The start of a new journey - my first 18 days! - Elizabeth Neathey Head of Workforce Inclusion

I am writing this on day 18 of my new job as Head of Workforce Inclusion for Culture Syndicates CIC. I knew about Culture Syndicates from the time I moved to Nottingham in May 2018 when I became a Relationship Manager for Museums for Arts Council England.  I engaged with the team and found out about projects, past and present as well as ideas for the future.  Then three years and four months later I was the successful candidate for the new job as Head of Workforce Inclusion.  I started on 13 September where I met Ruth Gray and Neville Stankley in person and Feixue online for my first team meeting.  Over the course of the first week, I read the business plan and started conversations with our Heritage Assistants.  I started to reach out to cultural organisations and universities to introduce myself and Culture Syndicates.  More to follow!

 

During my second week Neville and I had the opportunity to put our heads together and we started to scope an outline journey.  The key for me is shouting about CS and sharing our mission, on sustainability and resilience in the cultural sector, cultural careers development and employability. These building blocks are fundamental in all the conversations I have had with different organisations including Careers and Enterprise Company, The Mighty Creatives, and Beatfreeks.  I have engaged with a range of universities regarding placements and internships including Oxford, Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and Derby.  To date we are moving towards becoming part of a conversation around potential collaborations to explore cultural career pathways from 14 years onwards.  This will focus on inclusive routes for young people and their families or carers to enable them to gain meaningful first-hand information and experience to inform them of cultural careers.  This will be achieved by engaging young people with cultural organisations and employers to look at the journey holistically.

 

Besides this I have had the pleasure of attending events.  I joined Neville at the Northamptonshire Heritage Awards at the newly opened Northampton Museum.  ‘Witness’ at the National Justice Museum was incredibly moving.  Six woven rope figures appear to be silently observing the past and present events in the exercise yard.  Susie McMurry who created these figures shared her insights into the challenges of Covid-19 and the weather.  St Peter’s Church, Nottingham’s National Heritage Lottery Funded project ‘City Stories Heritage Project’ celebrated the many strands of development around replacing the lead roof.  Different audiences and the congregation have been on their own journeys to explore their stories alongside those from the past.  The discovery of the link with Jamaican plantations and the Church has seen a poignant memorial in the Church along with the names of the 220 slaves recorded.

 

As you can see, my first 18 days have been really busy.  And in addition, I have been involved in ordering and installing furniture which along with a kettle and related items is creating our fully functional office.  My DIY skills have been helpful as I constructed furniture and have started to move our various pieces of equipment into their new homes.

 

I am looking forward to every day which brings new opportunities, learning and development.  I look forward to meeting with anyone looking at cultural careers, so please do get in touch on elizabeth@culturesyndicates.co.uk