures for earning income through merchandise.
• Work closely with the Director on the planning and forecasting of any future plans for investments or contractual obligations.
Fundraising:
• Take responsibility for MoC’s strategy and application pipeline for core funding, working closely with the Director, including researching and approaching funders, drawing up budgets for/writing/submitting core support funding applications and ongoing liaison and relationship management with funders including all reporting requirements.
• Work closely with the Director to agree and support the organisation’s relationship with Arts Council England; maintain an awareness of the timelines and requirements for strategic investment programmes and National Portfolio Organisation funding rounds.
• Work closely with the Development Producer to support and develop project funding applications, including agreeing and overseeing the application timeline in relation to MoC’s planned programme of work; reviewing and contributing to all applications including checking compliance with funder guidelines; and crucially budgeting the core cost recovery/staffing salary elements for all applications.
• Create and hold responsibility for MoC’s reporting schedule to all grant funders.
General:
• Represent MoC at relevant and appropriate events and opportunities, and contribute to a public profile that reflects MoC’s spirit, work, and ethos.
• Contribute towards MoC’s position in ongoing dialogues regarding heritage, history, art, and racial justice.
• Undertake any other duties appropriate to the general scope and responsibilities of the role as directed.
The post will be employed by People’s Palace Projects, Museum of Colour’s incubating organisation, and seconded to Museum of Colour.
Person Specification
Essential
• Substantial experience of operational and financial management.
• Strong working knowledge of financial and administrative processes.
• Good working knowledge of fundraising for arts and heritage activities.
• Good understanding of governance and reporting requirements for a small company, especially in a not-for-profit environment, and of supporting and reporting to a Board or similar committees.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Positive attitude, flexibility and the ability to problem-solve.
• Ability to work under pressure, prioritise between conflicting demands and retain excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Excellent computer literacy and understanding of MS Office packages.
• Ability to use web and app-based project management tools (such as Monday.com) to support the team’s work.
• Commitment to the aims, work and ethos of MoC.
Desirable
• Experience of working in either arts or heritage settings.
• Experience with QuickBooks accounting.
• A track record of supporting or leading successful fundraising applications/strategy.
• Knowledge of web and app-based project tools.
• Knowledge of and interest in the arts sector.
Even if you do not meet every single requirement, please do apply.
Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Museum of Colour, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role, but your experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate.
Diversity Monitoring
PPP is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England. As part of our funding agreement, we are required to send ACE diversity monitoring statistics for all our staff and all freelancers/contractors we work with. As part of our internal equality monitoring, we also monitor the diversity of candidates who apply for advertised roles, those who are shortlisted for interview, and those who are successful.
The information you supply will be kept anonymously. When we receive the survey back from you, we will give it an alphanumeric code and separate it from your written application, which will be assessed without reference to the information disclosed on the survey. A list of names with codes will be kept securely for later analysis. Thank you for your participation.
People’s Palace Projects is a Disability Confident Committed employer.
• All candidates disclosing a disability and who demonstrate that they meet all the essential criteria of the Person Specification will qualify for an interview
• At the point of inviting candidates for interview, we will ask about any additional needs or adjustments that would be required to support your participation in the process.
• Our current staff includes people who disclose disabilities, neurodiversities, and mental health needs.
Application Process
To apply for this position, please submit an application form at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GN7MNWX
The deadline for application is Tuesday 17th September, 5.00pm. Interviews will take place during the week commencing 30th September.
We regret that it will not be possible to inform applicants who are not shortlisted for the role. If you have not heard from us by Wednesday 25th September, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.
If you have any questions or issues with submission, please contact [email protected].
Thank you in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you!
This post is funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
About MoC
Museum of Colour CIC (MoC) is a heritage and creativity social enterprise company incubated at People’s Palace Projects. We are building a digital museum to explore, celebrate and build recognition of the contribution made by people of colour to the nation’s culture, specifically in film, television and the arts, 1766 – 2016. This is done through:
• Developing and building digital exhibitions to explore each specific creative form with content including portraits, filmed interviews, podcasts and digital artefacts to grow and shape a collection.
• Working in partnership to build response exhibitions that commission contemporary creatives of colour to engage with existing British heritage and weave performance, debate and participation into the fabric of the museum.
As a digital museum, Museum of Colour has a national focus, and collaborates with artists and organisations across the UK.
Since our launch in 2019, we have shaped a pioneering programme of work. Our first exhibition, People of Letters, spotlights those who have supported and uplifted writers of colour. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we delivered an adapted, remote exhibition entitled Respect Due. In 2022, we delivered our first full art exhibition, My Words, in recognition of poets of the global majority. These Things Matter was our first physical exhibition, investigating the ideas and relationships that perpetuated systems of slavery and empire. In 2024 we launched our most recent exhibition, A Very British Rhythm, which reflects on dancers and choreographers of colour and their contributions to British dance.
