We are looking for an experienced freelance Operations Coordinator to support the
running of Ashburton Arts Centre. This is a self-employed, project-based
engagement. The successful contractor will be responsible for delivering a defined
set of operational outputs, working autonomously and managing their own time.
They will be free to work for other clients alongside this engagement.
Scope of Work
The contractor will be engaged to deliver the following outcomes. How and when the
work is carried out is at the contractor’s discretion, providing tasks are completed to
an agreed standard and schedule.
Building & Operations
- Maintain and oversee the building maintenance programme, ensuring the
venue is safe, clean, and fit for use - Manage the cleaning schedule and ensure appropriate standards are
maintained - Ensure the Arts Centre meets current legislative requirements including health
and safety, insurance, licensing, and safeguarding - Maintain and update operational policies and procedures in line with trustee
directives
Volunteers
- Coordinate volunteer activities including recruitment, induction, rotas, and
training
Ticketing, Systems & Space Hire - Support the maintenance of the ticketing platform and space hire calendar,
ensuring bookings are accurately listed and up to date - Support bar EPOS operation and administer ticket sales income, liaising with
the Finance Director on financial reconciliation of cash ticket sales
Events & Programme
- Work alongside the Arts Director to support delivery of the events programme,
including:
– coordinating bookings and the events calendar
– supporting publicity and marketing activity
– developing community and business partnerships
– fielding enquiries from performers and creatives
Communications - Act as a point of contact for general public enquiries
- Provide regular progress updates to the board of trustees
Contract Terms
Type of Engagement
Freelance / self-employed contract for services. The contractor is responsible for
their own tax and National Insurance. This engagement does not confer employment
or worker status.
Day Rate
£135 per day (equivalent to approximately 3 days per week). Invoices should be
submitted monthly. The contractor is responsible for their own tax affairs.
Time Commitment
Approximately 3 days per week on average, though the contractor is free to manage
their own schedule provided agreed outputs are delivered. Some work will naturally
fall on evenings or weekends in line with the Centre’s events programme — the
contractor should factor this into their availability.
Location
The contractor may work from any location. Attendance at the Arts Centre will be
required for certain activities — for example, event nights, volunteer sessions, and
periodic meetings with the Arts Director and trustees. Travel to the venue is at the
contractor’s own cost unless otherwise agreed.
Substitution
The contractor may arrange for a suitably qualified substitute to carry out any part of
this work, provided they notify Ashburton Arts Centre in advance and both parties
are satisfied that the substitute is competent to deliver the required tasks.
Duration
Initial engagement of 12 months, reviewed by mutual agreement. Either party may
terminate with one month’s notice.
Skills & Experience
Essential
- Experience in arts administration, venue operations, or a related field
- Strong organisational and coordination skills with the ability to manage
multiple workstreams independently - Confident with digital systems including ticketing platforms, EPOS, or similar
tools - Good financial administration skills — comfortable handling cash
reconciliation and liaising with necessary parties. - Excellent communication skills — able to deal effectively with volunteers,
hirers, performers, and the public - Understanding of relevant legislation including health and safety, licensing,
and safeguarding - Able to work autonomously and manage their own time without close
supervision
Desirable - Experience of working in the charity or community sector
- Experience of managing or supporting volunteers
- Marketing and publicity skills
- Financial management and budgeting experience
- Knowledge of or connection to the local arts community
Personal Attributes - Collaborative — able to build good working relationships with trustees, the Art
Director, volunteers and members of the public - Proactive and self-motivated
- Creative problem-solver
- Flexible and comfortable with a varied workload
- Open to new ideas and ways of working
Qualifications
A qualification in arts administration, arts management, business studies, or a
related field is desirable but not essential. Relevant experience is more important.
To express interest, please send a brief outline of your relevant experience and why
this engagement appeals to you, along with your CV, to:
chair@ashburtonarts.org.uk
We are hoping to make the appointment at an early opportunity.
Please apply before 5pm, 31st August 2026.
Interviews scheduled for week commencing 7th Sept 2026.
More about the whole festival at significantseams.org.uk and iftreescouldtalk.art
If Trees Could Talk… What Would They Say?
Join us at Ashburton Arts Centre for conversations across borders, disciplines and practices. Each speaker brings a unique perspective, inviting curiosity, reflection, and dialogue—and maybe even a little wonder. Step into a space of mutual growth and creativity, where new ideas can take root and flourish. Come curious, leave inspired.
23 June Artists & their Relationships to Trees
What are roles that trees play in artists’ practice? Why trees? How do artists interpret the provocation?
30 June Arts-led social change
What are mechanisms of the arts that enable and accelerate change? Why does it work? What are the political arguments for arts-led processes?
