- Applications open - Monday 31 October
- Applications close - Sunday 27 November
- Interviews - Tuesday 6 December
- Proposed timeline for contract - 11 months part time from December 2022 – October 2023
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About Edinburgh Art Festival
Edinburgh Art Festival is the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art. Founded in 2004, we work with local and international partners to present an ambitious and meaningful programme of exhibitions, events, and projects across the city.
Since its beginnings, the festival has featured international and UK artists at a pivotal point in their career alongside the best emerging talent; major survey exhibitions of historic figures; and a special programme of newly commissioned artworks that respond to public and historic sites in the city.
The festival’s year-round community engagement programme has long-term relationships and partnerships across the city, creating meaningful and memorable experiences with artists. We invite local people to explore their culture, community, city, self-expression, and value, with many festival commissions reflecting this unique creative relationship.
Our PR requirements
As the festival has a broad audience and range of stakeholders (including artists, partner galleries, sponsors, and funders), our PR requirements are substantial. Over the past 18 editions, the festival has grown its reputation in the wider festival mix within Edinburgh, and the appointed PR consultant / agency will work to develop the reputation of the festival under its new Director, Kim McAleese. The shape and form of the festival is still in development for 2023, and we see this as an exciting time to join the festival as it works towards its 20th anniversary in 2024.
Role and responsibilities
- Help to develop and implement a new PR strategy for the festival that will support change across the next 5 years
- Work with the festival’s Director and Marketing and Communications Manager to develop and support key messaging about the 2023 festival
- Teasing out and placing ops ed pieces and stories out with the festival months, looking at wider changes to the festival structure in the context of current social and political situations
- Be the primary point of contact for media enquiries to the festival, maintaining a press drive with hero images and key releases, artist biographies and other information
- Be a key point of contact for participating artists, studios, and galleries in the festival, playing a proactive role in tracking stories and journeys and finding media opportunities
- Manage and respond to any issues that may arise with media
- Create and distribute timely media releases with the support of the festival’s Marketing and Communications Manager
- Coordinate media visits to the festival, including setting up suitable photocalls, junkets and interviews
- Track placement of stories via a clippings book which can be accessed/presented to the festival and its partner artists and galleries
- Support the festival team to find and book BSL interpreters and transcribers for key events within the festival’s programme
- Work effectively with other PR agents in aligned organisations to and in the wider mix of the Festivals Edinburgh group (Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Edinburgh International Storytelling Festival and the city’s Winter events programme)
- Assist in developing the festival’s ambitions to meet the needs of audiences, particularly in developing relationships with communities and support groups in Edinburgh
- Provide a full post-festival coverage report and detailed campaign analysis
About you
- We are looking for an individual / agency who knows the visual arts, and Edinburgh, inside and out
- A passion for stories, and a hunger to develop leads
- Knowledgeable on current media, circulation, and consumption trends (both nationally and internationally)
- An understanding of cultural policy areas and priorities within The City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Government, and the UK Government
- A commitment and understanding of issues around equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), recognising and addressing historic and current imbalances in the visual arts and in the cultural sector more widely
The successful consultant / agency will be offered a one-year contract for working with the festival, with the anticipation that this may be renewed for a further two years. The expected value of this contract is in the region of £20k (excluding VAT). For 2023, the consultant / agent will manage a budget of c. £1.5k for the press trip.
Pitching to Edinburgh Art Festival
- Please share a brief outline of how you would continue to attract the excellent coverage we have achieved to date, together with suggestions for any original approaches or areas we might consider targeting
- Please provide a summary of your skills and experience and how you think your approach would work for Edinburgh Art Festival
- We are interested to know how you have worked to engage and work with organisations to attract audiences who may be underrepresented in the visual arts, or in the cultural sector more widely
- If you are an agency, please tell us which team members would be assigned to our account, how work would be assigned and a summary of each team member’s expertise
- If you are based outside of Edinburgh, please tell us how many trips you would plan to make to the city in a single year
- Please provide a suggested fee for the PR campaign for a single festival edition, with a clear breakdown of costs – see the example attached in the next section of this document
How to submit
Please submit a proposal to [email protected] by Sunday 27 Nomember.
To arrange an informal chat about this opportunity or to discuss other ways of submitting your pitch (by video or audio recording), please contact Graham Webster, Marketing and Communications Manager, at [email protected] or by calling 0131 226 6558 during office hours (Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm).
Timeline for appointment
- Applications open - Monday 31 October
- Applications close – Sunday 27 November
- Interviews - Tuesday 6 December
- Proposed timeline for contract - 11 months part time from December 2022 – October 2023
Example budget
Budget
- Total (PR Fee and Press Trip) - £21,500
Breakdown
50 days of work at a rate of £400 per day - £20,000
Key working days (20 days, at critical points for festival)
Meetings with festival team, partners, commissions artists c. 6 days spread across contract
Support with programme announcements c. 5 days spread across contract
Support during festival, with interviews and junkets etc. c. 4 days
End of festival wrap up and reporting c. 5 days
Standard working days (30 days, c. 2 ½ days per month)
Strategy, development, and other tasks c. 30 days
Press Trip – management of budget – supporting the costs of travel / other expenses c. £1,500
Fee £21,500