Santa (Freelance)

ATG Entertainment; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 52,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

PVG scheme paid by ATG Glasgow

Job summary

ATG Entertainment is seeking an experienced freelance Santa for Glasgow King's annual panto in the VIP suite from November through Christmas Eve. You will greet families, pose for photos, and deliver personalised messages across 3.5 to 7 hours per day during multiple shows.

Join a team that values inclusion, safety, and memorable, festive experiences. The role requires a high-quality Santa suit, comforting interaction with children of all ages, strong stage presence, and adherence to

Qualifications

• Experienced Santa with own high quality Santa suit.
• Experience working with children of all ages.
• Excellent communication and improvisation skills.
• Strong stage presence and ability to engage diverse audiences.
• Understanding of neurodiversity of SEN-friendly communication styles.
• Member of PVG Scheme with enhanced disclosure check (paid for by ATG Glasgow)

Responsibilities

• Welcome children and families with a big smile and festive spirit.
• Listen to children's Christmas wishes and spread joy.
• Commit to performance continuity staying in character at all times during scheduled sessions.
• Pose for photos, deliver personalised messages, and manage crowd energy with ease.
• Hand out special gifts (from ATG Glasgow Theatres).
• Work closely with our 'elves' and Customer Experience Team to ensure smooth operations.
• To work within the venue and ATG Inspire health and safety standards.
• To operate in line with all ATG ENTERTAINMENT company policy & procedures, including safeguarding and GDPR.

Skills

Own Santa suit

Experience with children

Communication & improvisation

Stage presence

Neurodiversity awareness

PVG Enhanced Disclosure

Job description

Santa (freelance)

We're looking for an experienced, friendly, warm-hearted Santa to bring extra magic to children in our VIP suite during performances of Glasgow King's annual panto from November up to, and including, Christmas Eve.

You'll be the star of our VIP experience, creating unforgettable memories for children and families. You'll meet families for 90 minutes before the show and again during the interval. You'll pose for photo opportunities and hand out special gifts. Sessions will range from 3.5 hours to 7 hours per day (depending on number of shows per day).

You should be available for:

21 Nov - 14 Dec: all evening performances plus weekend matinees

15 - 24 Dec: all performances (matinees and evenings and the additional Relaxed performance)

Full show schedule can be found here.

Key responsibilities

• Welcome children and families with a big smile and festive spirit.
• Listen to children's Christmas wishes and spread joy.
• Commit to performance continuity staying in character at all times during scheduled sessions.
• Pose for photos, deliver personalised messages, and manage crowd energy with ease.
• Hand out special gifts (from ATG Glasgow Theatres).
• Work closely with our 'elves' and Customer Experience Team to ensure smooth operations.
• To work within the venue and ATG Inspire health and safety standards.
• To operate in line with all ATG ENTERTAINMENT company policy & procedures, including but not limited to Safeguarding Policies and Privacy (GDPR).
• To complete any training required as identified by ATG Inspire team.

Your skills, qualities, and experience

If you have most of the essential criteria, we encourage you to apply. The essential criteria of this role as Santa are:

• Experienced Santa with own high quality Santa suit.
• Experience working with children of all ages.
• Excellent communication and improvisation skills.
• Strong stage presence and ability to engage diverse audiences.
• Understanding of neurodiversity of SEN-friendly communication styles.
• Member of, or willing to become a member of, PVG Scheme with an enhanced disclosure check (paid for by ATG Glasgow)

About Us - Our values

ATG Entertainment's values set the tone for how we work, how we treat one another, and the culture we continue to build across the UK and the wider organisation.

• THRIVE doing what we love (with passion and dynamism)
• CONNECT through every act (with collaboration and kindness)
• DARE to do different (with curiosity and courage)
• PERFORM at our best (with customer focus and ownership)

Our Corporate Social Responsibility pillars

Everyone at ATG Entertainment is expected to play their part in achieving our goals and upholding our Corporate Social Responsibility priorities:

• Inclusion: Committing to creating and upholding a positive, inclusive culture that nurtures potential and supports well-being.
• Sustainability: Playing your part in reducing our environmental impact and finding more sustainable ways of working.
• Next Generations: Encouraging the next generation in live entertainment by contributing to our outreach and training programmes, including mentoring students and trainees, and supporting our Creative Learning and Community Partnerships work.

Our culture

You'll help us uphold a positive culture around meeting our obligations, by having a positive attitude to health and safety, legal and insurance requirements and take care to understand our policies and procedures.

We are all expected to participate actively in the life of the company, and opportunities will arise for you to collaborate with others across the business. Everyone at ATG Entertainment is expected to be flexible and adapt as the needs of the business change, taking on new or different responsibilities as the need arises.

Our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Mission Statement - A Stage for Everyone

Our stages are a platform for compelling stories - stories that are for all, by all, and of all. We shine our spotlight on our differences and believe that understanding and celebrating these differences makes us better global citizens. We are passionate about the pursuit of true diversity and equality. We strive to make our venues beacons of these ideals in our communities. Onstage and off, we hold ourselves accountable for nurturing an inclusive culture, one in which everyone can bring their authentic selves. At ATG entertainment, we provide a stage for everyone.

We recognise that we do not have all the answers; but we strive to listen, to learn and to change in order to ensure ATG Entertainment becomes a truly inclusive organisation. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from individuals from the widest possible range of backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from those currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are a Disability Confident Committed Employer, which means that we are taking action to ensure that people with disabilities and long-term health conditions feel supported, engaged and able to fulfil their potential in the workplace. We will offer an interview or recruitment event to disabled candidates who tell us they wish to participate in the scheme and who demonstrate in their application that they best meet the essential criteria for the role. Where we receive more applications than we are reasonably able to interview for any given role, we will retain applications for the next available interview opportunity wherever possible.

If you'd like to discuss accessibility prior to applying, please email [e-mail] for a confidential discussion.