Vacancies
A great organisation in which to share your skills and creativity
Would you like to come and work for the North’s leading literature development agency and play a part in supporting great projects such as the Northern Writers’ Awards, Durham Book Festival and our award-winning work with young people? We’d love to hear from you.
About New Writing North
Recognised as a leader in our field, New Writing North has produced nationally significant work from a base in Newcastle upon Tyne since 1996. We have steadily grown from a team of two to a skilled and expert team of 16.
We lead the development of new writing and creative reading in the North of England, working with writers in the North East, Yorkshire and the North West and connecting them to opportunities. We are proud to be a charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. We have a turnover of £1m, with 65% of that generated from earned and fundraised income.
We believe that talent is everywhere, but that opportunities are not, and that it is our job to create opportunities. We develop programmes and activities that support individuals and communities to engage with creative reading and writing both professionally and for pleasure. We help good writing find local, regional, national, and international audiences.
Our annual programme includes the management of major international literary prizes and awards; open-access and targeted talent development programmes; the production of festivals and events; international writing and translation projects; our young writers and community-based programmes; writing for wellbeing activities and the commissioning of new writing.
We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities that we serve. We encourage people from all sections of our community to apply for jobs with us. We particularly welcome Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, disabled, and LGBTQI applicants and those from lower socio-economic and working-class backgrounds.
Information for Candidates
Work at New Writing North
At its core, New Writing North’s work has two main goals: to encourage people to develop their own creativity through reading and writing, and to identify talent and support writers to fulfil their creative ambitions.
Please download our Work at NWN pack to learn more about:
- what we do at New Writing North
- our mission, vision and values
- our programme of work
- our organisational culture
Download the Work at NWN document here:
Work at NWN: PDF
Work at NWN: Audio
Organisational structure
We’re a small organisation with a dedicated, creative team, supported by a great board of trustees.
Our Organisational Chart shows the current structure of New Writing North. Download it here.
Location
New Writing North is based in central Newcastle upon Tyne.
We are currently operating a hybrid working model, with staff generally spending 60% of their working week in the office and 40% working from home.
Holidays and benefits
Staff at New Writing North benefit from the following terms:
• 25 days’ holiday allowance, plus statutory bank holidays (pro
rata’d for part-time posts)
• Flexible working
• Contributory pension scheme
• Training and professional development opportunities
• Access to free, confidential practical and emotional support
via The Printing Charity
• Cycle to work scheme
• Corporate Metro Season Ticket.
Current Vacancies
Audio Development Producer, New Writing North
THE ROLE
The job is offered as a fixed term two-year part-time post (2.5 days per week) at a pro-rata salary of £28,080 (with pension and other benefits). We are also open to this role being delivered as a freelance position on a similar basis and would negotiate this with the candidate if required.
We have been making podcasts and audio content both in-house and in partnership with experienced producers for several years. We work in partnership with Sonderbug, an audio production company based in York. We have directly funded and made work and worked with a range of funders (Arts Council England, the Audio Content Fund, BBC, and Historic England) to commission and share productions. Some of our output has been nominated for community and sector audio awards. Our aim is not only to reach listeners with interesting content, but to provide opportunities for talented writers in the North to work with and be platformed through audio production.
We are delighted to share a unique opportunity for a mid-career professional to join us at New Writing North to lead a new programme of work in the field of audio development and production.
We have secured funding from Creative UK via the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Creative and Cultural Investment Programme and our partners Northumbria University to create a new part-time post of Audio Development Producer to work with us and Sonderbug to kickstart and support a surge of commissioning and production in the North of Tyne Combined Authority area. The post will be based at and contracted to New Writing North and be supported by Sonderbug’s audio expertise. The post is attached to the delivery of a programme of work which will seek to develop new projects, support writers to develop craft skills and generate proposals and pitches for new projects to take to commissioners.
The producer will be responsible for building relationships with commissioners and producers, and open-minded in identifying possible future funding avenues and partnerships to support ambitions. Our ambition is for the role to become self-funded in future years.
RECRUITMENT TIMELINE
We would like to appoint someone into role before the end of the year to start at the beginning of January 2023 and are working to the following timeline:
Deadline for applications: Friday 21 October at 12pm
Interviews notification: By Friday 28 October
Interviews: Week commencing 21 November
HOW TO APPLY
Please read the Work at New Writing North document and the Job Description before completing the application form below.
New Writing North uses a blind shortlisting process. Please ensure your name and email address are not on any of your documents.
The form will ask you to upload the following:
- A supporting statement of no more than 2 sides of A4. Please refer to the Job Description when completing your statement.
- Your CV of no more than 2 sides of A4, including links to any relevant audio projects or productions
- Details of two referees
Please also complete our Equality Monitoring Form. This form is separate to your application form and completely anonymous.
Apply Here
Expressions of interest: freelance writer facilitators
THE ROLE
New Writing North’s Young Writers programme works with young people through a combination of in-depth schools’ work, open access creative writing groups, summer schools and short-term projects, including community-based work. We work with professional writers to deliver our programme, and as our work has expanded over the last few years we are putting out a call for new creative writing facilitators to add to our list of contacts within the North East.
In relation to upcoming projects we are especially interested in hearing from writers based in (or willing to travel to) County Durham, North Tyneside and Berwick-upon- Tweed.
Fee: Between £100-£150 per half day depending on the project and scope of work
Download the brief
HOW TO EXPRESS INTEREST
Please submit an expression of interest (maximum 500 words), your CV and details of two referees. We will add your expression of interest to our records and be in touch with you if we think there is a project for which you’d be a good fit!
Deadline: Friday 21 October 2022
Please note that freelancers taking on these roles will be required to provide:
- Proof of current DBS
- Copy of Public Liability Insurance Certificate
Submit your expression of interest here