Despite growing acceptance, even expectation of ‘creative health’ and ‘green social prescribing’ interventions, connectivity to and funding models for these types of supports are patchy. Capacity of practitioners is stretched, but funding seems limited. How might ecological thinking change the reality? What are the questions we should be asking?
14 July Entrepreneurs, Creative & Green
How are creatives changing our relationship to the environment through commerce? How are they making space in our economy for their work and messages?
15 July The Future for Trees
Stories have framed how we see forests for millennia. The murder of the forest guardian in “The legend of Gilgamesh” is part of the oldest written story. Are our modern myths, coloured now by political interests and the commercial interests of both industry and NGOs, the right stories for a changing, challenging and unknowable future?
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Click on the images below for more about the performers and to book tickets.
Friday 26 June: 7.30pm Low Wave plus The Juliettes
Saturday 27 June: 7.30pm Zaid Hilal with David Mowatt, trumpet
Sunday 28 June: 7.30pm Shindig
The UK Government’s Dept for Culture, Media and Sport has invited small (under 20,000 population), medium and large towns to apply to become the UK Town of Culture 2028. To find out more and/or to get involved, please come to a public meeting at Ashburton Arts Centre from 6pm – 7pm on Thursday 5 February 2026.
If you can’t make it, but would like to be kept in the loop, email info@ashburtonarts.org.uk (include thoughts/ideas/suggestions).
The first stage is to submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ by the end of March 2026. In reality, this is the initial application, as a short list will be chosen from these EOIs of a number of towns (not yet publicly stated how many) who will then receive £60k each to fund a full application over 5 months this spring and summer. The full government guidelines for the EOI are here.
The DCMS held an online briefing on 21 January 2026. Here are the 14 slides from that meeting.
Download here as PDF
The notes below were made during the meeting by Jasmine Jones of Devon County Council.
UK Town of Culture 2028
Notes of webinar, 21 January 2026
Introduction
The UK Town of Culture competition is about setting out the story of your town: what do you want to improve? what do you want to present? what roots your community? what can you do to bring it together?
Your programme needs to be proportionate to your place and sustainable.
Expression of interest
You are expected to use culture and creativity to show why you are proud of your town.
Set out your vision – how will you empower your community?
Explain your programme – how you will draw on existing assets to best showcase your town, connect with new people and communicate pride in your town?
Towns will be grouped in 3 categories according to population size (small, medium and large). You don’t need to decide which category – you state your population and geographic area in your EOI and your category will be selected by the analytics team.
You can submit a collective bid between more than one town but you must be able to show a clear focus with a cohesive identity. The geographic area will be used to determine which category you’re put in. [ie. a group of small towns would potentially have the population size of a medium town so would be included in that category]
Registering is not a commitment to bid.
Q&A
Partnerships – bids will need to be submitted by a partnership but with a lead applicant that is formally constituted. The partnership doesn’t have to be a legal entity but needs to be committed to working collaboratively.
Vision – it’s important to be clear on your story and why you’ve got something to say. This is your vision: having a story to tell …. what makes it special? is it a festival? open air theatre? sport? heritage? Culture is being used as an opportunity for people to come together to try new things and you decide what makes your town special. Note that the timescale for your cultural programme is flexible.
Local challenges and need – this needs to be proportionate. It’s only a high-level response at this stage so don’t worry about having detailed analysis. Quality and depth of information is more important than volume.
Empowerment and inclusion – You need to embrace the broad community. Use local media. Involve everyone. It’s about engagement and enthusiasm – it’s not about “doing things to people” – you need to show that the vision includes everyone and that the community is part of building the bid. It’s about empowerment. You need to come to a common vision and be able to focus so it will be important to say ‘no’ to some ideas. You will need to present your authentic voice.
Text response only at this stage – the expression of interest form is a statement response only things like websites and campaigns are not taken into account at this stage. You only need to submit text at the moment – things like videos can be used later.
Geographic boundaries – very large towns can also apply to City of Culture – it’s up to you to choose which one. It is important that you determine the area that is part of your story: groups of places can apply but it’s about having a cohesive story. If you’re joining together this needs to because you genuinely have a shared story – it’s not about just sharing costs. you have to think about “This Is Us” – having pride in your area, sharing a common culture and a common geography. Tell the story to the rest of the UK and show your place as a destination.
Policy frameworks – you can refer to these when you explain the need in your area if it’s helpful but you need a succinct story – what are you motivated by? what are the links? It’s not about having a shopping list of everything you can fix so don’t list every issue as culture won’t solve everything. Culture as a catalyst but make sure there is a clear focus.
Conclusion
Everything flows from the Vision.
With a clear vision you can ask
What cultural infrastructure do we need to deliver the vision?
then
What resources do we need?
