ARC Stockton is one of 50 arts organisations to be funded to host a Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries Fellow as part of a programme to get more people from working-class or lower socio-economic backgrounds into cultural careers.
ARC is inviting applications for the role of Artist of Change (salary £20,000, full time for a 12 month period), which will involve helping ARC to create art with and for their community.
In addition to the role of Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries Fellow, the venue is also inviting applications from artists for a freelance contract (fee £10,000) to be delivered on a flexible, part-time basis over 12 months as part of its Artist of Change programme, exploring what artistic leadership in an arts centre, committed to creating positive social change, should look like.
Even before the pandemic, which wreaked havoc on career prospects in the arts, those from middle-class backgrounds were 2.5 times more likely to be employed in creative occupations than their working class peers. This is a situation which has not improved since records began in 2014.
Social mobility is a greater issue in the cultural sector and the wider creative industries than across the economy as a whole. The wider creative industries have created more than 300,000 jobs over the past five years, yet the number of creative workers from working-class backgrounds has increased by just 33,000 and it is expected that those who are already finding it difficult to make their way in the arts will be the worst hit by the impact of COVID-19.
The Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries aim to redress the balance by funding 50 paid, year-long artistic and creative fellowships as well as an organisational development programme run by "People Make It Work" to embed inclusive practices in the host organisation, with three members of the host team taking part, including a board member and a senior executive.
“We're excited to be working with Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries to host this new role,” Daniel Mitchelson, Producer at ARC, commented, “and we can't wait to see the impact that the Artist of Change will have on our staff, community and artists.”