Background

The Choir with No Name has been running choirs for homeless and marginalised people since 2008, and currently have choirs in Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Brighton.  We are also very excited to be launching a new choir this year in Cardiff, with further plans to grow through 2021-24.

We were founded on the premise that singing with others makes you feel good; it distracts you from all the nonsense in life and helps you to build confidence, skills and genuine, long lasting friendships. Each choir gets together to rehearse every week and share a meal together at the end of rehearsal, welcoming everyone, regardless of background, characteristics or idiosyncrasies.  We want everyone involved in the Choir with No Name to feel they belong in our community. 

On 1st April 2021 we launched a new strategy, with one of its key aims being to become a fully co-produced organisation in which people with lived experience of homelessness work alongside others to deliver all aspects of our work. The London choir manager will be vital in helping us achieve this aim, working alongside choir members to develop the skills needed to steer their own projects and events and fully share the control and direction of the organisation. We are looking for an enthusiastic, entrepreneurial leader who shares our values and who can inspire and empower others to achieve more than they believed themselves capable of. 

Job Purpose

Our London choir manager will hold overall responsibility for facilitating our rehearsal, gig and workshop delivery in London. The post holder will collaborate closely with choir members, identifying opportunities to offer training and informal support, facilitating learning and reflection, and ensuring the group feels equipped to deliver the choir activities it wants to see.  The choir manager will also use impact measurement tools to monitor, evaluate, and share learning with the community itself, with our central team and with partner organisations, to inform collaborative decision making.  They will also ensure that the London choir continues to work towards the strategic plans of the wider organisation.

They will manage and support a team of volunteers which will include active choir members and those with lived experience of homelessness, while also supporting our members with their challenges and aspirations, providing pastoral care and signposting to appropriate wider services. 

Parameters

Reports to:             Head of Programmes
Hours:                    16-20 hours per week, including weekend and evening work as necessary
Location:                Our London office and gig / rehearsal venues. Home working considered.
Salary:                    £30,000 p.a. (pro rata) – includes London weighting
Annual leave:        25 days per year + UK bank holidays  
Pension:                 6% employer contribution
Contract:                6 month initial fixed term. We hope to make this a permanent role following the initial fixed term, dependent on funding.

You can download a word version of this job description here or at the bottom of the page

JOB DESCRIPTION

Strategic Management

a) Develop an annual plan for the choir in partnership with choir members and the CWNN central team.  Ensure that plans make the most of members’ strengths and combine local priorities with CWNN organisational values and strategic aims.
b) Oversee and support everyone involved to effectively deliver that annual plan.
c) Ensure that operations stay within budget.
d) Follow CWNN policies and procedures consistently, and help to keep them relevant and up-to-date.

Member recruitment and support

a)  Ensure safe, supportive, inclusive, accessible and welcoming rehearsal, workshop and gig environments
b)  Forge and develop contacts throughout the homelessness and support sectors in London, to ensure services are actively encouraging service users to attend
c)  Ensure that recruitment of choir members and volunteers actively seeks to create a community that is representative of London’s diversity
d)  In collaboration with choir members, provide appropriate pastoral care, assisting choir members to identify and overcome personal challenges and maintain their place in the choir.
e)  Signpost choir members to relevant external services and opportunities and furnish volunteers with appropriate information to do the same
f)  Act as safeguarding lead for the London choir, facilitating training for the community to encourage members to recognise potential abuse and support each other appropriately. 

Fundraising and Communications

a)  Contribute to raising money for the London choir, with support from the CWNN central team. This could include anything from raising money from local individuals to forging relationships with local businesses or helping with local grant applications.
b)  Send regular updates to the CWNN central team to be included on organisational communications.
c)  Provide opportunities for choir members to get involved with communications and fundraising projects, offering support for members to lead their own projects where appropriate.
d)  Be active on social media to communicate and celebrate the London choir members’ achievements.
e)  Contribute to, and support choir members to contribute to, local PR opportunities where appropriate
f)   Support & encourage members to contribute to documenting the progress of the London choir, photographing and filming where appropriate and ensuring appropriate consents are given.

