An exciting part-time promotion and communication role at The Noël Coward Archive Trust and the Noël Coward Foundation, the charitable arms of The Noël Coward Estate.

Description

The Noël Coward Foundation is a grant-giving charitable organisation which is run from the office of Alan Brodie Representation (ABR), a busy and friendly boutique dramatic literary agency based in Holborn. Alongside representing many significant dramatic writers, ABR manages the Noël Coward Estate and hosts the Noël Coward Room & Library. The Noël Coward Archive Trust (NCAT) is linked to the Foundation and works to generate as much creative and educational energy as possible around Noël Coward’s extensive archive. You will be joining the organisation at a busy time as we are in the middle of Coward 125, a two year festival celebrating Coward’s 125th birthday in December 2024. This festival has so far included a staged reading with Damian Lewis and Indira Varma in the West End, the new feature length documentary Mad About The Boy: The Noël Coward Story, and collaboration with iconic names such as The Ritz, Halcyon Days and the Olivier Awards. We are looking to increase public engagement through various avenues including an increased online presence and other media coverage as we reach the finale of Coward 125, and maintain this engagement beyond 2024. Although an employee of the NCF, you would mainly be working on NCAT and Coward Estate activities.

NCAT’s key objectives are:

• To educate and inspire future generations on the life and work of Noël Coward, through education and engagement programmes.

• To maintain the Noël Coward Room, a treasure trove of artefacts, photographs and documents and creative space for workshops, educational visits and research.

• To increase access to and understanding of Coward’s archive through digitisation, making the resources within the archive accessible worldwide and promoting them extensively.

• To build and strengthen relationships with local and national organisations, and work with them creatively to widen our reach.

• To develop and expand the Noël Coward Room into a cultural heritage space in the heart of London over the next few years.

You will work closely with Alan Brodie and his team providing communications support and helping to achieving the above objectives. The aim of the role is to build the profile of Noël Coward and his archive as well as promoting NCAT and NCF’s activities and current productions of his plays.

You will be responsible for planning and delivering PR campaigns around Noël Coward events and exhibitions using all social and traditional media outlets.

You will liaise closely with the NCF’s Administrator and Cultural Development Officer and ensure that you are both aware of each other’s activities and in order to make use of the information and resources they will supply.

You will create regular articles and updates for the various Noël Coward websites. You will also run our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok feeds.

You will provide creative, media and administrative support for events, exhibitions and internal meetings and you will be proactive in approaching new and existing media outlets in order to promote Coward and his work.

You will have a passion for theatre and already follow other theatrical and artistic online accounts. A knowledge of online artistic and heritage sector archives is also highly desirable.

You will provide administrative support in various areas of the Estate’s activity and, when required, will be a welcoming, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide for visitors to the Coward Room.

The successful candidate will have the following experience and attributes:

ESSENTIAL

• Experience of working in public relations and / or in marketing at an arts organisation, or in a relevant field such as journalism

• Knowledge of and a passion for theatre and the arts

• A keen interest in learning more about the world of Noël Coward

• Highly computer literate with excellent knowledge of all current social media outlets and scheduling software such as Buffer and others.

• Strong written, oral and visual communication skills including the ability to write accurate, readable copy

• Excellent people skills and an ability to recognise and build on opportunities to promote Coward’s profile.

• Proven organisational skills, a keen eye for detail and the ability to prioritise workload and work to deadlines

• Ability to work on own initiative and in a small team, being willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure the success of each project

DESIRABLE (to have one or more of these skills and a willingness to learn about the others)

• Degree or other higher qualification in the arts, history, journalism, media or other related field

• Knowledge of theatre and its history

• Experience building relationships with media organisations and influential individuals

• Marketing experience

• An understanding of the work of a literary agency

Breakdown of Duties and Responsibilities

Media, Social Media & Digital

• Manage the social media accounts relating to Noël Coward, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and drive engagement on these channels.

• Assist Alan Brodie with promoting Coward related events and exhibitions, including Coward125 events such as an education week in Teddington (Coward’s home town) and a Charity Gala in November.

• Devise a social media strategy for the final moments and ending of Coward 125

• Liaise with theatre companies producing work by Noël Coward, offering promotion for their productions and support for their media campaigns where appropriate

• Organise and update the social media calendar, and schedule posts in advance using Buffer and Facebook Publisher.

• Create and send out regular Noël Coward e-newsletters, updating subscribers with upcoming Coward events, recent NCAT and NCF activities and any other relevant information

• Pick up work on developing, publishing and promoting the Noël Coward Podcast

• Monitor social media growth

• Act as Assistant Editor for Home Chat, the Noël Coward magazine that is published twice per year. Assist the Editor with sourcing articles, providing content and proofreading, as well as encouraging new people to join the mailing list and keeping the subscriber database up to date.

• Liaise with the Administrator and Cultural Development Officer to assist in designing and writing education packs for schools, based on Noël Coward productions (see www.noëlcoward.com for examples)

• Represent NCAT and the NCF at cultural and media events when required, some of which may be outside office hours.

The Noël Coward Room

• Explore the digital archive (we have a resident archivist to help with this) in order to discover items that would make interesting social media posts or news articles.

• Publicise any donations to the Archive.

• Create written reports on recent activities and media campaigns for Trustees, funding bodies and other organisations

• Find international outlets for articles and promotional work to increase group visits and visitor numbers

Other duties

• Assist the Administrator of the NCF with activity around its grant-giving work as required

• Create and present reports on digital marketing progression and strategy for internal and external meetings

• Assist with ad hoc duties in the ABR office as required

The role reports to Alan Brodie, Director of Alan Brodie Representation and Chair of the Noël Coward Foundation.

This is a permanent contract, 2 days per week on average to be negotiated with scope for flexible hours. The role is office based in Red Lion Square, London.

The jobholder is entitled to 8 days of paid holiday per annum (pro-rated from 20), plus public holidays. The office of Alan Brodie Representation is also closed between Christmas and New Year and this is on top of any holiday allowance.

Salary dependent on experience.

Please send your CV and covering letter to ABReception@alanbrodie.com, detailing your relevant experience and skills, with direct reference to the job description and person specification as laid out above. Your application should list any public social media feeds or blogs for which you are currently responsible and, if possible, include a sample of an article or other copywriting work – subject matter is not important. Please also include details of your current salary.