House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR

MAY 2020

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

CONTENTS Introduction

The opportunity

The role

Person specification

Terms of appointment

How to apply

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

INTRODUCTION Founded by Sir Quentin Blake and some of the UK’s most respected illustrators in 2002, House of Illustration opened in the heart of King’s Cross in London in July 2014. Over the past six years the organisation has developed its position as a significant cultural force, representing and championing the very best of an art form that, in spite of its rich heritage, contemporary significance and broad appeal, is rarely explored by other museums and galleries.

The House of Illustration exists to champion the power of illustration, placing it at the heart of contemporary visual culture and introducing it to the widest possible audience. The organisation has successfully raised its profile to a broad, receptive and diverse audience of over one million people by curating critically acclaimed exhibitions, commissioning new work, running a pioneering education programme, putting on high-profile events with some of the world’s leading illustrators, running a successful retail operation and taking its exhibitions on tour in the UK and internationally.

The Future To expand the breadth and scale of the work of House of Illustration, and to provide the organisation with greater financial security, in 2018 we explored the potential acquisition of a new, long-term home for House of Illustration. Now, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our founder, Sir Quentin Blake, we have completed the purchase of a major site in central London, just minutes from internationally renowned Sadler’s Wells, and Angel

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

and Farringdon stations. The site features a range of listed historic industrial buildings set in their own land. These extraordinary and unique buildings will provide approximately 1100 square metres of space, over twice our current capacity. The site is occupied by a series of vacant heritage buildings including a 17th century windmill base and a dramatic industrial engine house. It forms part of the historic New River Head site whose history marks an important chapter in the development of fresh water supplies for central London, an innovation that was vital in establishing the city as a global centre. House of Illustration will create a vibrant, responsive and welcoming hub for a diverse audience. The New River Head site will host:

• a rolling programme of exhibitions; • an education programme, both on-site and via its outreach programme, with schools, colleges and the local

community; • the world's first permanent gallery dedicated to the archive of Quentin Blake • a programme of public-facing events including talks, screenings, debates, workshops and live illustration; • the promotion of new illustration talent via fairs, professional development, events and residencies; • a retail, catering and ticketing operation in support of its core activities.

In addition, the New River Head site will ultimately become home to the Quentin Blake Collection, a body of more than 35,000 works on paper spanning Sir Quentin’s entire career, which will be bequeathed to House of Illustration. Now the acquisition is complete, we will embark on a fundraising campaign to raise around £4 million to refurbish the buildings with the goal of opening in the autumn of 2022. While the process of planning and fundraising to turn the site into a suitable home will be challenging, it represents a hugely exciting new chapter in the life of the organisation. Our new Director will be responsible for overseeing the development of this project and the resulting expansion of our work across all areas; from exhibition and community engagement, to retail and development.

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

Mission and Vision House of Illustration exists to champion the power of illustration, celebrating its rich heritage and placing it at the heart of contemporary visual culture; engaging, challenging and inspiring the public through innovative exhibitions, events and learning programmes, commissioning new work and promoting and supporting new talent.

The organisation’s aim is that House of Illustration becomes the key place to see, learn about and enjoy illustration in all its forms.

Exhibitions We curate a diverse range of exhibitions each year across three gallery spaces, exploring contemporary and historic illustration, and the work of both emerging and defining illustrators. We highlight illustrators whose work has never been the subject of critical exploration and are the only public gallery in the UK commissioning illustration for public display. One of our three gallery spaces is permanently devoted to the work of Sir Quentin Blake. Recent highlights include: Link here for more details.

• Made in North Korea: Everyday Graphics from the DPRK was the UK’s first exhibition of graphic design from North Korea, revealing a style honed over decades in a closed society.

• Enid Marx: Print, Pattern and Popular Art was a landmark exhibition celebrating the artist, a contemporary of Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden who made a pioneering contribution to mid-20th century design.

• John Yeoman and Quentin Blake: 50 years of Drawing. This exhibition explored Blake’s longstanding creative collaboration from Blake’s first book for children A Drink of Water, to their most recent collaboration All Year Round.

• W.E.B. Du Bois: Charting Black Lives (8 November 2019 – 1 March 2020). This exhibition showed pioneering infographics that challenged racism in turn-of-the-century America.

• Designed in Cuba: Cold War Graphics (27 Sep 2019 – 19 Jan 2020). This exhibition showed an unprecedented exhibition of original Cuban propaganda posters and magazines.

• Corita Kent: Power Up (8 Feb – 12 May 2019). The UK’S biggest ever show of work by the pop artist, social activist and nun.

• Journeys Drawn: Illustration from the Refugee Crisis (9 Nov 2018 – 24 Mar 2019). An exhibition telling refugee stories, both observed and experienced first-hand.

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

Learning Empowering people of all ages and backgrounds to use visual communication is at the heart of House of Illustration’s vision. Based in our Clore Studio and offsite,, House of Illustration’s learning programmes uses illustration as a powerful tool for developing creative and communication skills while supporting literacy, confidence, cross-curricular learning and professional development. All the organisation’s education work is delivered by a team of outstanding practicing illustrator-educators who bring with them a broad range of expertise and experience. Our programme of professional development and guest-hosted masterclasses supports both aspiring and emerging illustrators to develop their skills.

