Chief Executive

Closing date: 10:00 Friday 06 December 2024
Start date: Spring 2025
Salary: The salary range for this post is £95,000 - £115,000 per annum
Pension: 4.5% employer pension contribution
Leave: We offer 34 days annual leave including six public holidays
Reports to: Chair of the Board of Directors

Background

The idea at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is simple: anyone with a desire to perform and a venue willing to host them is welcome. No individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe. The Fringe is made up of thousands of moving parts, individuals, collectives, and micro-businesses. There is no one organisation that runs or controls it, but the whole community subscribes to a collective vision: to give anyone a stage, and everyone a seat and to the shared values - support artists to thrive; be open to all; look out for each other and the planet.

It all began in 1947 with eight companies – six of them from Scotland – taking a risk, turning up uninvited and performing on the ‘fringe’ of the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. Over 75 years later, the Fringe has grown to become the greatest platform for creative freedom of expression in the world, second only to the Olympics in terms of global ticketed events, and, more than a festival or showcase, it is a performing arts expo where the business of the arts is done every year.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charity that was established in 1958 by artists to promote the Fringe founding principle of inclusion, and to be the glue that binds together the Festival’s thousands of moving parts. We exist to support, advise, and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe, provide information and assistance to audiences, and promote the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.

Arising from a wide-ranging consultation in June 2022, the Fringe Society published a collective Vision and Values to guide the Edinburgh Fringe and six Development Goals setting out major ambitions for the benefit of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to take us to 2027 and the 80th birthday of the Fringe.

Role Overview

The role of the Chief Executive is to provide inspirational and motivational leadership on all aspects of the Fringe Society business, to be the senior accountable officer for the Charity and the senior public representative of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Chief Executive will support the Board of Directors headed by Chair Benny Higgins, recruit and manage the senior leadership team and support Fringe Society staff to deliver the Society’s vision, aims and objectives through enabling leadership and clear strategic direction.

The Fringe Society is looking for a Chief Executive to lead us in our strategic development; embedding the Society as a vital cultural asset for Edinburgh, Scotland, and the home nations, as well as building further its strong international reputation and brand.

Diversity and Sustainability Commitment

We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team.

The Fringe has identified six pillars of commitment around the sustainable delivery of their work, are active members of the Festivals Edinburgh Sustainability Working group and include climate action as one of the headline targets in the Fringe development goals. As part of the commitments of this work, all Fringe staff members are expected to assist with the Fringe Society’s environmental goals and consider these in all elements of your work.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.

Application deadline: 6th December, 2024