Spectra is seeking a Chair of the Board

Spectra’s Mission: Lifting the capacity of learning disabled people to influence change

Purpose: Through strategic and inclusive leadership, to hold the Board and Executive Team to account, ensuring Spectra’s methods, governance and actions align with our values. To bolster Spectra’s capacity to thrive through support for senior leadership, robust reporting to stakeholders, and enthusiastic advocacy.

Terms: January 2025. 2 years as Chair with intention to remain on the Board thereafter. Settling in period of 3 months.

Time commitment: we estimate this role takes an average of 6-8 hours per month. This is a responsive role and, at times, further capacity is required.

Salary: This is a voluntary role. Expenses will be covered.

Location: hybrid, over Zoom and in person in Smethwick/Sandwell.

DEADLINE: 9am, Mon 3 February 2025

The welcoming, supportive and inclusive culture that pervades Spectra certainly encompasses the Board as well. We eagerly encourage applications from people who are from backgrounds that are strategically undervalued by the powers that be, namely disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ and global majority candidates. Our welcome extends beyond the recruitment process; we are committed to creating a working space that is safe and caring for all. 

What does Spectra do?

We are a fierce and joyful, learning disability centred multi-arts organisation. Founded on the idea of radical inclusion, we’ve developed a reputation for aesthetically driven, gently provocative performances, installations and workshops that engage all of our audience’s senses. 

Our mission as an organisation is to lift learning disabled people’s capacity to influence change in their own lives and the world around them. Our work centres on holding space for neurodiverse and learning disabled people to make their voices heard through sharing their ideas, skills, talents and abilities. We believe that our world and our communities are improved when everyone has the opportunity to contribute.

Our methods of working are co-creative and collaborative – delivering impactful projects that showcase the skills and creativity of neurodivergent and learning disabled artists. Our work is rooted in co-production which means that everything we do is shaped by the people we work with. Each workshop, installation, garden or experience is a distinct representation of the individuals who participate, combining their histories, culture, world views and aspirations into a unique whole that can only exist because that group of people brought it into being. Our work is all nature-focussed which increases environmental knowledge and appreciation leading to positive environmental action. 

Since 2013 we have run 575+ co-creation sessions/workshops and performed to over 11,000 people. We’ve produced 12 performances, from large scale events at Midland Arts Centre in Birmingham and Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, to street festivals, a touring show; two interactive digital performances including six films; 1 sector-wide symposium; 1 report on ‘Improving Critical Engagement’, and built 3 co-designed gardens on hospital sites. 

Supported since our founding by Arts Council England, we joined their National Portfolio in April 2023. Our  work has also been supported by partners, the National Lottery Community Fund, the  William A. Cadbury Trust, Creative Black Country, Birmingham 2022 Festival, National Lottery Heritage Fund, West Mercian Building Society, West Midlands Combined Authority Green Grants, Edgar Lawley Trust, Severn Trent Community Fund, and Your Trust Charity. 

Governance at Spectra

Spectra has been a registered Community Interest Company (CIC) since September 2018. We currently have a board of three legal directors, one of whom is our outgoing Chair, and four board advisors. Collectively, this board meets together on a quarterly basis. The Chair meets with our Creative Director monthly; sometimes additional meetings are needed in response to pertinent issues that arise between meetings. The board culture at Spectra is based upon openness, respect and a genuine care for the work and wellbeing of Spectra as an organisation. Constructive challenge is encouraged.

Our Board represents our locality and our work well in that it is ethnically and neuro-diverse. As a radically inclusive organisation, it is crucial to us that our Board continues to deepen representation of those with lived experience of the intersections at which our work sits. Our new Chair will be a champion for neurodiversity and learning disability, supportive, sympathetic to our company ethos, and bring new knowledge, experience, advocacy and leadership skills to Spectra.

Once our new Chair is in post, we will begin to explore the option of changing our company structure to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

What would I do in this role?

• Ensure the Board and Senior Leadership Team act in line with Spectra’s vision, mission, values and policies – challenging with care when necessary.
• Provide strategic and inclusive leadership for the Board, ensuring that Spectra is effectively governed and that each Board Member fulfils their duties and responsibilities.
• Chair meetings effectively and efficiently, bringing impartiality to the decision-making process.
• Ensure that the Board functions as a unit and works closely with the Senior Management Team to achieve agreed objectives; ensure that decisions taken at meetings are implemented
• Conduct an annual audit of the Board’s skills, developing the Board’s knowledge and capacity, and ensuring that the Board incorporates the right balance of skills, knowledge and experience (both lived and accrued) to govern and lead Spectra effectively. 
• Work within Spectra’s agreed policies.
• Maintain an overview of Spectra’s affairs.
• Develop and maintain a supportive relationship with the Creative Director within which each party can speak openly about concerns, worries and challenges.
• Ensure that the Creative Director has the opportunity for professional development and has appropriate external professional support
• Act as an advocate for Spectra at external functions, with stakeholders, and in managing conflict with any external parties.

This role would suit me if I… 

• am passionate about radical inclusion and diversity and deeply believe that the arts can affect personal and societal change.
• believe in a care-centred approach to strategy, governance and delivery and want this to influence systems change both at Spectra and more widely through the impact our work creates.
• have experience of managing effective and impactful meetings and of being on a Board (you do not have to have been a Chair before).
• have at least five years’ experience working strategically with an understanding of strategy at a sector-wide level (this need not necessarily be the arts sector).
• can commit the necessary time to provide strategic leadership, challenge and support for the Board and executive, and to act as an advocate for Spectra.
• want to share in the intensity, fun and delight that comes with being part of Spectra’s work.

Support ahead of applying: If you think this role looks great but you’re uncertain about putting yourself forward, please get in touch with Kate DeRight, our Creative Director, kate@wearespectra.co.uk, for an informal chat. We’re very happy to talk through the role, to find different ways of communicating this role description, and to explore how different kinds of experience could contribute to fulfilling this role well.

Equitable opportunities: Given our work’s active celebration of diversity and exploration of intersectionality, we want our team to reflect these values. We eagerly encourage applications from people who are from marginalised or minoritised backgrounds. Our welcome extends beyond the recruitment process; we are committed to creating a working space that is safe and caring for all.

If you need or would prefer this job description in another format, please don’t hesitate to contact us to chat through how we can best open this opportunity to you.

Application process: Given the difficulty of recruiting a Chair and the length of our search, we invite interested parties to contact kate@wearespectra.co.uk in the first instance for an informal conversation. We are also open to the possibility of Co-Chairs. If both parties agree that a further conversation is desired, you will be invited to meet with several Board Members and are likely to be asked the following questions:

1. Please tell us how your experience (lived and accrued) and previous work demonstrates that your values align with Spectra’s. If you feel this hasn’t been the case as much as you would like it to be, please tell us about how you see this shifting were you to fill this role. 
2. Please tell us about your experience working on a Board. As well as learning about your wider experiences, we are interested in your understanding of governance and reporting to funders.
3. Spectra’s work is co-created at its very core and strategic direction draws on ongoing consultation with our stakeholders. Please share your thoughts on how this collaborative approach to strategy can impact an organisation.
4. Please share an example of your experience managing a team, i.e. setting agendas and convening meetings, developing relationships, maintaining good levels of skills and experience across the team.
5. Please share an example of when you have provided challenge or held someone/a team to account in a supportive way. What did you learn from this experience?

www.wearespectra.co.uk

@SpectraArtsCompany