TRUSTEE RECRUITMENT PACK Every young person can build a life they want through creativity rather than violence ART AGAINST KNIVES is a young, award-winning charity working with London s most isolated communities to prevent serious youth violence; through specialist, creative and consistent interventions. We are currently seeking up to 4 new trustees with a range of experience, skills and backgrounds, who share our vision, values and ambitions and have the time to drive us forward during an incredibly exciting period of growth. 1
ABOUT ART AGAINST KNIVES We run creative programmes co-designed with young people. Our specialist interventions build on their social, personal and educational capabilities and through this prevent them from becoming both victims and perpetrators of violent crime. Through the creative process we support their individual development, help them engage positively with communities, access local support and progress into education, employment and training. We provide both early intervention and targeted support to those experiencing multiple and complex risks, working with experienced specialists and partners. Our current programmes are: IN OUR HANDS Weekly community nail bars for young women, offering skills training, free nail care, safe spaces, mentoring, specialist YDVA support (young people s domestic abuse advisor), an accredited training programme for 17+ participants, and pop-ups at local businesses, corporates and community events. DOLLIS DOLLS on the Dollis Valley Estate, Barnet has been running since 2012; VALES NAILS has been running since 2014, now delivered from our own empty shop space in North Finchley. It won the 2015 National TPAS award for excellence in youth involvement. To date, we ve engaged and supported 462 young women. 2
CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS On-trend, creative projects for young people that provide industry-standard training and mentoring to develop personal and professional skills. Current projects include; THE LAB; a weekly pop-up music studio delivered since 2015 in North Finchley. STUDIO N2, a local partnership model designed to reduce serious youth violence & safeguard young people living in the N2 postcode. The programme of work includes, detached outreach, training local practitioners in our approach to safe working and partnership working with the local police, schools and housing associations. DESIGN+MAKE, delivered in partnership with London College of Fashion, providing skills training, access to higher education and mentoring. In 2015, it was highly commended by the National Green Gown awards for Community Innovation. Watch more HERE. We started our work in Hackney; currently 80% of our delivery is now in Barnet where there is little provision. Since 2011, we have supported 1000+ young people. ART AGAINST KNIVES is led by one of our co-founders, Katy Dawe. We have a team of 4 full time employees and 8 part-time staff/freelancers, including creatives, specialists and home grown youth workers. Our board currently numbers 7 and includes professionals from the creative industries, a leading London trust, the GLA and national charities. Read more about OUR TEAM 3
Our turnover in 2016 was 247,000, tripled from 2 years ago. The majority comes from trusts and foundations with an increasing number of multi-year grants from leading London and national funders. We also raise income from our trading arm - the ART AGAINST KNIVES GALLERY and from a small, but dedicated group of regular donors and corporate supporters. Over the coming 2-3 years, we plan to increase our trading income and our individual giving. We have been awarded a Silver Level London Youth Quality Mark, a quality assurance scheme accredited by City and Guilds, and our work continues to gain the attention from all corners of London. WE ARE LOOKING FOR PEOPLE... 4
ROLE DESCRIPTION To become a trustee, you will need to have an understanding and acceptance of the legal responsibilities of trusteeship the ability to devote the necessary time and effort to your duties, which involves reading and responding to papers, keeping informed about the activities of the organisation and wider issues which affect its work, providing on request advice in areas where you have specialist knowledge, and representing the organisation externally an understanding that the role of the board is to govern rather than manage, i.e. strategic, not operational, and how to work at this level a readiness to make judgement calls and decisions with far-reaching impact the ability to manage uncertainty, especially financial, and tight resources the ability to speak your mind and engage well with a group of highly experienced, passionate and confident trustees The role of a trustee is to jointly with the whole of the board, set priorities and strategies to guide how ART AGAINST KNIVES will meet its goals approve budgets and income generation plans to ensure financial stability monitor performance against these to ensure the effective management of the organisation ensure and monitor compliance with our governing document and all relevant legislation and regulations be responsible for risk management safeguard the good name and values of the organisation represent the organisation externally, as appropriate contribute to the pastoral support of the director and their professional development 5
TERM + COMMITMENT Trustees serve a term of 2 years and may serve up to 2 terms in total The board meets 5 times a year The board has 3 subcommittees finance, safeguarding and HR which each meets 4 6 times a year Trustees are expected to serve on one subcommittee There are typically 2 staff/board social events per year, and 2 3 gallery sales and stakeholder engagement events, and trustees are expected to attend as many of these as possible In addition, other contact usually electronic or by telephone will be necessary. Board meetings currently take place in the evening at the AAK main office in Central London; meetings are diarised for the year ahead Subcommittees arrange their meetings individually both during the day and evening Meetings typically last 2 hours Preparing for meetings typically takes 1 2 hours DIVERSITY + INCLUSION The young people we serve have a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, and experience a broad range of different traditions, religious and cultural influences. We want our organisation to offer the best possible opportunities to them. We believe that in order to do that we need to be proactive about: offering all young people a diverse range of role models ensuring that our decision-making processes are informed by a range of different perspectives having a board that is as diverse in nature as our projects and our staff team 6
OUR VALUES We are CREATIVE : We use art as a tool for effective engagement, communication and problem solving. We LISTEN before we act: We believe that the most effective way to support young people is to listen to their perspectives and ideas. We design projects WITH and not FOR young people: We deliver activities that young people want to be a part of, empower them to take ownership of their future, and their community. All of our projects are designed with young people, based on what they tell us. We focus on LONG-TERM POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT : We support the development of young people's social, personal and educational capabilities, so that they can make long-term positive change. We are INNOVATIVE without trying to reinvent: Our young, creative team helps us to approach activities in a fresh way; we understand what is on trend and what young people want to be associated with. We believe in COLLABORATION : Our projects initiate collaboration and build positive relationships within communities; we work in partnership with others, creating bridges into support services for our participants. We ENCOURAGE not instruct: We involve young people in our development to ensure that our approach remains relevant. OUR APPROACH A focus on high quality and excellence in our delivery A focus on real, long-term, transformative impact for our participants Valuing lived experience as a key basis for our work A focus on prevention and early intervention Full and genuine co-production. Neither staff nor the board devise projects, our job is to make them happen A focus on strong governance and operational management to build a sound foundation for our work and future development, to avoid over-extension and unsustainable growth A focus on developing our team members, and creating real opportunities for career development Responding positively within the limits of our resources to share our experience and help others to adopt and learn from our successful programmes @Artagainstknives @ArtAgainstKnive 7