Find your place in the field of good food

Creative Youth Event Producer

Food Foundation CIO
Flexible and On-Site

Posted: 25/03/2021

Deadline: 18/04/2021

Compensation: £200 Per Day

Paid Full-time Part-time Fixed term / contract

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Job description

About

The Food Foundation is a young, dynamic, impactful and independent charity working to influence food policy to support healthy and sustainable diets. Working at the interface between academia and policy makers (parliamentarians, civil servants, local authorities, business leaders) we use a wide range of approaches to make change happen including events, publications, media stories, social media campaigns and multi-stakeholder partnerships.  

We also work directly with citizens to ensure their lived experience is reflected in our policy proposals. We work with many partners on a range of different thematic areas, working closely with academics to generate evidence and campaigners who can drive change. We are independent of all political parties and business, and we are not limited by a single issue or special interest. We work with others who believe there is a problem with the system and want to change it. We have a terrific and dedicated group of trustees and expert advisers who support our work. 

Purpose of the role 

The Food Foundation is designing a two-day youth summit as part of ‘Valley Fest’ which is a family friendly food and music festival taking place in Somerset in the first weekend of August. The youth summit will be a chance for 80 young people working across a range of sectors relevant to food (e.g., climate change, farming, nutrition) to come together and discuss food system challenges.  

Acting as Creative Youth Event Producer for the Food Foundation’s youth summit at Valley Fest, this temporary role will be responsible for making sure that every session we run looks brilliant and runs smoothly. You will also bring together all the branded assets and installations required for the festival and will be the lead events producer, planning and delivering with detailed production schedules and up to date running orders. You will be the main point of contact for the on-site production companies that run the stage, livestream, screens, and installations. 

The summit programme will include talks and workshops from inspiring influencers, activists, business leaders and policy makers, providing young people with an opportunity to meet, discuss and even challenge these decision-makers. Alongside a full line-up of speakers, there will be other activities such as cookery lessons, art workshops and panel discussions. The young people will camp and be catered for on site as part of their experience. 

As well as the 80 young people we will be bringing, the youth summit will be open to anyone attending the festival. It will have a particular focus on engaging young people about the range of issues connected to our food system and how it affects climate change.  

This role will be joining a wider team of Food Foundation staff who are also working on the Youth Summit and will report into the Food Foundation’s Events Manager. 

Main responsibilities 

• Managing the planning and delivery of all creative assets and branded content for Valley Fest to deliver a two-day stage show in the Food Foundation’s youth summit tent. 
• Build on the existing planned programme to integrate additional sessions and interactive installations (e.g., Pledge Tree, ‘Actions 4 Change’ exhibition, social media cut out boards, etc.). 
• Helping to co-ordinate the logistics behind the young people and their chaperones visiting the youth summit, festival, and camp site. 
• Managing external production companies for livestream, staged activities (branded slides, videos, music, scripts) and installations on site at Valley Fest. 
• Keeping a tight rein on the production budget and ensuring external suppliers deliver competitive quotes.  Reporting any unexpected expenditure to the Events Manager. 
• Liaising with additional suppliers and third-party vendors for the design and production of branded assets (banners, stage set, printed programme, signage, merchandise including t-shirts, lanyards, and water bottles). 
• Attend Valley Fest as Creative Youth Event Producer and creating detailed production schedules to oversee the stage production including livestream and installation set up/running/de-rig over the festival weekend. 
• Overseeing the programme with individual session plans to include speaker liaison, speaker briefings, current running orders and scheduling. 

Wider responsibilities 

• Attend internal and external Valley Fest planning meetings and provide regular updates to the Food Foundation’s Events Manager. 
• Providing other ad hoc support to the team organising Valley Fest, including any small tasks such as washing up or clearing tables that may need to happen over the course of the festival.  

Experience 

Essential  

• 2-3 years professional experience in events production including livestreams, running a stage and interactive installations. 
• Excellent communication skills, friendly and able to build rapport quickly with external suppliers and event partners.  
• Self-motivated and highly organized, able to work independently and implement new ideas efficiently.  
• Committed to social inclusion and increasing access of the programme to the audience of young people in the UK and abroad.  
• Adaptable and flexible towards new tasks, possessing a can-do attitude and willingness to seek help in areas outside of understanding.  
• Experience of working with young people and safeguarding issues associated with that. 

Desirable  

• Experience of festivals, either attending or participating in the past, or showing an understanding of the festival’s objectives, activities, and future challenges.  
• Understanding and passion for the issues related to our food systems (including climate change, nutrition and health, biodiversity, farming). 
• Good leadership skills, ensuring good communication and positive relationships are maintained across all areas.  
• Financial fluency - experience working with budgets and finances. 

Key competencies 

Creative and analytical thinkers, Event Producers are capable of handling quantitative and technical duties while also using their eye for design to implement the visual aspects of an event. They juggle many different tasks and collaborate with a wide range of teams in order to oversee events, so they must be highly-organized, great communicators with the ability to prioritize many different simultaneous tasks. Event Producers are decision makers and are assertive and capable of directing others and implementing projects with little to no supervision. 

Other information and how to apply. 

Expected Working Hours:   The role is a temporary position which will require travel within the UK (own car is not necessary). Due to the nature of the job, we expect the post holder to stagger their days, working part-time in May and June, building up to working full-time closer to the festival weekend. We expect this will be approximately 50 days in total. It is expected that the post holder would be available to work for duration of the festival (30th July – 1st August) and up until 6th August. Hours will be expected to be recorded using a timesheet. 

The post-holder will need to have access to their own IT software but will be provided with a Food Foundation email address. Subsistence will be re-imbursed upon providing related receipts.  

This role is subject to the candidate obtaining an enhanced DBS check and must have the right to work in the United Kingdom. 

Application information

Apply by 18th April 2021 to office@foodfoundation.org.uk with “Creative Youth Event Producer” in the subject line and a CV and 1 page Covering Letter explaining why you are suitable for the position. Interviews will be conducted via zoom and short-listed candidates will be contacted directly to arrange suitable times. 

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