Information for Applicants for the post of Director of Collections, Interpretation and Heritage Full-time, permanent post. Salary £43,000 - £45,000 Introduction Thank you for your interest in Brooklands Museum and the role of Director of Heritage, Collections and Interpretation. This is a senior leadership team position in a growing independent museum: for the right person it presents the opportunity to make a real mark in a museum with big ambitions for the future interpretation, development and care of its unique collection. Brooklands Museum is on the site of the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit and the most productive aircraft factories in Europe in the twentieth century. The stories of motor sport and aviation at this site are bound together from the beginning and share key themes of inventiveness, adventure, ambition and engineering innovation. Whilst the museum is well- known and loved by enthusiasts, and has a growing family audience, our aim is to bring out its interest and relevance to the wider population, by developing the way we interpret the site and the historic characters associated with it. This is a fantastic time to join the museum. In February 2018 the museum’s new Director and CEO, Tamalie Newbery, took up her post. The museum has just completed an £8m development – the Brooklands Aircraft Factory, together with the Flight Shed and the revival of the motor circuit’s finishing straight. This has shown we can successfully develop and deliver major projects and we will begin planning our next developments later this year, once the Director of Collections, Interpretation and Heritage is in post. We will look at the whole site masterplan and interpretation plan and decide on future investment priorities for our exhibitions and heritage site, with an extensive programme of developments across the site expected to start in 2019. The information in this pack is designed to give you a flavour of the opportunities at Brooklands Museum and our ambition for the future. If you are someone who is passionate about bringing history alive for people; telling stories of science, engineering, industry and innovation in ways that enthral and excite people of all ages and backgrounds and want to play a key leadership role in a growing, ambitious, independent museum then please apply. If, having read the information in this pack, you would like to have an informal discussion with the CEO, please contact Ann Watson (01932 857381 ext. 243) to book a 15-minute conversation, subject to availability. We look forward to receiving your application. To apply: Please send a covering letter of no more than 3 pages, describing your interest in the role and how you meet the person specification. Please also include in the same file a CV of up to three pages. Please email the one file with your name in its title, to Ann Watson [email protected] The deadline for applications is 3rd April. Interviews will be held on Monday 23rd April. Brooklands Museum’s Purpose In 2011, Brooklands Museum adopted the following vision that explains how the Museum wishes to make a difference to its community: 1 ‘Through inventiveness, expertise and above all, a sense of adventure, Brooklands changed the world. Building on that amazing legacy, we will use those qualities to inspire future generations to shape their world.’ The vision was derived from an examination of Brooklands’ intangible heritage – ‘the Spirit of Brooklands’- and considering what it would mean to share that spirit with future generations. Brooklands Museum aims to be ‘best in class’ and an internationally recognised ‘living museum’. Brooklands Museum is built on real stories of people with a passion for breaking the mould, their genius and invention, celebrated on the actual tarmac and in the very buildings ‘where it actually happened’. The Museum will continue to be at the forefront of preserving the heritage of Brooklands, both on its own site and also taking a lead and influencing the landowners and stakeholders in the wider Brooklands area through the joint Conservation Management Plan. Brooklands Museum strives to be educationally excellent, and looks to achieve this by instilling traditional museum values of scholarship and research into modern interpretation and continuing to develop its successful outreach and schools and college programmes. Brooklands today Volunteers The Museum is fortunate to have around 800 active volunteers. Volunteers at Brooklands fulfil many roles such as stewarding the Museum buildings and displays, working on restoration and project teams, working with school and adult groups, helping with administration and site maintenance and marshalling at Museum events. The volunteer teams reporting to the curatorial team have a great deal of expertise in engineering, preservation of our artefacts, research, archives and other relevant areas. Many of them have professional careers in aviation and other forms of engineering. The museum is currently delivering a five year, HLF funded, heritage aviation skills training programme to ensure that it continues to have access to the skills it needs to care for our collections in the future. Managing and utilising this expertise and enthusiasm is a key part of the Collections, Interpretation and Heritage department’s role. In 2016 the Brooklands Museum volunteers were awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Learning and research Brooklands Museum strives to be educationally excellent, and looks to achieve this by instilling traditional museum values of scholarship and research into modern interpretation and continuing to develop its successful schools and college programme which explores STEM subjects with children and young people from pre-school age upwards. There is an urgent need in the UK to encourage young people in STEM subjects so as to meet the skills shortage, particularly in the engineering sector for both young men and, even more so, young women. Through the museum’s exhibitions and activities, Brooklands Museum aims to build on its amazing legacy of expertise and adventure to inspire future generations to develop these skills and shape their world. 2 The learning programme at Brooklands hosts over 13,000 school children and students on curriculum-based visits every year. The learning programme covers early years and Key Stages 1 to 4 through to higher education, with the inspiration of young people in the STEM subjects being at the heart of what the Museum does. Family activities are provided at many of the Museum’s larger events and during school holidays, including the ever-popular car rides on the Brooklands banking. There is a A 4-D theatre and a kids version of the popular Concorde Experience. For adults there is an exciting programme of activities themed around its collections which have been specially designed to engage adult learners, including talks, courses, and tours. The Brooklands Museum collection contains a large amount of material useful to researchers and historians of all levels, from records of the cars and drivers that raced on the circuit to technical drawings and manuals for the aircraft that were built here. The collection also includes photographic records of all aspects of the people and cars, motorcycles or bicycles that raced at Brooklands alongside the aircraft that were built or flew from here and the people that worked on them. The archives, Library and reserve collection are accessible to the public by appointment. Events Events help bring Brooklands alive for visitors. The Museum organises many events each year, typically attracting between 1500 and 6500 visitors per day. They range from themed car displays such as Italian Car Day and Autumn Motorsport Day, through general gatherings such as its New Year’s Day Classic Gathering (the largest of its type in the country) to social history events such as 1940s Day and Great War Day. In conjunction with the Vintage Sports Car Club, it keeps active motorsport alive on the site, with the annual Brooklands Double Twelve Motorsport Festival and Winter Driving Tests, and it also organises an annual charity kart race in conjunction with the Henry Surtees Foundation. 3 Structure and governance Brooklands Museum is an independent charitable trust, established in 1987, whose aim is to conserve, protect and interpret the unique heritage of the Brooklands site. The Trust has a wholly-owned subsidiary trading company, Brooklands Limited, and the Brooklands Trust Members organisation also functions as a wholly owned activity of the Trust. The museum generates all its own income to support its running costs and developments. There is a staff team of around 50 people and over 800 active volunteers. The Director of Collections, Interpretation and Heritage is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and currently has four direct staff reports, and with the other staff members in the department, manages the work of over 25 volunteer project teams. The department works closely with the Learning and Visitor Services department. It is likely that the department will grow in size in the coming years, subject to funding. A brief history of Brooklands Motorsport and Cycling Brooklands, the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, was built by local landowner Hugh Locke King on 360 acres of farm and woodland on his estate at Weybridge in Surrey. Hugh and his wife Ethel had family connections with aristocracy across the nation, and they also socialised with the leading motoring and aviation pioneers of their day. Work commenced in late 1906 and this outstanding feat of engineering was built in only nine months. Many local families were employed in its construction together with workers from other Locke King family estates. Before the first race was run, Brooklands was the venue for a dramatic speed record attempt by motor-racing pioneer, Selwyn Francis Edge, who used the Track for establishing a 24-hour record, covering 1,581 miles at an average speed of almost 66 miles an hour.