Carmarthenshire Museum are seeking an artist/craft maker with community engagement experience for a 9 month period to undertake consultation workshops with local communities and develop connections with other Carmarthenshire makers, with an emphasis on local enhttps://www.lisburnmuseum.com/dangered heritage crafts, associated for the co-curated touring exhibition Communities of Making.

Communities of Making is part of Going Places, an Art Fund programme made possible with generous support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Julia Rausing Trust. In partnership with Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum and High Life Highland we are developing an exciting new project to support heritage and traditional crafts. This will include skills development through masterclasses and taster sessions, volunteer access to the collections, co-curation with young people and other events. The project will culminate in a major touring exhibition in 2027.

We are looking to create a new Young Curator’s and Maker’s Group within Carmarthenshire Museum to co-create an exhibition and develop heritage craft skills inspired by the Museum’s collections and local makers.

The purpose of this role is to consult with young people on how these groups should be developed and, through building connections, recruit participants. Through their knowledge of local makers and crafts people they will also help to create the schedule of workshops in which the young people (16-24 year olds) will be involved.

Hybrid role – work can be carried out remotely with a combination of online and in person scheduled meetings with the Learning and Exhibitions Manager to discuss progress. 

- Develop a community engagement plan to be approved by the Learning and Exhibitions Manager.

- Develop connections with local community groups, education facilities, and youth organisations that work with young people (16-24 year olds).

- Deliver a series of short workshops aimed at engaging young people (16-24 year olds) with heritage crafts and recruiting young makers and curators, either in the Museum, or through outreach at education or community sites.

- Work with the Learning and Exhibitions Manager to ensuring the satisfactory completion of work within the timescale agreed.

The facilitator will report to the Learning and Exhibitions Manager.

The facilitator shall:

- Contribute to the documentation of the project for use in reports and presentations as well as for the final project evaluation for key project partners. This should be delivered in a final report to include photographs, evaluation feedback from participants in workshops, details of contacts and organisations engaged with, numbers of young people involved in workshops; and an evaluation of how well the aims of the community engagement were achieved with a suggested programme for the Young Curators and Makers leading up to the exhibition.

- Provide regular feedback and attend meetings when required.

- Community engagement plan to be approved by end of September 2025.

- All workshops to take place between 1 October 2025 and end of February 2026.

- Final reporting and handover to take place by end of March 2026.

- Experience of working on community engagement projects.

- Understanding of the Heritage Craft List and local craft community.

- Evidence of delivering art or craft-based programmes aimed at young people.

- Enough Welsh language to deliver workshops to Welsh speaking participants and in Welsh speaking schools.

- Experience of working with historic collections or heritage organisations.

- Ability to motivate and enthuse participants, to make the activity accessible and fun.

- Good time keeping skills and ability to maximise output within the given timescale.

- Proven planning and organisational skills.

An inclusive fee of £5,000 will be payable based on an average of 16 hours of work a month over the course of 6 months. 

- Fee is inclusive of all travel costs, travel time and preparation time.

- Materials can be purchased through the Learning and Exhibitions Manager.

- Staged payments can be made on receipt of invoices at intervals agreed with Learning and Exhibitions Manager.

- The appointed artist will be responsible for their own tax and NI contributions.

- The facilitator must hold their own public liability insurance and up to date DBS certificate.

Artists are requested to submit:

1)    CV or link to website.

2)    Evidence of the following essential skills:

- interest in local heritage 

- ability to respond creatively to historical material

- experience of community working 

- Welsh language ability

- ability to meet deadlines

3)    Outline proposal describing your approach to the project (maximum 300 words).

Email your application to ecchapman@carmarthenshire.gov.uk by 5pm on Friday 15 August.