Creative Tendring is a new, district-wide cultural programme for Tendring. It’s an invitation to make creativity feel closer, more relevant and more welcoming, not something reserved for certain people or certain places, but something you can encounter in everyday life and be part of shaping.
We are recruiting a Programme Director to lead the programme over its first three years. This role starts with a development phase: building deep relationships, listening widely, and co-designing a long-term cultural vision with communities across Tendring. You will then deliver the plan they help create, turning shared priorities into high-quality cultural activity on the ground.
THE ROLE
The Programme Director will be the founding lead for Creative Tendring. You’ll guide the programme from early-stage set-up into confident delivery, ensuring it is resident-powered, creatively bold, operationally strong and publicly accountable. You’ll work across Tendring’s towns, coastal communities and rural villages, helping more people experience, make and shape culture in the places they already spend time.
This role is equal parts strategist, producer and relationship-builder. In the first phase, you will prioritise time on the ground: listening, meeting people, mapping local energy and building trust. You’ll translate what you learn into a clear plan for action, identifying the first focus areas, setting up community-led decision-making structures and co-developing the three-year business plan, programme approach and measures of success.
Across the programme, you will grow partnerships, support artists and residents to collaborate, and shape activity that ranges from neighbourhood work in everyday spaces to larger public moments, including connecting with existing local festival infrastructure and building towards a major town-centre activation in Clacton.
As Creative Tendring is a major action research initiative, learning and evaluation will sit at the heart of the work: using insight to improve practice, remove barriers to participation, and evidence impact over time.
WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
Creative Tendring is hosted by Arts Trust and developed in partnership with a consortium of civic, voluntary and cultural partners: Tendring District Council, Community Voluntary Services Tendring (CVST) and Harwich Arts & Heritage Centre.
While hosted by Arts Trust, Creative Tendring operates as a distinct, arm’s-length programme with its own identity and governance. The Programme Director will be the key connector between communities, partners, the host organisation and Arts Council England.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please:
* Download the Recruitment Pack Here
* Send Your CV (max 2 pages)
* Send a cover letter (max 2 pages) outlining how your skills and experience match the role and your vision for Creative Tendring
* We also accept applications by voice note or film (uploaded privately to YouTube/Vimeo)
* Please complete an equal opportunities monitoring form via this link: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/7NbnQN
Applications should be sent to hello@artstrust.co.uk with the subject line:
Your Name: Programme Director Creative Tendring
Deadline: 6 February 2026, 5pm
Interviews: 27 February 2026, Tendring District Town Hall, Clacton-on-Sea
For an informal conversation about the role, please contact hr@artstrust.co.uk