Join our Board: Non-Executive Director
We are seeking a non-executive director with professional financial experience to join our board.
We are looking for a collaborative and supportive individual who has experience of working in finance at a strategic level. You will chair our finance subgroup (4 meetings a year) and attend our board meetings (4 meetings a year).
Payment is a £650 annual honorarium, plus travel expenses.
By joining our board you will be contributing your time to work with an innovative, strategic, organisation to make positive change.
A message from our Chair, Hazel Province
Hello – and thank you for your interest in this opportunity.
This is an exciting time for the organisation. We’ve recently been awarded a new service level agreement by Dorset Council and are responsible for realising the Dorset Cultural Strategy. We’re collaborating with a broad range of partners in health and wellbeing, tourism, and community – as well as with the incredible creative talent of the county.
Though based in Dorset, our work takes us across the country and sometimes abroad. We’ve been called on to give advice on place-based strategies, and leading regional and national programmes of work.
We’re keen to add to our expertise at Board level, appointing people who will bring strategic oversight, critical friendship, and their personal passion to develop the organisation over the coming years. We don’t require you to have Board experience – if this is your first Board role you will get a warm welcome and plenty of support from the existing directors.
I’m happy to have a chat if you’re interested in this role and if you’ve any questions, please ask – there’s no such thing as a stupid question here!
Best wishes,
Hazel Province
Chair, Arts Development Company
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hazel-province-a74645/
Role Requirements
It is the Board’s responsibility to:
Be legally responsible for the proper discharge of public monies, and to exercise overall control of the organisation’s financial affairs on behalf of all stakeholders
Ensure the company complies with regulatory and statutory requirements, being equally responsible under the law for Board decisions
Provide security and continuity for the company
Anticipate and manage strategic risks faced by the company
Be alert to external factors affecting the company
Stand back from day-to-day operations, unless invited to contribute towards specific initiatives or challenges
Appoint a Chief Executive and to hold she/he/them responsible for their actions
Agree annually the overall direction and strategy against which her/his/their performance is reviewed
Provide the Chief Executive with challenge and support in equal measure
Appoint a chair from within its number
Keep Governance under review
As a non-Executive Director, you’d be expected to:
Draw on your expertise and experience to provide practical advice to the board, to the CEO and to members of the staff team
Always act in the best interests of the company
Understand the company’s business and contribute to the development of the business
Attend all board meetings, giving apologies ahead of time to the chair if unable to attend
Study the agenda and other information sent in good time prior to the meeting
Engage in debate and voting in meetings, always using your independent judgement whilst maintaining a respectful attitude toward the opinions of others
Participate in induction, training and development activities as identified necessary by the Board
Act as an ambassador for the company at all times
Maintain confidentiality about board meeting discussions, unless otherwise authorised
As the Chair of the Finance subgroup, you’d be expected to:
Chair quarterly Finance meetings, whose attendees include the Chair of the Board, CEO, General Manager and Finance Officer
Agree the overarching strategic direction of the organisation’s finances and ensure the organisation is achieving this
Monitor quarterly management accounts and cash flow
Oversee process of setting and agreeing annual budget
Make recommendations to the Board on financial management
A message from our outgoing Non-Executive Director
“Being a member of Arts Development Company board has been a fantastic experience. It gave me the opportunity to experience how a board of directors functioned and operated and helped me to develop skills which became invaluable as I progressed to board level in my full-time professional career.
Arts Development Company spans several sectors and has a diverse and highly skilled board. Being able to work with experts from such different sectors to my own really helped to broaden my own views on how to run a successful company and how to operate as an effective board member.”
Steven Pink
Outgoing Non-Executive Director – Finance, Arts Development Company
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-pink-aab5b75b/
Commitment
There are up to four Board meetings each year, generally lasting three hours. Additionally, we hold an annual away day lasting up to seven hours.
All meetings are in Dorset, usually at our work base in Dorchester. We encourage directors to attend in person but can enable directors to join remotely. As a small board, full attendance is preferable.
Very occasionally the Chair or CEO will need to call an exceptional meeting of the Board. These are almost always held remotely and last no longer than one hour.
In addition to the main Board, you will chair our Finance Subgroup, one of our Strategic Advisory Groups, meeting quarterly.
The CEO, Chair or any director may also share important information via email and it is expected that directors will dedicate some time to reading information shared and, where invited, offer feedback.
The CEO should also feel able to reach out, between meetings, to any Director for specific advice. All directors should be willing to find time for a phone call when requested.
It is impossible to put a fixed time commitment on emails, reading and phone calls, but it is reasonable to expect that you might find yourself spending an hour or two each month keeping abreast with governance updates and the business of the Arts Development Company in this way.
Non-Executive Directors serve a minimum three-year term.
Remuneration
You’ll receive an annual honorarium payment of £500 per year and £150 per year for chairing the Finance Subgroup. This represents a contribution towards time spent on board meetings, engaging with key stakeholders, and providing ad hoc advice.
If an Independent Director undertakes additional professional work for the company, this must be agreed in advance with the Chair – in line with our policy on Conflicts of Interest. Consultancy fees are negotiated with the CEO.
Directors can also claim reasonable out of pocket travel expenses associated with attending board meetings, in accordance with the company expenses policy.
Interested?
If you’re interested in knowing more about the Arts Development Company or want to have a conversation about this role, contact our Chair Hazel Province: hazelprovince@outlook.com
About Arts Development Company
Arts Development Company is a unique organisation. Formed in 2015 as the only spin-out in the country of a locally authority arts service, the organisation is fundamental in supporting the cultural sector in Dorset as well as developing projects, models and initiatives that work nationally and even globally.
We are a social enterprise, and we’re constituted as a Community Interest Company. We’re based in The Little Keep, an historic military building in Dorchester, which we share with eight other cultural and social organisations.
We’ve a small team of five staff, contracting associates to lead on specific areas of work. Our turnover fluctuates between £300,000 and £600,000. We’ve a five-year £635,000 service level agreement with Dorset Council (running until 2026).
We’re governed by a Board which consists of four Independent Directors, our Chief Executive, and an elected staff member. In addition to quarterly full Board meetings, we have strategic advisory groups for key areas of work, all of which include at least one Independent Director.
Vision
Our vision is of a fairer society in which everyone is valued.
We will play our part in making this happen, through harnessing the transformational power of culture through our mission to find creative solutions to deliver social change.
Our activity falls into four strands:
We create programmes to improve people’s lives through engagement with culture
We harness the cultural sector in a shared strategic direction
We advocate for the value of culture
We find new models of support to enable cultural activity
Values
We’re a values-led organisation. These inform our approach to all that we do.
We are entrepreneurial and ambitious in our approach. We like a bit of constructive disruption, we like to do things differently and we are not afraid to experiment or to take calculated and creative risks. We are true to our pioneering beginnings.
We have integrity. We keep our promises, we work hard to build trust and to be true to our mission and our values.
Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do: We believe that everyone’s ideas, opinions and actions have equal place to be heard and have validity.
We care about our planet: We live in a climate emergency and we know the cultural sector can play a key role in raising awareness and creatively solving environmental challenges.
We collaborate. We believe that we create more value and achieve greater impact through working in partnership with others who have skills and experiences which are different from our own.
We are a learning organisation. We understand and voice our individual and collective limits, which allows us to grow and improve together.
We are generous. We widely share our expertise, experience and advice for the benefit of everyone