Heritage Engagement Manager

Salary: £140 per day
Weekly hours: 3 days per week
Hours: Part-time
Contract duration: 81 days between Feb and Aug 2027
Closing date: November 18, 2026

We are looking for a passionate and experienced Heritage Engagement Manager for our Acts of Change: Young People & the Nicky Gavron Archive project, delivered in partnership with Bruce Castle Museum & Archive and funded by Archives Revealed.

Working alongside the Project Archivist, you will lead an inspiring programme of engagement activities that connect young people with the personal archive of Nicky Gavron, a founding community leader of Jacksons Lane and a significant figure in Haringey’s civic, environmental and cultural history. This freelance opportunity combines heritage engagement, youth participation and creative project management.

You will recruit and support a cohort of Young Heritage Producers, deliver workshops with schools and community groups, and help shape a programme that enables young people to explore, interpret and respond to archive material spanning four decades of local activism, arts and social change. Working closely with Jacksons Lane, Bruce Castle Museum & Archive and a team of creative practitioners, you will co-design training, events and public activities that place young people’s voices at the heart of the project. A key part of the role will be leading the development of a free festival-style public event featuring exhibition, performance and participatory activities inspired by the archive and the stories it contains.

Responsibilities

• Lead the programme’s engagement activity in collaboration with the project team.
• Recruit, support and retain a cohort of 12 Young Heritage Producers aged 16-21 who live, work or study in Haringey, with targeted outreach to young people currently under-represented in heritage participation.
• Plan and coordinate high quality heritage workshops and activities for secondary schools, colleges and youth settings, working with the Project Archivist, Bruce Castle Museum & Archive and freelance creative practitioners.
• Design and lead a co-creation approach that puts young people’s ideas and interests at the heart of the project.
• Co-design and coordinate a structured programme of training and creative development for the Young Heritage Producers, including archive handling, research, interpretation, creative producing, curation and event delivery.
• Lead the co-creation and delivery of a free festival-style public event at Bruce Castle Museum & Archive, including exhibition and performance events.

Job Requirements

• Experience of planning and managing heritage, arts, youth or community engagement projects.
• Demonstrable experience of co-creating programmes with young people and recruiting and retaining young people from communities under-represented in arts or heritage participation.
• Experience of coordinating work across schools, colleges, youth organisations and cultural partners.
• Experience of producing public events, exhibitions, performances or participatory programmes.
• Strong project management skills, including budget management, monitoring and evaluation, administration, organisation, prioritisation and the ability to manage multiple workstreams independently.
• Understanding of safeguarding practice for young people aged 16-21.
• Understanding of access, inclusion and reasonable adjustments.
• Ability to work sensitively with personal histories, community activism and potentially sensitive archive material.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong attention to detail.

About the organisation

Jacksons Lane has been a creative and cultural hub for North London for 50 years and is officially the UK’s leading supporter of contemporary circus. As the flagship arts and cultural venue in Haringey, Jacksons Lane’s year-round programme of contemporary performance, arts participation and cultural education exists to empower, and ignite creativity within, diverse communities and work tirelessly to overcome traditional barriers through art.

How to Apply

To apply for the role please send a copy of your CV and a detailed covering letter (no more than 1000 words in size 12 font) or video/audio file (no more than 8 minutes in length) to recruitment@jacksonslane.org.uk, including your full name and ‘Heritage Engagement Manager’ in the subject line of the email. Should you wish to submit your application in another way please get in touch.

We would also appreciate it if you could complete an Equal Opportunities form and include this with your application so that we can continue to monitor and increase the accessibility of our recruitment process. This form is available on our website, alongside this recruitment pack, and includes our Equality & Diversity Statement.

If you wish to discuss the role before you apply, we are happy to offer an informal 1:1 chat with a member of our team. To arrange an informal chat please email recruitment@jacksonslane.org.uk.

Further details and the Equality & Diversity form are available: https://www.jacksonslane.org.uk/about-us/jobs/