Heritage Lead

Volunteer Centre; Leeds; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Part time

Job summary

The Volunteer Centre is seeking a Heritage Lead in Leeds to engage stakeholders and expand the Journey of Discovery archive. This part-time role involves managing community relationships, overseeing documentary content, and requires strong project management and communication skills. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in heritage projects and a passion for local history.

Qualifications

• At least five years’ experience curating and coordinating heritage projects.
• Ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Experience sourcing and referencing archive photos and footage.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the expansion of the Journey of Discovery archive.
• Manage relationships with community organizations in Leeds.
• Support documentary development and marketing activities.

Skills

Heritage research methods

Project management

Persuasive communication

Attention to detail

Job description

The World Reimagined is a ground-breaking, national art education project to transform how we understand transatlantic enslavement and its impact on all of us.

Our first phase in 2022 saw trails of large The World Reimagined Globe sculptures in cities across the UK, created by artists to bring to life the reality and impact of transatlantic enslavement. The trails became the centre of a broader public engagement programme – with hundreds of community groups, schools and cultural institutions across the country.

We’re working to expand our Journey of Discovery archive with the history of local Black community organisations and the people who ran them, many of whom made contributions to our society as well as sacrifices that have been too often ignored or obscured from public platforms.

Through a documentary making initiative, we will bring together robustly researched stories and images that vividly add further life to our Journey of Discovery archive, and contribute to our The World Reimagined documentary – Community, Becoming Black and British, enabling our audiences to develop a multi-dimensional understanding of our shared history.

We are now looking for an exceptional person to join us as our Heritage Lead in Leeds to lead our work in engaging stakeholders and building our Journey of Discovery Archive.

This is an exciting opportunity to play an important role in providing opportunities for greater understanding of our shared history and empathy within our society.

THE ROLE

Reporting to the Project Manager, the Heritage Lead will oversee the expansion of the Journey of Discovery archive for the Leeds part of our documentary, Community: Becoming Black and British.

The role will focus on these main goals:

• Identify, engage and manage relationships with our contributing community organisations in Leeds.
• Manage Documentary Content Development pipeline:
  • Scope and agree process with stakeholders
  • Oversee contributions from stakeholders
  • Manage research and copywriters to produce final content
  • Source relevant heritage photos and video footage
  • Ensure that all content is robustly researched, referenced and maintained in a database
  • Ensure all required permissions are received and stored.
• Collaborate with the Leeds Project Coordinator to support partners in (i) engaging their audiences with The World Reimagined; and (ii) connecting with our community programme in Leeds.
• Support the development of the documentary through close coordination with the Project Manager.
• Support our marketing and communications activity, by coordinating around content with our marketing team.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

We are looking for a person with at least five years’ experience curating and coordinating the delivery of heritage projects; or can prove an exceptional level of local history knowledge and other relevant experiences. They’ll be able to hit the ground running by matching their ability to build a broad variety of relationships with the capacity to take in and process a lot of information quickly and thoughtfully.

The following will be assets for this role:

• A keen interest and understanding of the history and themes to which The World Reimagined speaks.
• A proven track record and ability to work closely with a diverse group of stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.
• Outstanding persuasive communication skills, with the ability to share both our purpose and plans with clarity.
• Deep familiarity with heritage research methods and best-in-class referencing and evidencing methodologies.
• Strong project management and organisational skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Experience of sourcing, collating and referencing archive photos and footage, obtaining permissions for use.
• Understanding of the ethics and consent involved in working with other people’s stories.

THE PERSON WE’RE LOOKING FOR

With a small core team and an ambitious agenda, we put a strong emphasis on team selection values. We look for people who

• Have a clear sense and understanding of their passion and purpose–and that these overlap with our mission and work.
• Are curious about the world, how to find solutions, and – above all – people.
• Possess a good knowledge of the heritage sector.
• Have entrepreneurial, adaptable and focused mindsets to deliver on multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Are flexible with working hours and the overall project timeline to meet the needs of the various partners.

TIMINGS

We anticipate that most of the project and the creation of the film will take place over summer 2025 with a screening in November with working hours of roughly a day a week tapering off until the screening.

• Hours

  Part Time Variable – 20 days in total between June and November 2025 Hours per week