Vacancy -- Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales - Trustees (x2)

Vacancy details

National Museum Wales
Board of Trustees and Performance Review Committee meetings are held 8 times a year, with Board, Committee, other meetings, and events held across Wales.
NA
12
year

Function of body

Amgueddfa Cymru is Wales’ most popular and globally recognised cultural institution, at the heart of the Welsh nation. Visited by 1.9 million people each year, it is the home of Wales’ national collections of art, history and environmental science. In 2020, the organisation will review its brand alongside developing its new ten year strategy, to set out how more people can be inspired by, share and use the collections, galleries and programmes.  


Background

Since its establishment by Royal Charter in 1907, Amgueddfa Cymru has supported millions of people in their exploration of the past, present and possible futures and helped to collect, safeguard and share their collections and memories. More recently, it has been developing a new model for national museums, based on the principles of cultural democracy, as well as becoming a leader in learning and engagement through cultural participation. This led to St Fagans National Museum of History winning the Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2019, following a major £30 million redevelopment which saw thousands of people collaborating with the organisation as part of its transformation.

 

There are seven national museums within the Amgueddfa Cymru family: National Museum Cardiff; St Fagans National Museum of History; Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon; National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre; National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon; National Slate Museum, Llanberis, and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.  Amgueddfa Cymru also has a National Collections Centre, Nantgarw near Cardiff.

 

Amgueddfa Cymru is funded by the Welsh Government as a Welsh Government Sponsored Body. It has a Board of Trustees whose role is to set the strategic direction of the organisation, and ensure the delivery of the organisation’s Vision and objectives, and the effective use of resources. Amgueddfa Cymru’s budget for 2019/20 is £24m and it employs over 600 staff.

Role description

The Board’s Role and Responsibilities

The Board of Trustees is the governing body of Amgueddfa Cymru and holds the national collections in trust for the people of Wales.  The role of the Board is to provide effective leadership, define and develop strategic direction and set challenging objectives.  The Board promotes high standards of public accountability and upholds the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money.  It monitors performance against Amgueddfa Cymru’s aims, objectives and performance targets. 

 

Amgueddfa Cymru is a registered charity and a Welsh Government Sponsored Body.  Trustees have obligations to the Welsh Government and National Assembly for Wales. Amgueddfa Cymru currently receives c.80% of its annual funding (c.£22 million revenue funding in 2019-20) from the Welsh Government, as Grant in Aid. 


The Role of a Trustee

Trustees act as the governing body of Amgueddfa Cymru, and their role is to set the strategic direction of the organisation and to ensure proper management of its resources. Trustees support the Director General in implementing the Museum’s Vision of ‘Inspiring People; Changing Lives’.  

 

Trustees must also:

  • give the Museum the benefit of their experience and expertise;
  • contribute to the development of policy, strategies and priorities in the management of the Museum’s collections;
  • attend Board and Performance Review Committee meetings and prepare thoroughly for those meetings;
  • be prepared to serve on sub committees and other groups;
  • actively support the Museum’s management and staff in their work;
  • represent the Museum at public functions;
  • promote the profile of the Museum; and
  • facilitate contact with the Museum’s stakeholders.

 

Trustees must be aware of their obligations arising from the position of the Museum as a Welsh Government Sponsored Body.  These are laid out in the Framework Document, which sets out the Terms and Conditions of Welsh Government funding to the Museum.


Minimum Essential Criteria

To be effective, the Board needs Trustees with a broad range of expertise and experience.   For this specific recruitment campaign, we are actively seeking Trustees who have experience in one or more of the following areas:

  • learning, participation and community engagement;
  • health and well-being;
  • marketing and communication;
  • creative industries, design and technology;
  • fundraising, commercial and income generation.

(Your personal statement should clarify which of these areas of experience apply to you.)

 

Applicants should also be able to evidence knowledge, skills and experience in a range of the following areas:

 

  • a commitment and enthusiasm for the Museum’s work in supporting change and development in Wales through cultural participation;
  • an understanding and interest in the cultural sector as a whole and a sensitivity to cultural issues;
  • excellent representational and communication skills;
  • an ability to work in a collegiate manner with fellow Trustees;
  • an appreciation of the distinction between the executive and non-executive functions;
  • a commitment to equality issues and to challenging discriminatory practices when appropriate.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate:

 

  • a commitment to the values and the Vision of Amgueddfa Cymru and an appreciation of its role and purpose as a national institution in Wales; including the cultural, learning, health and well-being, economic and socio-political contexts in which it operates, as well as understanding its obligations under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015;
  • an ability to enhance the Museum’s role in serving and representing the diverse communities and regions of Wales, and

Welsh language skills

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.
Desirable
No skills
No skills
No skills
No skills

Person specification

Minimum Essential Criteria

To be effective, the Board needs Trustees with a broad range of expertise and experience.   For this specific recruitment campaign, we are actively seeking Trustees who have experience in one or more of the following areas:

  • learning, participation and community engagement;
  • health and well-being;
  • marketing and communication;
  • creative industries, design and technology;
  • fundraising, commercial and income generation.

 

(Your personal statement should clarify which of these areas of experience apply to you.)

 

Applicants should also be able to evidence knowledge, skills and experience in a range of the following areas:

 

  • a commitment and enthusiasm for the Museum’s work in supporting change and development in Wales through cultural participation;
  • an understanding and interest in the cultural sector as a whole and a sensitivity to cultural issues;
  • excellent representational and communication skills;
  • an ability to work in a collegiate manner with fellow Trustees;
  • an appreciation of the distinction between the executive and non-executive functions;
  • a commitment to equality issues and to challenging discriminatory practices when appropriate.

 

Candidates should be able to demonstrate:

 

  • a commitment to the values and the Vision of Amgueddfa Cymru and an appreciation of its role and purpose as a national institution in Wales; including the cultural, learning, health and well-being, economic and socio-political contexts in which it operates, as well as understanding its obligations under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015;
  • an ability to enhance the Museum’s role in serving and representing the diverse communities and regions of Wales, and

a commitment to Nolan’s ‘Seven Principles of Public Life’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-lif

Interview dates

1 April 2020
30 April 2020

Closing date

06/03/2020, 16:00

Additional information

Queries

For queries about your application, please contact publicappointments@gov.wales . 

If you are not completely satisfied

Welsh Government will aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy. If you have any complaints about the way your application has been handled, please contact publicappointments@gov.wales 

 

How to apply

To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form.  To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents. The first, a document outlining how your knowledge, skills and experiences meet the criteria for the role as outlined in the information for candidates.  This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4.  Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.  The second document is a full, up to date CV.  The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

If you’d like to apply for this opportunity in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Team on  PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments

This vacancy is closed to applications.