Jasmine Jones
Devon County Council
This provided the perfect inspiration when creating their own mask in workshop run by professional artist, Ruth Webb. The children not only designed and shaped their masks, but even made prints that represented them, celebrating who they are.
We hope you enjoy celebrating their unique and special piece as much as each of our unique and special children enjoyed making them!
Introduction to Access Audits Training:
This 3-hour online workshop provides an essential foundation in access rights for communities attending our venues/events, and how to conduct an access audit to better understand potential barriers and ways to reduce them. Participants will gain practical skills and insights to create more inclusive environments for audiences, staff, and volunteers.
Mental Health Access and Inclusion Training:
An introduction to Mental Health Access and Inclusion in the cultural and community sector covering general mental health awareness, the social model of disability and the access and inclusion approach, language and communication and approaches to support and signposting.
To get emails about the festival, and everything else that’s happening at Ashburton Arts Centre, please sign up to Ashburton Arts Centre’s mailing list here.
ARTISTS
Stefan Hersh, violin (USA)
Maria Loudenitch, violin (USA)
David Yang, viola (USA)
Tristan Cornut, cello (France) TBC
Andy Williamson, Saxophone (UK)
Gabrielle Mills, Composer-in-Residence
PROGRAMME
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750): B Minor or A Minor solo violin sonata/partita
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827): String Quartet in Eb Major, Opus 127
Gabrielle Mills (b. ): New piece for sax and sq on Devon folk songs *world premiere*
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975): String Quartet No. 4
Augusta Read Thomas (b.1964): Rumi Settings for violin and cello (to be performed with dancer Lois Taylor)
Oliver Knussen CBE (1952 – 2018) Secret Psalm for solo violin which I love to play
Tom Vignieri (b. ): Walk with Me
BIOGRAPHIES
Born in Russia, violinist Maria Loudenitch immigrated with her musical family to the U.S. at the age of two and grew up in Kansas City. In 2021, she received first prizes in the Ysaÿe International Music Competition, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and the Joseph Joachim International Competition. She also received numerous special prizes at these competitions, including Joachim’s Chamber Music Award, the prize for Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work, the Henle Urtext Prize, and a recording contract with Warner Classics. In recent months, Maria Ioudenitch has made her debuts with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (at Berlin’s Philharmonie), MDR- Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Münchner Symphoniker. Other recent engagements have taken her to the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Lithuania Chamber Orchestra and Utah Symphony. She is an active chamber musician and has taken part in multiple chamber music tours with Ravinia Steans Music Institute and Marlboro Music Festival.
Violinist Stefan Hersh enjoys a varied career, equally at home as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and pedagogue. He performs throughout the USA as a guest artist, teacher and lecturer both as a guest performer, and as a member of the Rembrandt Chamber Players. Mr. Hersh moved to Chicago from Minneapolis where he was Principal Second Violin with the Minnesota Orchestra. He was the Second Violinist of the Chicago String Quartet, and a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Previous positions for Mr. Hersh include Concertmaster of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonia San Francisco, and Assistant Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony. Mr. Hersh has been heard as a chamber musician in venues including the Bard, Ravinia, Olympic, Skaneatles, Moab, Taos, Colorado College, Roycroft and Chamber Music West festivals. He performed Mozart’s Concertone for Two Violins with violinist Joseph Silverstein and the Minnesota Orchestra and his performance of Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with the Minnesota Orchestra drew critical praise from the press and was featured on national radio broadcasts.
Recipient of an artist fellowship from the Independence Foundation awarded to a small number of exceptional artists, American violist David Yang has been called “a conduit for music” and his playing described as “lithe and expressive” in the Strad Magazine. David has been heard in collaboration with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Miro, Pro Arte, Vermeer, and Tokyo String Quartets and Apple Hill Chamber Players, Trio Solisti, and Eroica Piano Trios. As an active advocate of new music he has commissioned dozens of works. Artistic Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival (Boston) and Director of Chamber Music at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), he is also a member of string trio Ensemble Epomeo based in the the United Kingdom, their premiere recording was designated “Critic’s Choice” in Grammophone Magazine. Their second CD included the music of Schnittke, Penderecki, and Kurtag (“…remarkable intensity and elegant assurance throughout… bristles with detail – there are finely balanced chords moving from glowing diatonicism to harsh dissonance, and carefully shaped melodies with beautifully expressive vibrato – yet they never lose sight of the work’s broader architecture, nor of its poignant, increasingly bleak mood” – The Strad Magazine).
Born in Paris, cellist Tristan Cornut is laureate of many international competitions, notably the ARD Competition in Munich, the Domnick Competition in Stuttgart and the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Hachioji (Japan). He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Roland Pidoux and at the Musikhochschulen Stuttgart and Freiburg with Jean-Guihen Queyras. He has appeared as a soloist with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Since 2012 he is the principal cellist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and teaches at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. As a passionate chamber musician, Tristan has shared the stage with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Giuranna, Antonio Meneses, Miguel Da Silva and Daniel Hope and won top prizes at the Melbourne, Trondheim and Joseph Haydn (Vienna) chamber music competitions.
