Here you will find information on opportunities to work or volunteer with Creative Lives.

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Creative Advisers

Creative Lives is looking to recruit a pool of new volunteer Creative Advisers to support, inform and influence the work of our organisation. 

What we need from our Creative Advisers

• To help us ensure that we implement equality of opportunity and a diverse range of views and experiences throughout all our work.
• There will be an annual online meeting for all Advisers in which we will report on the work of Creative Lives and allow Advisers to question Creative Lives staff and Trustees to hold us to account.
• We will also hold an exclusive annual online Creative Conversation for all Advisers, featuring a high-profile guest speaker on a relevant topic.
• Creative Advisers will be invited to take part in judging sessions for the annual Creative Lives Awards.
• We will also invite Advisers from the pool to take part in short-term task & finish groups and one-off ad hoc meetings on particular topics to inform the work of the Creative Lives staff teams across the UK and Ireland.

Who we are looking for

People from a wide range of experiences and backgrounds. You might be:

• Someone who takes part in an amateur arts group or practices creative activities as a hobby.
• Working as an artist or in a professional arts organisation, the creative industries, a charity, community organisation, local government, or a media organisation - whether as a paid employee or a volunteer.
• Someone who has studied or has knowledge of everyday creativity, amateur arts, wellbeing, cultural democracy, volunteering or communities.
• Living anywhere in the world - as long as you are interested in everyday and community-based creative activity.

How will volunteer Creative Advisers benefit from their involvement? 

• An invitation to the annual online Creative Conversation featuring high-profile speakers and a range of other meetings on current issues and topics.
• You'll be helping to shape everyday creativity policy and practice, and the work of Creative Lives. 
• An opportunity to network with a diverse range of creative people from across the UK, Republic of Ireland and further afield. 

Practicalities

• Creative Advisers is a voluntary (unpaid) role.
• Meetings of Advisers will use digital communications by default, in line with our Environmental Sustainability Policy, but we will pay reasonable travel expenses for any in-person meetings.
• Creative Advisers will be required to take part in a minimum of 3 online meetings per year.
• Advisers will be asked to complete an annual equalities monitoring form which, anonymised, is used to ensure diversity of its membership and for recruitment purposes.
• Advisers will be asked to sign up for a 3-year period (with the option to extend for a second 3-year period to a maximum of 6 years). Some of the initial intake of Advisers may be asked to serve for a first term of 1-year or 2-years to avoid the possibility of all our Advisers retiring at the same time.
• We will publish a full list of our Advisers, with short biographies, on the Creative Lives website.

How to apply

Please submit an expression of interest by 31 December 2021. You can use our application form at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CreativeAdvisers or send your answers to the questions below to [email protected] or submit a short video if you prefer.

• Name: 
• Email: 
• Why would you like to become a Creative Adviser? 
• Which geographical areas do you have particular knowledge about? (England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, other) 
• What personal perspectives or lived experience would you bring to this role? i.e. from your own background, community etc. 
• Which disciplines or areas of expertise would you bring? i.e. from your professional work, volunteering or hobbies.  

Creative Lives will select from expressions of interest in order to ensure that our pool of Creative Advisers includes a diverse range of voices across geography, demographics and expertise.

If you need any help with the application process, please contact us on [email protected] 

About Creative Lives

Creative Lives is a registered charity that was established in 1991. We champion community and volunteer-led creative activity, and work to improve opportunities for everyone to be creative. In particular, we celebrate and promote people expressing themselves creatively with others, recognising the benefits this can bring.

We know that creative expression in all its forms is a fundamental part of being human, but that individuals and communities need opportunities and support for creativity to flourish. We also know that people coming together to create, have fun, share experiences and support each other can have a positive impact on both their physical and emotional wellbeing.

To that end, Creative Lives works with communities, organisations, policy-makers, funders and creative individuals as a voice for positive change, to improve and expand the landscape in which creative participation can take place. 

We work to address inequalities in access to creative participation, promote inclusivity, connect people and communities, and seek to increase awareness of the links between creativity and wellbeing.

We do this on a local and national level through advocacy, development and celebrating the activities of creative people, groups and places through the Creative Lives Awards, Creative Lives On Air, Get Creative Festival, our Creative Networks and Creative Learning sessions and a diverse range of creative projects.

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