The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA) is looking for people working within culture, creativity or social justice/community improvement, who are passionate about championing creative health work in their local area as volunteers.
We particularly want to widen our demographic in terms of heritage and disability, so if you have lived experience or specific skills in this area, we'd love to hear from you!
We are looking for champions in the following regions
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London
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North East
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North West
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East
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East Midlands
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South West
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Yorkshire and Humber
You can listen to an audio recording of this information or download a PDF here.
Key Duties
Explore | Connect | Advocate | Develop
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance Regional Champions are a vital part of our network when it comes to supporting and connecting the creative health sector across the country. The champions are made up of a variety of fantastic individuals already working in creative health/culture/arts outreach, who want to help others working locally to maximise their positive impact, depending on what the area needs. As we have multiple champions in each area, the role is designed to sit alongside other existing work, and will be tailored to the priorities in your region. Broadly speaking, the role and responsibilities of a Regional Champion are:
Explore
What is already happening in your area? Find out who the organisations, practitioners and commissioners are and what work is going on.
Connect
Attend quarterly CHWA meetings
Organise and chair regional steering group meetings.
Be responsible for taking the lead on reviewing steering group membership, roles and responsibilities.
Advocate
Use opportunities to advocate for the role of the arts and culture in relation to health and wellbeing. These could include anything from local meetings for cultural organisations to local newsletters, to meetings hosted by your local CCG to discuss social prescribing.
Develop
Work as a team with your other regional CHWA champions and regional LENS champions to develop a collaborative regional strategy, focussing on the unique strengths and assets of your own region and that works for your own capacity.
Person Specification
We always aim to be collaborative; caring; inclusive; and committed to positive social change. These are our values as an organisation and it’s essential you feel comfortable with this, and that you feel you can work in this way. In addition, we consider the following essential to the role:
- Ability to dedicate 4-8 hours per month to the role for a term of 2 years
- Good knowledge of the culture and creativity sector in your area
- A proactive, can do attitude and an energy to make things happen
- An open and friendly approach
- Good communication skills
- Flexibility and willingness to listen and learn from others
In return, volunteers will receive:
- Dedicated training and support from CHWA
- Reimbursement of travel expenses for in person meetings
- Free tickets to CHWA events, such as the national conference
- Networking opportunities across the regions
Regional Priorities
Although we welcome applications from any person interested in the role, some of our regions have identified specific priorities for their area.
- North West - Strong networking skills to help reach the lesser served areas of the regions, links to or a base in Cumbria and the surrounding area
- North East - Those with strong local cultural networks, links to or a base in Teeside , Northumberland and/or the surrounding area, an interest in peer support, arts freelancers
- South West - Sharing opportunities/raising awareness amongst practitioners about regional and national initiatives, connecting and collaborating with the South West Creative Health Associate about developments in different parts of the region, picking up lived experience connections from various lived experience groups
Application Process
To apply, please send us a short video or audio file referencing the application form questions, or fill out this application form by Weds 29th November
Please tell us about any access needs we can meet to support your application process.
We’d also appreciate it if you could click on this link and fill out this Equality, Diversity & Representation form when you apply. This form is anonymous and we won’t be able to connect it with your application, but it helps us assess whether we are reaching a wide pool of candidates. If the link doesn’t work for you let us know and we will find an alternative.
We are committed to ensuring our organisation is as diverse and representative as possible and are using the IncArts Unlock tool to support this recruitment process. We particularly want to encourage applications from people identifying with any of the protected characteristics as defined in the 2010 Equality Act, or who are from less affluent socioeconomic backgrounds.
Timeline
Applications will close at midnight on Weds 29th November and we will let you know the outcome of your application by Weds 6th December. We aim to hold interviews on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th December with a view to the successful champions starting in January 2024. If you have any limitations on your time on the interview date, please let us know.
For an informal chat or if you have any questions please do get in touch with fiona@culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk