Project Placement

The main purpose of this placement is to support the Assistant Community Curator (ACC) to collect oral histories: including but not limited to contacting potential participants, familiarising them with the relevant forms and procedures, facilitating and/or recording oral history, transcribing and cataloguing the oral histories on our collections database. They may also help to share this work with the public.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about oral histories, has excellent interpersonal skills, and enjoys working with people. All training with regards to aspects of oral history will be given.

This role will be primarily based at Temple Newsam and in and around Leeds. Please note that Temple Newsam is set amidst 900 acres of public parkland in East Leeds. While there are no direct bus links to the house, bus routes 19/19A serve bus stops that are a 15 to 20 min walk from the house itself. As the ACC works part-time, the individual should be willing to work between Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays as agreed with the supervisor.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About You

Our Project Placements are a training and development opportunity. We are looking for people who are:

• Starting out in heritage, culture, or the arts
• Looking for a change of career and exploring options in the arts and cultural sector
• From a diverse range of backgrounds underrepresented in the arts and cultural sector

What matters most is your passion for the project.

About the Role

This is one of three Project Placements at Leeds Museums and Galleries in 2025. The funding for Project Placements comes from Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation funding to give people paid experience of working in a heritage/cultural setting, training and support.

Project Placements are a maximum of 30 days to be completed before the end of March 2026. We are open to it being fewer days to help people access the opportunity. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We are a family-friendly organisation and support our employees to work flexibly to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Working days and times are flexible and are agreed with the supervisor.

To find out more, we have a video describing each of the Project Placements and giving tip tops for applications. This can be accessed for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.

What We Offer You

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
• A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
• A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

Responsibilities

• Contribute to public engagement through community engagement, learning, and exhibition programmes.
• Provide a high standard of customer service by being welcoming and engaging when assisting with community engagement, supporting activities, dealing with public enquiries, collating customer feedback or working with volunteers.
• Work alongside other staff to ensure accessibility and inclusivity within our spaces.
• Contribute to the collections management and maintain attention to detail in documentation, digitisation, online access, collections handling, and packing.
• Exhibitions and displays which may include physical and administrative support for displays and exhibitions, to write exhibition text under guidance from others.
• Research: Under instruction and guidance source and provide interesting and accurate information on collections or individual items.
• Work under the guidance of the placement supervisor.
• Liaise courteously with other staff.
• Show commitment to training regarding H&S, safeguarding, information governance, and the site.
• Be curious. Be open to new experiences, work creatively and be reflective. Be passionate about the collection, and innovative in its uses with audiences.
• Be eager to develop new skills through participation in programmes, projects, action research, and training.
• Deliver accurate and timely time sheets for salary payments.

Essential Requirements

It is essential that the candidate should demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with colleagues and partners (LMG / LCC/ schools/volunteers/general public).
• Able to prioritise and organise own work flexibly according to the direction of the supervisor.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team.
• Good computer skills. Able to use word processing and email.
• Formal qualifications are not essential however good literacy and numeracy skills will be required.
• Experience of working or volunteering in a public-facing role.
• Promote and apply consistently the principles of Equality and Diversity both with colleagues and members of the public to ensure fair and equal access to services and opportunities.
• Good interpersonal skills and an ability to relate to people.

Essential Behavioural and Other Characteristics

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth, and Zero Carbon
• Be aware of and able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee responsibility under Health and Safety.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
• Be aware of and support differences ensuring equality for all, working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity.
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
• The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol, and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Interviews

To be held at Temple Newsam on 22.07.2025

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least *GBP*38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.