Community Officer

Community Officer

Application Pack

March 2026

About us

Arts Emergency is a mentoring charity and support network. Since 2013, we

have worked to address the inequalities in the creative and cultural sectors.

Founded in Hackney by two friends, activist Neil Griffiths and comedian

Josie Long, we now support over 2,200 brilliant young people across the

UK. We provide guidance so they can chart their own course. We create

connections to help them get ahead.

Our vision

The future is a place where young people face no closed doors to creativity

and the creative industries.

Our mission

We open doors by connecting young people to each other and to creative

professionals within communities of care based on shared values, interests,

and practice. Through the transformative power of this mutual support,

young people are empowered to live out their creative ambitions.

Our core beliefs

In 2011, when Neil and Josie first dreamed up the project that would

become Arts Emergency, they wrote (on a tablecloth) the core statements

of belief and intention for the national movement they would go on to build.

This became our founding manifesto. Ten years later, inspired by this

manifesto and their own experiences in the arts, our Youth Collective

created their own. You can read both manifestos on our website.

Both manifestos are powerful guiding forces in everything we do. In the

words of our Youth Collective, "we are far more powerful when we come

together. Share resources. Pay it forward”.

Who we support

We currently support 1,800 young people aged 16-25 who encounter

systemic barriers to achieving their creative ambitions.

Among our young people:

●  78% are from a lower socioeconomic background
●  70% are from an ethnic minority background
●  17% have a disability or special educational need

Importantly, 61% have intersecting identities that compound the

challenges they experience within the sector.

Our young people live in 115 local authorities across London, Greater

Manchester, Merseyside, and wider England.

We recruit young people through a network of 57 long-standing referral

partnerships with schools, colleges, local authority services, and

community organisations working in areas of deprivation.

“Arts Emergency has done more for me than I ever thought possible, it
has opened doors I thought were closed. It has given me hope.”
- DEJI, YOUNG TALENT

What we do

Arts Emergency empowers, connects and develops under-resourced young
people to be their best, most aspirational selves through 1:1 mentoring and
up to ten-years’ worth of tailored assistance, real-life opportunities,
connection to our Network - thousands of cultural professionals - and peer
support.

Our three main programme strands are:

●  Mentoring: Through a year-long mentoring relationship with a
trained volunteer who is experienced in their creative area of
interest, young people aged 16-18 receive information, advice, and
guidance that supports them to make decisions and take steps
toward their creative ambitions as they move beyond compulsory
education.

●  Young Community: Young Community: Every young person who
takes part in our programmes becomes a member of our Young
Community, a national community of 1,800 young people aged
16-25 from underrepresented backgrounds, with shared creative
interests and practices. Through bringing people together in person
and online, our Young Community programme fosters authentic
connections.

●  Youth Collective: A representative group of 10 young people who
provide leadership for the Young Community, ensuring that young
people’s views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.

This is an exciting time to join Arts Emergency and help shape the future of
a growing, mission-driven organisation.

See some of the results of our work in our Impact Report 2024.

Our Team

The Arts Emergency team is a group of passionate and dedicated staff
and trustees who bring together a wealth of experience from the charity
and cultural sectors.

Meet our team

Commitment to equality and diversity

Arts Emergency is a grassroots movement that is entirely and authentically

powered by people. We believe that lasting social change can only happen

when we all come together.

Our programmes serve young people who are under-represented in the

creative and cultural industries, including people from lower socioeconomic

backgrounds, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities.

Arts Emergency is committed to taking steps to be reflective of the young

people we serve, and being a welcoming and inclusive organisation. We

therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely

to be underrepresented in the UK’s cultural workforce. This includes people

of colour, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, and other equity deserving

groups. When we recruit we will always: show the salary, pay a living wage,

and won’t demand a degree as an essential criteria (unless a specific

qualification is required for a role).

“Our future cultural landscape is in danger of being populated

exclusively by the children of the wealthy and well-connected. I love

Arts Emergency because it works to bridge this gap. To create the

opportunities that have been taken away.”

- JULIE HESMONDHALGH, ACTOR

We are committed to the employment and development of disabled

people. We guarantee to interview anyone who identifies as disabled and

whose application meets the person specification for a post. To be invited

to interview, you must show in your application that you meet the person

specification for the role. If you tell us that you have access requirements

or any requests to make you comfortable, we can make reasonable

adjustments to the interview process, and, if you join us, to your work

arrangements.

Community Officer

●  Fixed term, Two year contract
●  0.6, 21 hours per week
●  £30,500 per annum pro rata, plus 3% pension contribution
●  This role can be home or office-based
●  Arts Emergency operates a 35-hour week, we will consider

compressed or annualised hours.

About the role

As the Community Officer, you will support the delivery of our Community

programme that connects young people to each other and to other

creative professionals. You will work closely with the Community Manager

as well as the Youth Collective who act as leaders of community

engagement and development.

You will be joining Arts Emergency at an exciting time as the community

and collectives programme is evolving through experimentation and

responding to the needs of the Young Community.

This will be a busy, fun, and rewarding role where you’ll get to work with a

variety of people in the Arts Emergency team as well as the young people

we support.

