15 March, 2023
The Nest Collective is seeking two talented individuals to join our artistic family as Associate Leaders of the Fire Choir, our ‘open to all’ community choir with protest and empowerment at its heart.
The Associate Leaders will work alongside two long-standing and highly experienced community choir Leaders across a year-long programme starting summer 2023, gaining practical experience of community choir leadership and receiving mentoring and training support across the year.
Through this programme, we aim to support music artists wishing to develop the unique skills and experience required to lead and nurture community choirs, and to support this rich and thriving area of the community arts sector.
This is a paid programme. The Associate Leaders will be remunerated for their time co-Leading the Fire Choir, and will also receive dedicated 1:1 mentoring time with the Fire Choir Leaders outside these paid sessions.
The Nest Collective is committed to building an organisation which is reflective of our diverse community. We therefore welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds
and groups, and particularly invite applications from people who are currently underrepresented in our artistic workforce and across the sector, particularly ethnically diverse and people with lived experience of disability.
ABOUT THE FIRE CHOIR
Fire Choir is the NC’s community choir, which welcomes singers of all abilities to
weekly year-round community singing sessions. The choir is ‘open to all, and is dedicated to revitalising communal singing with political empowerment and a sonorous means to protest at its heart.
Members of the choir are invited to tap into the enormous and ancient international repertoire of songs rooted in social change, justice and emancipation. Material includes folk songs, modern songs, anti-war songs, songs of resistance and struggle, the natural world, songs of love and lost worlds. A generous part of the Fire Choir repertoire has been specially-commissioned from the perspective of contemporary communities struggling for a louder voice in society, written by some of the UK’s leading songwriters and composers. Plus, to keep the spirits high there is plenty of good old rabble-rousing, soul-lifting chants and hollers!
The Fire Choir was formed out of a Founding Fellowship at the Foundling Museum in 2018, by NC’s Artistic Director Sam Lee and Fire Choir Leaders Alex Etchart, Blythe Pepino and Ben See. Since 2018, the Choir has continued under the Nest Collective programme and the continued leadership of Alex, Blythe and Ben, and has built a strong and loyal membership of singers. The Choir has performed at Nest Collective festivals and events, and has added its support to many street protests close to the heart of the choir.
During Covid, the Fire Choir moved swiftly online and attracted an international membership of singers who tuned into weekly singing sessions from around the world. These sessions provided critical moments of creativity and connection for people during lockdown and created an important online community across 2020-2021. Since 2022, the Choir has returned to live sessions and the membership has returned with strength and energy.
The Fire Choir runs across the year, with three terms of 10 sessions – Spring, Summer and Autumn. Sessions take place on Mondays from 7pm – 9pm at Kings Cross Baptist Church. Each session is run by two Leaders, which brings richness and diversity of voice to the choir.
ABOUT THE NEST COLLECTIVE
The Nest Collective is a leading force in the curation of contemporary, global folk music. Our mission is to bring people together to experience extraordinary music, rekindling connections with nature, tradition and community. In all that we do, we are driven by our core values: community, sustainability, heritage, partnership and innovation.
Founded in 2005 by folk musician and environmental campaigner Sam Lee, the Nest began as a small gathering of music and folk lovers. Today, our award-winning, vibrant programme, presenting outstanding emerging and established folk, world and roots artists from across the globe.
We are recognised for creating immersive music experiences that showcase the finest diverse talent in global folk and break new ground in cultural programming. We take audiences on journeys of discovery, built around deep music listening, nature connection and shared creative experience. Our eclectic programme encompasses music, dance, story-telling, and nature connection. Over 65% of our activity takes place outdoors.
We are a national organisation – 60% of our programme is presented outside London, in cities, towns and rural areas across England. We have a diverse national audience of over 15,000, and also reach an international community through our award-winning digital programme, which engages over 50,000 people worldwide. Our approach is community-led – we collaborate with a host of local, micro organisations on the curation of our programme, including community-run venues (local gardens, city farms, family playgrounds) and local youth services.
The Nest Collective is a driving cultural force in environmental advocacy and activism; undertaking an important bridging role between the culture and environmental sectors, and engaging leading partners in this area. We are also partner with leading organisations across culture, the creative industries, charity sector and higher education. The strength of these partnerships is built upon trust in the high quality of NC’s work, in our integrity and ethos, and in the robust management of the organisation.
ASSOCIATE LEADER OPPORTUNITY
We are seeking two creative and motivated Associate Leaders to join the Fire Choir family from the Summer term 2023 for a year-long programme of experience and mentoring.
The Associate Leaders will join long-standing Fire Choir Leaders Alex Etchart and Blythe Pepino in leading the Fire Choir during this period, and will receive 1:1 mentoring sessions with Alex and Blythe as they develop their skills and experience across the year. Long-standing Leader Ben See is stepping back from the Fire Choir at the end of the Spring term, following 5 years of leadership of the choir.
The Fire Choir is a unique community choir: open to all, warm and welcoming. We believe it offers an ideal training ground for music artists who wish to develop skills in leading community singing groups as part of their artistic career and journey.
KEY DUTIES
- Provide dedicated support to 5 x Fire Choir sessions per term / 15 across the year, working with both Fire Choir Leaders who will each lead 5 sessions per term
- Attend a minimum of 2 mentoring sessions per term – 1 with each Fire Choir leader. These will be informal, and likely take place over coffee following Fire Choir sessions
- Support the Leaders and the NC team in managing communications with the Choir, including information about new repertoire, forthcoming sessions and concerts
- Provide feedback to the Fire Choir leaders at the end of each term, guiding the leaders on what has been learned / of value, and what would be helpful to incorporate into future sessions and mentoring conversations. We consider this programme to be participant-led, and encourage a two-way dialogue to inform how the programme evolves
KEY DETAILS
- Associate Leaders must be able to commit to 5 x Fire Choir sessions per term, and to 15 across the year. Sessions will be scheduled ahead of time with the Leaders
- Associate Leaders will be paid £70 per session
- Associate Leaders must also commit to a minimum of 2 x 1:1 mentoring sessions with the Leaders each term. These will be scheduled with the Leaders ahead of time
- We welcome applications from music artists of any genre, and at all career stages
- We welcome applications from artists of all backgrounds. We are committed to supporting the diversification of the artist community, and we therefore warmly invite applications from people who are underrepresented, particularly ethnically diverse and people with lived experience of disability.
To Apply
Please email firechoir@thenestcollective.co.uk with your CV and a short covering letter (max 500 words), explaining your interest in and suitability for the role by Thursday 30th March.
Interviews will take place in the week commencing 3rd April.
