Young 's Project Co-ordinator

Job Description

New Carnival is a professional arts organisation based on the Isle of Wight specialising in carnival and outdoor public celebrations. We run a dedicated carnival arts centre ‘The Coaching House’ in Ryde. We operate an extensive community outreach and arts training programmes, across the Island, the south of England and Internationally. We deliver vibrant, exciting, and inventive carnival-based art projects inspired by the natural environment, heritage, and the world we live in.

Giving occasion to showcase creative expression, cultivating a sense of pride, place and belonging. Our aim is to ‘Ignite creativity and Unite communities’.

New Carnival is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, successful in its funding for the current round, originally 2023‑2026. A successful bid for additional funding to develop youth opportunity resulted in this position. New Carnival has now had a confirmed extension year 2026‑2027, it is likely there will be another extension year for 2027‑2028. We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivational individual to lead the project.

• Position available to continue the co‑ordination of exciting creative opportunities for young people, 14‑30 years as part of New Carnival. You will lead on ‘Isle of Creativity’, a project designed to give young people a chance to gain practical, transferrable skills within the scope of outdoor arts, carnival, festivals and the wider arts and cultural sector. This is funded by Arts Council England.
• The role requires co‑ordinating the delivery of the agreed programme, to our established group of regular young people Isle of Creativity (who currently meet on a Thursday evening 5.30pm‑7.30pm). Consulting with young people about what they want to do and arranging accessible and inclusive workshops and programmes of work.
• Providing the young people with a broad range of opportunities to develop their own events and activities through involvement at local events and by attending trips and practical skills workshops.

• Candidate’s role will be to liaise with tutors, teachers and young people, to organise meetings and workshops as well as delivering them. To book trips and organise travel itineraries.
• Be able to promote activities and write social media posts and press releases. Manage the Isle of Creativity Instagram account.
• Work to budgets, report on progress and collect relevant data. Collecting attendance data is key as this gets fed into wider arts council reporting.
• Develop plans by listening to young people and ensuring that they have a say in what they would like to do in terms of the programming and the events they might like to curate.
• Helping to organise and run our youth‑led sustainable fashion show, Trash to Trend and associated workshops in the lead up to. This is a way to engage more younger people from across the high schools, IW College and beyond who might not be in the core group.

• Organise and run regular sessions for the existing core youth group.
• Organise trips or work experience opportunities.
• Deliver the ‘Trash to Trend’ Fashion show in spring.
• The candidate will be expected to adhere to New Carnival policies and safeguarding protocols.

• The youth project co‑ordinator will be responsible for the running and delivering of youth activity, this will be achieved with consultation with the senior management of New Carnival and by reporting and feeding back to the New Carnival board who have responsibility of oversight. The board have four quarterly meetings per year. The youth co‑ordinator is responsible for the safeguarding of youths involved and helping to maintain the shared workshop and kitchen areas within the building.

• The candidate will be required to assist with some of New Carnivals main events (Mardi Gras or Merry and Bright for example) with general setting up and stewarding etc, this is to support the wider team, and the young people if they are in attendance.

Please send a CV and cover letter of application outlining how your experience matches the job description and person specification to Hannah Ray, Director…