Faith, Slavery and Identity Programme Internship
Introduction
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was an educated man from a family of Muslim clerics in West Africa. In 1731 he was taken into slavery and sent to work on a plantation in America. By his own enterprise, and assisted by a series of spectacular strokes of fortune, Diallo arrived in London in 1733. Recognised as a deeply pious and educated man, in England Diallo mixed with high and intellectual society, was introduced at Court and was bought out of slavery by public subscription. Through the publication of his Memoirs in 1734, Diallo had an important and lasting impact on Britain’s understanding of West African culture, black identity and Islam. In the early years of the nineteenth-century, advocates of the abolition of slavery would cite Diallo as a key figure in asserting the moral rights and humanity of black people.
Now on a five-year loan to the Gallery, William Hoare’s sensitive portrait of Diallo is the earliest known British oil portrait of a freed slave and the first portrait to honour an African subject as an individual and an equal. Painted at the time when there was a new interest in Islamic culture and faith in Britain, it provides a fascinating insight into the eighteenth-century response to other peoples and religions.
To mark the importance of this loan to the National Portrait Gallery and opportunity for public access we are creating a programme of participation activity in London (October 2011-December 2011) and across the country with three regional partners. To enable a lasting legacy from this work we have, in the first instance, the opportunity for a paid 6 month programme internship to work as a central member of the National Portrait Gallery team to document, evaluate and share the experience of programme, audience response and participation at the Gallery and work with colleagues to share the outcomes to inform the regional programme of activity. They will also work closely with the Gallery team to support brokering and practice sharing between our regional partners.
Project Summary
This project aims to promote and make the portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo accessible through project displays across the country from London to Liverpool, Leicester and the North East of England. At each venue, public access and understanding will be enhanced by a programme of community consultation, interpretation and participation which will engage audiences widely and help young people and their families learn about the own heritage and gain a deeper understanding of Britain’s history. The overall programme at the National Portrait Gallery and the national programme will explore the historical questions of faith, representation and identity.
This activity will position Diallo centrally as a subject of discussion and debate as well as an individual through whom participants and visitors can explore a more nuanced and complex understanding of both the slave trade and historic attitudes towards faith, identity and representation. The project will draw on historic and contemporary responses to these issues and consider them more widely as these themes and their interpretation in Britain today.
Programme Intern
If possible in the timeframe, the Programme Intern will be appointed to help document and evaluate the effectiveness of the programme planned for autumn 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery. They will discuss these experiences with regional partners and share the experiences of the National Portrait Gallery’s programme. It is hoped that these experiences and recommendations will go on to inform the bold and engaging programme of activity which our Partners will develop at their venues around the country from Spring 2012.
The Programme Intern will also contribute to the Gallery’s role in planning the regional participation projects. They will work closely with the Gallery’s Project team, including the 18th Century Curator, National Programmes Manager, Head of Participation and Head of Learning. Collectively the team will be working with partners to develop the project in relevant and meaningful ways with each partner with regards to display space, collections, audiences and resources.
Overall this work will encourage practice sharing from the London based programme to inform the national activity. As part of the project we are looking to engage an artist to explore national community responses at the National Portrait Gallery London from April 2013. The Programme intern will be involved in shaping these initial ideas and possibilities for the Project team.The National Portrait Gallery team will share and disseminate the project work with peers and Museum and Gallery professionals in order that the significance of the portrait and associated participative practice and programme experience is shared and helps inform future work.
We are seeking to appoint an individual for whom this opportunity would provide an important starting point in building and developing skills and expertise in research, engagement and participation practice in the cultural sector.
Main duties
◦To work with the Gallery project team to research and disseminate information on the portrait of Diallo including the narrative around him, its historical context and contemporary issues around faith, identity and representation to inform the programme in London and with regional partners
◦To conduct evaluation into the effectiveness of the programme in 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery in achieving its planned audience development objectives
◦To work with regional partners to develop an overview of the approaches and outcome of initial advisory practice in order to identify and engage relevant community groups and leaders for the participation programme and support the direction of programmes of activity
◦To develop and contribute to the work and evolving project work at the Gallery and support the development of the project regionally
◦To develop and deliver staff briefing / development sessions around the project as required
◦To draw together best practice to ensure a rich, layered and complex cultural response is documented for future project and programme activity
◦To support effective regional partnership building through the duties outlined
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Person Specification
Qualification, Knowledge and Experience
◦Undergraduate/ post graduate degree with relevance to the history of art, cultural studies obtained recently
◦Excellent understanding of cultural history and representation of diversity through visual culture
◦Interest in creative participation practice
◦Some voluntary or internship activity within a cultural institution is desirable for the role but is not essential
Skills and Attributes
◦Strong interest in and committed to audience development within the cultural sector
◦Excellent communication skills
◦Excellent team player – confident in sharing and contributing expressing, views and ideas
◦Independent self starter when required
◦An ability to change direction and work flexibly in response to project need and changing circumstances
◦Preparedness to travel within the United Kingdom to partner venues
Other
◦As with all paid internship positions we encourage applications from recent graduates including those in receipt of Maintenance/Special Support Grant/Hardship Fund
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Details of the internship are given below and in the internship description. You should take care to show in your application how you can fulfil the requirements of the internship.
Period of Internship
This internship is for a fixed period of 6 months.
Hours
Your hours will be 24 gross per week, three out of five days from Monday to Friday, including a lunch break of one hour a day. Flexibility with regard to working hours will be necessary.
Pay
You will be paid £6.08 per hour. Travel costs within zones 1-6 will be re-imbursed subject to providing receipts. A study package of £300 will also be made available.
Annual Leave
Your annual leave allowance is pro rata 25 days per annum.
Place of Work
Most of the work is based in the Gallery at St Martin’s Place, but you will be required to travel to other locations.
Equality
The Gallery believes in the employment and advancement of people solely on their ability to do the job required. When recruiting people, we will therefore disregard their gender, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, religion and sexual orientation. There will be no unfair discrimination on the basis of disability. If you would like to submit your application in a different format we are happy to allow this. Please contact us (telephone: 020 7306 0055 email: personnel@npg.org.uk) so that we may discuss suitable alternatives.
Probation and Trial Period
All appointments are subject to satisfactory employment and character references and security clearance. The probationary period for this internship is 3 months.
Data Protection Act
Information provided by you as part of your application will be used in the recruitment process. Any data about you will be held securely with access restricted to those involved in dealing with your application in the recruitment process. Once this process is completed the data relating to unsuccessful applicants will be stored for a maximum of 6 months and then destroyed. If you are the successful candidate, your application form will be retained and form the basis of your personnel record. Information provided by you on the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form will be used to monitor the National Portrait Gallery’s equal opportunities policy and practices. By signing and submitting your completed application form you are giving your consent to your data being stored and processed (if you submit your application by e-mail and the application form is un-signed we will assume that consent by you is given) for the purpose of the recruitment process, equal opportunities monitoring and your personnel record if you are the successful candidate.
Please return your completed application form to:
Personnel at: personnel@npg.org.uk
Or by post:
Caroline Wynter
Head of Personnel
National Portrait Gallery
2 St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H 0HE
by 9.00 am on Monday 31 October 2011
We are expecting to hold interviews week commencing 14 November 2011.
If you are delivering your application by hand, please take it to the reception desk at 39-45 Orange Street.
Due to our funding position we are unable to respond to every application, therefore if you have not had a response to your application by 11 November please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.
Thank you for your time and effort in completing and returning your application.
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