Planning and Interpretation Manager Job Description & Person Specification

The Freud Museum London is seeking a Planning and Interpretation Manager to work with the Director on the Museum’s ambitious development plans. The post-holder will take responsibility for making these plans happen, including the planned re-interpretation and redisplay of the first floor of the Museum. The chosen candidate will need excellent project management skills, previous experience of working on museum development projects, an understanding of museum display and interpretation, and experience of writing successful funding applications This is an excellent opportunity to work in a committed team on an ambitious development project in a high profile small museum.

Organisation Freud Museum London Location Based at Freud Museum London, 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, NW3 5SX Flexibility over home working is also possible. Job Title Planning and Interpretation Manager Reports To Director Works with Staff team, and Board of Trustees. For the Interpretation and other individual projects the post-holder will work closely with the Curator, Education Team, and other staff members. Hours of work Full-time, 40 hours per week. Strong part-time applications will be considered. Pay £27,000 pa Application CV & Covering Letter to Carol Seigel, Director, by post or email: [email protected], outlining suitability for the job and why you are applying. Closing Date Closing date for applications: Wednesday 22 July at 5pm Interviews Interviews will be held if possible in the week beginning 26 July

The Role

Responsibility for planning and implementing all aspects of the Development Project, reporting to the Director, including: o Working with the Director, staff colleagues and Board members to produce, and then implement, a Development Project schedule and plan o Planning and implementing the Reinterpretation project, working closely with the Curator and Education Team o Conducting or commissioning audience and visitor research to support the aims and objectives of the development project o Working with external contractors, such as designers, surveyors, architects o Preparing financial plans and budgets for the Development Project o Preparing, submitting and monitoring funding applications to a range of organisations o Monitoring and updating Development Project schedules and budgets o Progress reporting and evaluation o Attending meetings and taking minutes o Liaising with external stakeholders, such as donors, neighbours, the local council. o Being an ambassador for the Development Project and for the Museum o Attending occasional evening events or meetings

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

o Educated to degree level or above o Experience in working at a museum or heritage site, preferably with experience of displays and interpretation and implementing change. o Experience in writing funding applications to eg Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund o Good organisational, time management and prioritisation skills o Ability to meet deadlines, handle competing priorities and adapt to changing priorities o Good attention to detail and excellent written and verbal communication skills o Confident, enthusiastic, hard-working and a committed team player o Tact, discretion and understanding of the need for confidentiality o Good knowledge of Office applications, social media and the digital environment o Interest in Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, psychoanalysis, mental health issues and the work of the Freud Museum London

Background Information

Vision: Our vision is that Sigmund and Anna Freud’s home and unique collections will inspire discovery and debate across the world on the history and continuing centrality of psychoanalysis

Mission: In Sigmund and Anna Freud’s last home we explore their psychoanalytic legacy and the difference this can make to people’s lives. This is a welcoming place for learning, engagement and creativity, which encourages all, in Freud’s words, to ‘stimulate thought and upset prejudices’.

The Freud Museum London is an extraordinary, atmospheric place, quietly located in a residential side street in North London.

20 Maresfield Gardens was the last home of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis. The Museum houses the books, furniture and objects which Freud brought with him when he fled Nazi- occupied Austria in 1938. It also houses the personal possessions of Freud’s daughter Anna, herself a prominent child psychoanalyst, who lived in the house until her death in 1982. Shortly afterwards, the house became a Museum.

The Museum offers visitors the chance to experience Freud’s home and in particular his study, containing the original psychoanalytic couch, his desk, library and collection of over 2000 antiquities.

As an independent charity the museum receives no government funds, but generates the majority of its income through its own successful and wide ranging activities - admissions, events, retail sales, private hire - and the balance through donations and grants. The Museum has developed an international reputation for its contemporary art exhibitions, innovative education and public programmes, and also for research and publications, thanks to its significant archives and photo library. Recent artists to exhibit at the Freud Museum include Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger and Bharti Kher.

In the last decade visitor numbers have risen consistently, and the Museum attracts an international audience and reputation. It is now on the cusp of further change and development.

Further information on the Museum can be found at www.freud.org.uk

Freud Museum Development Project

We were in 2019/early 2020 actively working on a major development, intended to protect the fabric of the house, address issues of space and overcrowding, improve disabled access, visitor facilities, interpretation, and learning facilities.

However the Museum, like all arts institutions, was severely affected by the Covid pandemic. Its financial position has been maintained through use of the government’s support schemes, successful fundraising and grant applications, and developing new income streams.

The Museum is rethinking its position in the light of changing circumstances, and its revised priorities are to: o Ensure that the Museum returns to, and maintains, financial sustainability as quickly as possible o Address problems in the house, such as lack of space, inadequate facilities, and damage to the fabric and collections. o Increase accessibility in its widest sense, from disabled access within the house (considered essential) to access in other respects (for instance financial, intellectual and digital). o Increase and diversify audiences, recognizing the range of different audiences we currently have, and those we want to attract.

These priorities will drive the renewed and revised development project. Returning to a financially stable position is key, but like so many other organizations, the Board and Director have recognised that this is a chance to refocus, not just assume a return to ‘business as usual’. For instance the Museum is uniquely placed to respond to the increasing emphasis and interest in promoting good mental health.

We are therefore rethinking our development needs and options, taking account of more financially challenging times. The Museum remains committed to addressing the urgent issues that were the original impetus for major change, and is planning a revised, financially attainable development programme.

This is an exciting time to join the Freud Museum, and to help deliver this change.

June 2021