Audiences Since 2014, House of Illustration has engaged an audience of over one million people, with 50% of those visiting our building and engaging with our offsite programmes in London, and 50% visiting our touring exhibitions and participating in outreach programmes across the UK and internationally. Our education and events programmes reach people of all ages and support those with varying needs. Half of our general audience are aged under 34, with 25% of those aged 16-24. The ethnic diversity of our general audience reflects our community and is higher than the average for arts audiences in the UK. Our active online platforms promote our programmes and deliver creative content in the UK and internationally. Our website has 160,000 unique annual visitors, and we have a dedicated base of followers on Twitter (54,500) and Instagram (45,500).

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

Promoting Illustration Talent We support emerging talent by commissioning new work, running the UK's largest free-to-attend illustration fairs and running professional development programmes.

Public Programme Throughout the year, House of Illustration runs a regular programme of public events that reach and engage a wide variety of audiences. Regular events include 'Sketchmeet' (a guest-hosted night of fast-paced drawing), Q&As with leading illustrators, study days on underrepresented histories and debates on live topical issues.

Fundraising During 2019 we generated £3,969,000 of income. Of this £646,000 was from exhibitions, retail, competitions and partnerships. The remaining £3,323,000 was generated by fundraising in the form of individual donations, grants from trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships, a major fundraising auction, events and House of Illustration’s Friends and Patrons schemes. This year, our fundraised income included an extraordinarily generous donation of £3,000,000 from our founder, Sir Quentin Blake, to allow us to complete the purchase of the new site in central London which will become our long-term home.

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

THE OPPORTUNITY The Board of Trustees are now seeking exceptional candidates to succeed Colin McKenzie as Director. As the organisation re-focuses on the development of New River Head and House of Illustration’s planned move to its new home in 2022, there are short term challenges to be managed as well as significant opportunities for future growth and development to be harnessed. New River Head provides massive potential for House of Illustration to build on its already outstanding artistic and learning programmes and to engage and develop new and existing audiences. This is a rare opportunity for an exceptional candidate to be a driving force behind the evolution of a unique cultural institution.

THE ROLE The key responsibilities of the Director will be:

• Providing leadership for all aspects of House of Illustration, working with Trustees and the senior management team to set the future strategic vision and to deliver the charity’s objectives;

• To build on the organisation’s past successes to develop a broad and compelling public offer at New River Head;

• To play a key role in fundraising and development activities for House of Illustration; • To ensure the success of the New River Head project by acting as the client lead, directing the professional

team through detailed design, procurement and construction;

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

• To manage the wider operational impact of the project around staffing and structures and to ensure commercial opportunities are seized upon;

• Responsibility for the operational management and direction of House of Illustration and all its resources – including its staff and finances;

• To ensure House of Illustration’s financial success; • To act as an advocate for House of Illustration – locally, nationally and internationally – representing the

organisation, promoting its work and raising its profile; • To sustain and develop House of Illustration’s relationships with the wider community, including its

audiences, local stakeholders, supporters, funders, donors, artists and exhibitors, external partners, participants and the public at large and

• To ensure that in all its activities, House of Illustration satisfies best modern corporate governance practice particularly in relation to finance, human resources, and the accountability and transparency of its activities generally.

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

PERSON SPECIFICATION The successful candidate will ideally demonstrate all or most of the following:

Experience:

• Substantial strategic leadership experience, ideally gained in a comparable arts and culture or related not-for-profit environment;

• Senior people management experience; • Proven experience of financial management and procedures at a high level; • Experience of capital project management or oversight; • Senior level stakeholder management experience; • Experience of working with and meeting the expectations of Trustees from a wide variety of backgrounds

and • A track record in fundraising including successful large-scale bid-writing.

Knowledge and skills:

• The vision to develop innovative and inspiring projects and policies and the practical management and the leadership skills to realise them;

• Entrepreneurial flair; • The relationship building and influencing skills to play a key role in fundraising; • Strong sense of leadership acumen and the ability to adapt to change in a constantly moving economic,

social, governmental and technological landscape; • Strong interpersonal skills including a flair for motivating, negotiating and influencing and • Media and public relations and networking skills.

House of Illustration, Appointment of Director

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

• Competitive salary • The House of Illustration welcomes applications from the widest possible range of people and is particularly

keen to encourage interest from candidates from a BAME background, recognising their current under-representation in senior roles in the sector.

HOW TO APPLY Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to the House of Illustration on this appointment. Candidates should apply for this role through our website at www.saxbam.com/appointments, using code PAEXC. Click on the ‘apply’ button and follow the instructions to upload a CV and cover letter. The closing date for applications is noon on Wednesday 24 June 2020. As part of our recruitment process we offer guaranteed interviews to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria. GDPR personal data notice According to GDPR guidelines, we are only able to process your Sensitive Personal Data (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health, sex life, or sexual orientation) with your express consent. You will be asked to complete a consent form when you apply and please do not include any Sensitive Personal Data within your CV (although this can be included in your covering letter if you wish to do so), remembering also not to include contact details for referees without their prior agreement. The equal opportunities monitoring online form will not be shared with anyone involved in assessing your application. Please complete as part of the application process.