The Public Programmer will explore new collaborative ways of working with individuals, communities and younger people within Berwick.

The Public Programmer role emerges from strands of year-round programming and commissioning artists work in Berwick. These previous public programmes include:

• Co-commissioning and co-producing artists’ work in Berwick e.g. Mm a film by Margaret Salmon with Sacred Paws and the Berwick Bandits Speedway Team (with North East Screen);
• Film screenings and events curated with or by partner organisations e.g. Giles Bailey and CIRCA Projects’ Take the Credits! or ICO: Right of Way;
• Artist and programmer led skills development and training (in informal, school and higher education contexts) e.g: Screen Time (with Cinema Nation (with Film Hub North)
• Berwick Young Filmmakers (with filmmaker Kimberly O’Neil) or The Hurt Goes On (with Film Bee, Berwick Youth Project and Maltings Visual Arts)
• Short film screenings and Arts Award support for Northumberland schools facilitated by Chloë Smith with animator Robin Webb

This new role will be pivotal in:

• Managing and re-evaluating BFMAF’s current public programme work;
• Developing fluid longer term partnerships  with local groups, histories and contemporary conversations;
• Researching models of collaborative commissioning for place specific artistic projects, with an emphasis on value of experience for the artist and collaborators rather than quantity;
• Participating in stakeholder meetings in Berwick;
• Identifying and applying for funding opportunities – with the support of BFMAF’s Director and Deputy Director – to sustain the work and deepen its potentials.

An inspiration for the Public Programmer role is research commissioned by Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival with Louise Shelley and Ed Webb-Ingall. They consulted with 15 Berwick based community groups on potentials of working together with artists and the Festival informed by ideas of ‘the commons’. Suggestions included an annual artist commission working with a grassroots organisation and creating a Public Programme Cluster in Berwick.

The Festival is on the steering group of Berwick Culture and Community Zone and external larger scale projects that relate to our work include Destination Tweed, The Living Barracks and the UK Government’s Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal to redevelop The Maltings.

The Public Programmer can refresh these conversations (and create new ones) by sketching possibilities and priorities, based on mutual interest and their own experience.

More information
The role will also include some off-site work.
You will have responsibility for overseeing the work of practitioners engaged in the public programme’s production and delivery.
You will also work closely with Programmers Alice Miller & Myriam Mouflih; Festival Manager and Communications Manager – Hamish Young & Reba Martin on production and communication of programmes; and Deputy Director, Elisa Kay to support fundraising and strategic development of the public programme.