Volunteer Support 

a)  Encourage choir members to support each other and offer training to those wishing to develop their skills in offering further support.
b)  Offer group and one to one support and supervision to volunteers
c)  Coordinate a regular schedule of training to support the development of volunteers

Event production

a)  In consultation with the Choir Director and choir members, coordinate a programme of outreach workshops within relevant communities in London as set out in the annual choir plan
b)  With the Choir Director and choir members, arrange and promote appropriate gigs and events, including our annual Big Christmas Singalong

Impact measurement

a)  Maintain up to date and accurate records to in order to support funding applications and provide data to report back to existing funders
b)  Contribute to weekly, quarterly and annual reports for our central team and board of trustees
c)  Contribute to measuring the social impact of our work through conducting appropriate member surveys and compiling the results
d)  Share impact data with the community to encourage ownership of the outcomes and inform plans for the future.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Demonstrable alignment with our values of family, fun, integrity and collaboration
• Collaborative leadership and coaching skills, with the ability to inspire and bring out the best in people
• Highly-motivated self-starter with initiative to make things happen
• Organised and methodical approach
• Compassion and respect for all members of society, including a commitment to diversity and inclusion
• Ability to act calmly and decisively in emergencies, and to work positively with challenging behaviour
• Demonstrable experience of working positively with disadvantaged people in the community
• Ability to present information clearly and to a high standard, both in writing and verbally
• Digitally literate (e.g. Microsoft Office including Word, PowerPoint and Excel, social media).

Highly desirable

• A sense of humour and a love of music!
• Experience of co-production and working in a co-produced way
• Significant experience &/or qualifications in community development work
• An in depth understating of the principles of co-production and experience working in a co-produced way
• Previous experience of safeguarding adults at risk of abuse
• Knowledge, experience and networks in the homelessness, support and/or arts sectors in London
• Event management experience
• Knowledge of the principles and methods of impact measurement

The specific skills we will be looking for clear evidence of at this first stage of the application include:

• Alignment with our values
• Collaborative leadership and coaching skills
• Self-starter full of ideas and initiative
• Clear communicator
• Organised and methodical
• Ability to work positively with challenging behaviour

HOW TO APPLY

In the interest of a non-biased approach to recruitment, all applications will be anonymised before they reach the selection panel.  We are not, at this stage, asking for information about your work experience or education, we are only seeking the answers to questions that will demonstrate the above skills. 

To help us with this, please follow these steps:

• Copy and paste the questions below onto a separate Word document.
• Answer the questions, trying not to use more than 300 words per question. 
• Don’t put your name or any identifying information on the document. 
• Email the document as an attachment to info@choirwithnoname.org, by 9am on Monday 3rd May.  Include your phone number in the email. 

If you have access needs that make any aspect of the application process difficult, please contact us at info@choirwithnoname.org and we will make reasonable adjustments.  You can also use this email address if you have any questions about the process. 

If your answers are among the ones that show the best demonstrations of the skills we’re looking for, we will be in touch to ask for your CV, and to invite you to an initial interview.  If you haven’t heard from us by 17th May, we’re afraid that you can assume that you haven’t been successful. 

Thank you so much for your interest in working with us at the Choir with No Name, and good luck with your application!

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Try not to use more than 300 words per question – thank you.  Don’t feel you need to use the full word limit if you can answer more succinctly. 

1. Why is the Choir with No Name where you want to be and why now? What skills do you want to learn in this role?

2. We want to build communities who work together to lead their own projects, harnessing choir members' strengths and creating opportunities to develop new skills. Can you tell us how you would go about that in our London choir?  (If relevant, tell us about any past experience which you would draw upon).

3. You join the team half way through a project; we have been funded to run a series of singing workshops that engage isolated groups in the community. You find that no workshops have yet been delivered. There is a team of volunteers keen to help but they don't know what is happening.  What steps would you take, and in what order?

4. You have been supporting a group of choir members to put on a gig that is coming up in a month's time.  Plans have stalled dramatically after two of the members had an aggressive stand-up row about it (in front of the rest of the choir) and are now not speaking. There is a general feeling in the group that some members are given more of a say than others and they can't come to an agreement on decisions that need to be made. What action(s) would you take?

5. A member of the choir tells you that another member keeps taking all of their money when they attend. They don't want to tell you who it is but have said they are thinking about leaving the choir to avoid seeing the person any more. How would you handle this? 

Download this job description in Word format below.