Trustee

We're looking for new Trustees to join the board of our award winning educational charity that has been turning primary school classrooms around the UK into 'pop-up' art galleries for over thirty years.  As part of our board you will help shape the approach the charity will take and its future direction.  

Magic Lantern workshops give children the opportunity to explore, discuss and bring to life famous art works, and discover the world of art from cave paintings to Cubism, Gothic to graffiti, and Turner to the Turner Prize. Our approach is designed to particularly help children who have not previously had the opportunity to engage with the arts or who might be reticent to participate in traditional lessons.  Our sessions are interactive and have elements of drama, soundscape, slow looking, problem solving and creative writing.  

We operate in several parts of England including London, the South East, the South West, the North East and Oxfordshire. We work with over 12,000 children each year and in 2019 were awarded with a JM Barrie Members' Award by Action for Children's Arts. 

We are currently looking for three new trustees to add fresh voices to our board, strengthen our collective skillset and plan for our future.  We want people who share our values and vision, are passionate about education and art, and can act as ambassadors for our work in schools.

We hold online trustee meetings four times a year on a weekday evening.  This is a voluntary role but the charity will pay for out-of-pocket expenses e.g. for travel to any in-person trustee meetings or events.  The post is a fixed term of three years with the possibility of a second term. Any successful applicant will be asked to apply for an Enhanced DBS check in the child workforce and their appointment is conditional until the full enhanced disclosure has been received by the charity. 

It is not necessary to have previous trustee, board or committee experience as training will be provided, and you do not need to have a background in education or the arts to be eligible for this role.  We would very much like our board of Trustees to look more like our community and would particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups.  

Each trustee needs to:

·       Be committed to the charity’s overall mission and to achieving the purpose that we were set up for

·       Give the time and commitment that’s needed to carry out their role well

·       Act with integrity and honesty

·       Think carefully about the long- and short-term goals of the charity and how they can be achieved effectively

·       Think independently and contribute to decisions that the trustees as a group can show are good for the charity

·       Be willing to be creative and to think beyond how we do things today

·       Be willing to speak their mind in a way that is polite and respects those who may have different ideas and opinions

·       Work well as part of a team with the rest of the trustees and our staff team, including when we have different views on how to do things

·       Recognise that being a trustee is an important leadership role that has specific responsibilities and legal duties, and take time to understand these 

Skills or experience in one or more of the following areas would be of particular interest to us:

·       Administration

·       Communication

·       Digital

·       Education

·       Equality, diversity and inclusion

·       Finance and accounting

·       Fundraising

·       Governance

·       Legal

·       Marketing

·       Museum / Gallery

·       Social Media