Thanks for your interest in LIFT’s Placement Programme
This longstanding initiative is a training opportunity for students in higher education to get hands-on experience in an international arts organisation. It has been developed in response to a need our Higher Education Institution partners have raised and is only open to students, with the goal of providing a contextual experience for those studying relevant subjects.
To date, our Placement Programme has equipped a cohort of individuals to gain employment within the arts and media sector to advance their professional careers; LIFT placements have gone on to work at companies, venues and institutions such as: The National Theatre, Young Vic, Netflix, Barbican, The Yard, In Between Time, Village Underground, Tate, Royal Court, Dance Umbrella, Battersea Arts Centre, Artsadmin, Jerwood Foundation, CASA Latin American Theatre Festival, Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, Goethe Institut as well as some going on to become highly successful freelancers.
Based at LIFT HQ in East London, successful trainees will work closely with staff members, venues, companies and other external organisations over the course of the placement. The training programme is part time, normally 2 days/week. Days and hours may vary across the course of the placement depending on the role and we offer flexibility in order to fit around academic and other commitments.
It’s an exciting time to join LIFT, as we work towards our biannual festival of theatre and performance, taking place this summer from the 5th June – 27th July.
Work alongside our dynamic team as we prepare for the busiest time in a festival office – the production and delivery of our highly anticipated artistic programme!
About the roles
The LIFT Placement Programme is an opportunity to learn more about arts management by experiencing the day-to-day operation of LIFT. The programme is aimed at people who have chosen a career path in the arts and who, through practical experience, wish to complete their education and advance their professional career.
Each placement provides additional, rather than essential support to the LIFT department in which they’re based. As well as practical experience, the programme provides participants with guidance and structured feedback and opens doors to many professional networks and opportunities.
Placements will receive one-on-one meetings and coaching with members of the festival team. Depending on what you need, we can help you with your CV going forward, give you tips on interviewing, identify potential roles and opportunities in the field and make introductions where we can and where appropriate.
As this is a work experience placement, LIFT is not able to offer payment but will cover expenses of £15 per day to cover travel and lunch.
There are 3 roles available, with further details of each available further down:
Producing Placement
Technical Production Placement
Admin & Venues Placement
What you will gain:
- Up close knowledge and experience on how a festival is made and how complex programming decisions are taken
- Knowledge about leading international festivals, programmes, artists, and events – by the end of the placement, your awareness of contemporary performance on the world stage and how artists and producers work outside of the UK will be broadened, more detailed and nuanced.
- Monthly feedback sessions on your own curatorial practice or event producing plans or your career progression plans,
- Interviewing, CV and cover letter support, as well as helping to make any useful introductions that we can in order for you to expand your network
- Working in office at Toynbee Hall within an experienced, exciting and skilled team
- LIFT will pay expenses of £15/day towards travel and lunch
Key Dates:
Application Deadline: Sunday 28th April
Interviews: w/c 29 April
Start date: As soon as possible in agreement with the successful applicant
Placement lasts 3 months – start date is negotiable but as soon as possible:
Working requirements: At least 2 days/week. Some remote working may be negotiable, but in-person attendance will be expected in the lead up to and during the June festival dates, which are 5th-23rd June.
How to apply:
Please fill in both:
and
Roles and Responsibilities
Producing Placement:
- Arranging and attending artist meetings with leading UK and international artists, and minuting these meetings.
- Researching international and regional artists, festival programmes and projects.
- Attending and contributing to a weekly production meeting and minuting these meetings.
- Supporting the day-to-day planning, production and execution of LIFT 24 where possible.
- Supporting artists care, hospitality and logistic needs, especially during festival period.
- Creating and maintaining tools to track the programming and festival scheduling process.
- Occasionally seeing work on behalf of festival curators and report back on these projects (your tickets will be paid for)
- Researching and booking travel and show tickets for LIFT team
- Undertaking artistic research for project ideation and execution under the guidance of the producing team.
- Ensuring expenses for the above are filed accordingly
- Building and updating international network contact lists, whilst ensuring this is GDPR safe
- Offering general artistic admin support
- Responding to emails and calendar management
- Acting as an ambassador for LIFT
Technical Production Placement:
- Become familiar with the technical riders and requirements of all companies and venues.
- Work with the PM to liaise with artists about their technical requirements by attending production meetings/Teams calls and taking notes.
- Sourcing props, hires and other items as needed.
- Liaising with suppliers for logistical, staffing and technical equipment needs, under the supervision of the PM.
- Researching and feeding into approaches regarding sustainability and social justice to be implemented in technical production practises.
Administrative and Venue Placement:
- Working with the general manager and volunteer coordinator on festival scheduling, front-of-house planning and execution.
- Working with the finance manager on team budget planning and reconciliation.
- Working with the communications team to ensure venues receive communications materials and that venues are presented to LIFT’s standards.
Person Specification for all placements:
- Excellent organisational skills – enthusiasm for creating and maintaining clear and simple systems and trackers
- Good time management skills and the ability to work at speed and under pressure
- High attention to detail with accuracy and ability to proofread
- Excellent communication and social skills, with the ability to deal with a wide range of people at all levels
- Experience of producing or making theatre or live events of any scale
- A passion for LIFT’s vision
- Ease with using Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word
- Ability to take initiative and work independently whilst also willing to work in a team
Further details
LIFT is committed to being a truly inclusive organisation – from our Trustees and team members to our audience and participants. We treat all job applications equally, regardless of race, age, disability, gender identity or gender expression, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other equality characteristic. We particularly encourage applications from groups who are underrepresented in the cultural sector including working class people, disabled people, and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
Our offices are wheelchair-accessible; please contact recruitment@liftfestival.com or 0207 968 6800 if you wish to discuss any access requirements ahead of making an application.
LIFT will reimburse travel expenses to in-person interviews for all candidates. If your travel is likely to cost more than this, please contact recruitment@liftfestival.com to discuss options.
Our organisation has a flexible and adaptive environment that allows our small, dedicated team to flourish. We are open to discussing the possibility of flexible solutions to access requirements or working preferences.
This placement is only open to higher education students currently studying in the UK.