]]>Ashburton Arts Centre is now heading into its seventh year and we’ve put on around 1000 events in that time! We program top touring live music, theatre, dance, comedy, talks and film. The building is also well used for workshops, classes and meetings. We are looking to expand our paid team (which is currently one!). The two roles here could be filled by two people, or one, or more.
There’s more that could be added to either, including marketing/PR, artist liaison, publicity,… depending on your skills, experience, ambition…
Volunteer Coordinator (up 12 hours per month)
Volunteers are at the heart of our centre, enabling us to create the unique atmosphere so loved by our audiences. Help us keep every current volunteer happy and find more people to share their talents with us.Administrator (up to 16 hours per month).
With so much happening, we need an organised and efficient person to manage our invoicing and keep our website, ticketing and social media sites up to date.
Both at £15ph on a freelance contract.
]]>For more information please contact the chair of our board, Sarah Cobley asap at sarah@sarahcobley.co.uk. Deadline for applications is 26 January.
Writing workshop series in June and July 2023 at Ashburton Arts Centre
Open to writers across any form, whether novelists, artists, musicians, dancers, poets, or health, body, and spirit care professionals. If you’ve got something you want to write, here’s your opportunity to get clear and bright on the matter before moving into the work in inspired ways.
With WriteMovement, we’ll move away from the standard group model. We won’t use the typical workshop rituals and traditions we’ve inherited. We root our practices and methods in imaginative approaches, intuitive enquiry, constructive reflection, movement, conversation, and consent. Recurring and ever-evolving creative labs – guided by fellow practitioners and creative professionals – are what make these experiences a lateral, collaborative process. WriteMovement choreographs time and space for participants to share in the creative process. The outcomes are to make art and learn from one another.
June 2023 Creative Lab Ashburton Arts Centre 4 consecutive Tuesdays Tuesday 6, 13, 20, 27. 10.15am-12.45pm Closed group 12 people
Rehearsal Company
We’ll base ourselves in the rehearsal space at Ashburton Arts Centre and move away from the traditional meeting room format to break new ground together.
– Orientation
– Declarations & Duets
– Transitions
– Reviewing
July 2023 Creative Lab Ashburton Arts Centre Tuesday 4, 11, 18, 25
10.15am-12.45pm Closed group 12 people
Choreographing our Art
We’ll base ourselves in the rehearsal space at Ashburton Arts Centre and move away from the traditional meeting room format to break new ground together.
– Contra-lateral Relating
– Building Trios
– Conceptual
– Points of Departure
– Studio Notes
Hi, I’m Nicola. I am a published author and creative coach with combined 20 years’ experience on the writers’ circuit (as practitioner and facilitator) and within book publishing (Bloomsbury, Writers & Artists). I have facilitated groups with Waterstones, Writers’ Centre Norwich, Shepherd’s Bush Theatre, JustWrite, the YMCA, and Hammersmith & Fulham drug and alcohol recovery centres. Trained in story craft and creative process, I have worked as part of collaborative creative teams across fiction, film and transmedia. A postgraduate of Dartington’s Poetics of Imagination, under the supervision of Martin Shaw, I draw on deep mythical and poetic roots to rejuvenate creative practice. I now live in Ashburton with its vibrant artistic community.
Woodbrooke, this unique textile art project has led to the creation of hundreds
of beautiful, inspiring and thought-provoking panels about our relationship with the Earth.
Now, Ashburton Quakers are excited to be hosting an exhibition of some 100 of the beautiful handmade panels at Ashburton Arts Centre. This will also include some panels made locally especially for the exhibition.
The exhibition is open from 1 – 15 April each day from 10.30am – 4.30 pm.
Entrance is free and all are welcome. Ashburton Arts Centre, 15 West St, TQ13 7DT.
The Loving Earth Project celebrates people, places, and living things that we love but which are threatened by growing environmental breakdown, aiming to help people to engage with issues around climate change, without being overwhelmed. People are encouraged to create panels and organise their own workshops, exhibitions and events. Panels have been made by people of all ages in many parts of the world, and the exhibition has toured across the UK (most recently at the Houses of Parliament, to acclaim from MPs) and abroad including California and France.
Now many of them are being exhibited in Ashburton in the first two weeks of April.
Panel-makers have been inspired by three questions:
How does the climate crisis threaten places, people and other things that you love?
What action is needed to reduce the harm?
How are you helping to make this happen?
The project is featured in Sunday on BBC Radio 4
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