Key Responsibilities

Direct Delivery

●  Facilitate the one-off connection requests of young people with

each-other and the Network, and provide high quality support for

these connections

●  Support the management of a Community Buddying scheme to pair

up members of the Community

●  Maintain an opportunities board, vetting and sharing opportunities

from the Network with the Young Community

●  Monitor the Community inbox and respond to queries or offers of

support about the Community programme

Supporting Roles

●  Support the Community Manager in facilitation of the evolving

Collectives programme, and the delivery of their activities (including

in-person and online events, monthly newsletters, online social

platforms and a regular podcast series)

●  Work with the team to ensure that accurate information about the

Community offer is shared on the website

●  Help to share regular insights about Community activities, outputs,

and impact

General Obligations

●  Undertake other relevant tasks that may be requested from time to

time

●  Maintain the ethos and values of the charity and positively promote

the work and activities of the charity

Key Results / Objectives

1.  The Community programme is delivered in line with activity plans,

timelines, and budgets, with increasing engagement over time

2.  Evaluations from both Young Community members and the Youth

Collective are largely positive and show positive impact

3.  The Community inbox is monitored and queries are responded to

within agreed timeframes

4.  One-off connection requests of young people with each-other and

the Network are facilitated within agreed timeframes, and there is

consistent high quality support

5.  The opportunities board is maintained and developed, sharing

vetted opportunities from the Network with the Young Community

6.  The Youth Collective are supported to deliver a series of in-person

and online events

7.  The Youth Collective are supported to prepare and publish the

monthly Young Community newsletter

8.  The Youth Collective are supported to deliver their podcast series,

The Emergency Room

9.  Peer networking via Arts Emergency's online social platforms for

Young Community members is monitored and moderated

10.  Accurate information is shared on the website and accurate

records are kept on Salesforce

11.  Reports are produced about Community activities, outputs, and

impact, as required

12.  Communication with the wider Arts Emergency team is clear and

proactive, issues are addressed quickly, and progress is reported

on regularly.

Personal specification

Qualifications

●  No specific qualifications are required for this role

Experience

●  Experience of working with young people aged 16-25

●  Experience within a youth or arts organisation running projects for

and with young people

●  Experience managing projects, ideally within a frontline delivery

context

●  Experience of working independently

●  Experience facilitating diverse groups of young people

●  Experience of an administrative role and record keeping

Knowledge

●  Awareness of issues affecting young people aged 16–25

●  Interest in the creative and cultural industries

●  Interest in youth participation and youth voice

●  Awareness of barriers to access within arts and cultural sectors

Skills / Competencies

●  Comfortable using standard Google software (e.g. Google Docs,

Gmail, Sheets)

●  Confidence in ability to learn technical processes and new

platforms (e.g. Salesforce, Discord)

●  Good interpersonal and relationship building skills with young

people and adults

●  Strong administrative and organisational skills

●  Good time management skills - working to deadlines, balancing

several priorities at once

●  Good attention to detail and accuracy in recording important

information

●  Creative thinking – with the ability to recognise and capitalise on

opportunities for the Young Community

Personal Qualities

●  A commitment to upholding the values in our manifestos

●  Eager to learn and try out new things

●  Empathetic, youth-centred, with a genuine enthusiasm for youth

voice and leadership

●  A ‘can-do’ attitude - resourceful and embraces challenge and

change.

●  Positive role model

●  Commitment to working collaboratively toward shared goals

●  The discipline to work independently and communicate proactively

with the wider team

●  Motivated, resourceful, and committed to on-going learning and

development

●  Willingness to work flexibly to meet the demands of an evolving role

Working Conditions

The role can be home or office based, or hybrid. We have access to

Spaces offices across London, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

Regular travel across these regions will be essential as part of programme

delivery, and so the Community Officer must live in one of the regions,

and be comfortable with travel via public transport (travel expenses for

these will be covered).

We will occasionally ask you to travel to other offices or locations for

training and away days. Travel expenses will be covered for these days,

and we will offer remote options when necessary, and ensure accessibility

requirements are taken into account.

Arts Emergency will consider compressed or annualised hours. There

may be occasional evening and weekend work. We operate a

time-off-in-lieu system.

How to apply

We will be hosting an optional Q&A on Zoom on Monday 20 April at 6pm

for prospective applicants to learn more about the role, the Community

team, and Arts Emergency before they apply. Register here.

To apply please complete the following steps:

Download and fill in the application forms from our jobs webpage. There

are two parts to the application:

●  Part One asks for your personal information, education, work

history, referees

●  Part Two asks for supporting statements in relation to the job

application

You can return the application forms as a Word Document or PDF. If you

prefer you can talk through the Part Two questions in audio files. To

transfer audio files, we suggest uploading to wetransfer.com and use the

‘get transfer link’ option, then share the generated link in your email.

Complete our Equality and Diversity Monitoring Survey*.

Once completed, please send the Parts One and Two to

jobs@arts-emergency.org by 10am on Monday 27 April 2026 with

AE-CO in the subject line.

Interviews will be held online the week commencing 4 & 11 May 2026.

*The survey is anonymous and not linked in any way to your application.

Any information you provide will be used by Arts Emergency to monitor

the demographics of candidates applying for roles and make

improvements in line with our diversity and inclusion ambitions. This data

will be treated in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation

2018.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the role or application, please contact

Joe Burton, Head of Programmes, at joe@arts-emergency.org

Arts Emergency, Spaces, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1

5AN

www.arts-emergency.org

Registered Charity Number 1152377