OPPORTUNITIES
Advisory Board Members
James Wilton Dance is looking to establish an advisory board of experienced individuals who can guide and support the next chapter of development for this internationally award-winning company.
The advisory board will be made up of approx. four members, working on a voluntary basis as advisors, sounding boards and critical friends. The board will meet four times per year, and the total time commitment is approx. 12 hours per year. Board members will be paid expenses and receive invitations to James Wilton Dance performances and events.
ABOUT JAMES WILTON DANCE
James Wilton Dance is a multi-award-winning company founded in 2010. Its full evening works Last Man Standing (2014), LEVIATHAN (2016), The Storm (2018) and The Four Seasons (2021) have had close to 300 performances between them, including sold out runs at Edinburgh Fringe and throughout Europe.
With a dual base in Cornwall and Brighton, James Wilton Dance has been commissioned by more than a dozen venues across the UK, including Dance East, Swindon Dance, PDSW, The Place, The Gulbenkian, The Barbican, Plymouth Culture, Barnsley Civic, Blackpool Grand, Dance City, Warwick Arts Centre, Queens Hall and Octagon Yeovil.
In 2021 JWD have created new work The Four Seasons, which premiered in Norway and will tour extensively in 2022/23, and iRobot an outdoor duet which was performed over 30 times this summer and will continue touring in 2022.
Extensive education work is central to the company’s mission. Pre-Covid, around 3,000 people each year would take part in workshops for schools, colleges and universities. This activity included a focus on hard-to-reach young people and groups with disabilities.
The company’s online presence is a key part of its public engagement and audience development strategy. Its community of 154,000 followers on Instagram is by far the largest following of any UK contemporary dance company. Participation numbers have more than doubled since this work has been taken online during the pandemic, with 8,000 people having taken digital classes with the company.
James and Sarah have also created works for Scottish Dance Theatre, Konzert Theater Bern, Opera Graz and Tanztheater companies in Münster, Hagen Giessen and Braunschweig, and choreographed the opening ceremony of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.
What we’re for
We make dance that brings people together, creating individual moments of inspiration and collective experiences that are as fun as they are thought-provoking.
Our approach
At the heart of James Wilton Dance is an extraordinary, long-term collaboration between dance artists James Wilton and Sarah Jane Taylor. Together, they have created and continue to develop a unique dance vocabulary and artistic voice. It’s a style that blends acrobatics, martial arts and different dance techniques. It’s technically audacious, distinctively accessible, and a versatile canvas for telling stories and invoking emotions.
The other key feature of our work is intimacy. Wherever it happens - whether that’s a grand theatre, a tiny community hall, a park, or an online space - it creates a sense of closeness, of personal connection. It feels authentic and human, and that gives it its power.
Our work
We make dance shows. Sometimes they’re short, sometimes they’re longer, sometimes they feature lots or performers, sometimes it’s just one or two. They can be technically sophisticated with complex sets and special effects, or they can be as simple as a dancer, a costume, a light and some music. They can be made for theatre spaces, found spaces, outdoor spaces, digital spaces, or any combination of these different types of space. Creating different types of work is important to us.
We take these shows to connect with audiences. We tour all over the UK, and value that our work is as successful in bringing people together in underserved areas as it is in cultural hotspots. We develop partnerships with venues and presenters who share our ambition, building audiences together in everywhere from South West England, to North East England, across Europe, and many other places too.
We share what we know about dancing, and what we are trying to learn. This happens in classes and workshops in theatres and arts centres, in work we take to schools and colleges, and in particular with a large global community who connect with us online.
We collaborate with artists who inspire or provoke us, who bring diverse experience and ideas to enrich our creative processes, who help us to reach new people, and who share our belief in bringing together communities through dance.
We acknowledge the historic and current failures of in our industry, both individual and collective, to create equality of opportunity and access. Knowing that we are making progress towards becoming more equitable, diverse and inclusive in our practice is a key measure of the success of our work.
Advisory Board
We’re setting up an advisory board to guide the company’s development into the future. The idea comes from a review of strategy and governance of the company, which is a limited company owned and directed by James Wilton.
The board will meet four times per year, advising James and Sarah on the development of plans and sense-checking proposals and priorities.
We’re looking for people to join the board who can bring some or all of the following experience and skills:
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Business planning and management, including financial control and risk assessment.
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The performing arts, especially touring, in the UK and Europe.
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Company, employment and health and safety legislation, and other relevant statutory compliance.
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The experience of working and developing a career as a practicing creative artist.
Experience of serving on advisory boards or as a trustee is not required, but you should have a strategic vision, strong communication skills, enjoy team-working and have a keen interest in supporting the development of James Wilton Dance. We also want a board where diverse backgrounds, identities and lived experience bring new perspectives and insight to the company, and supports our drive towards becoming more inclusive and equitable.
How to apply
Send a CV and single page cover letter to Tim Wood, consultant: tim@timcwood.com by Friday 21 January.
To arrange an informal conversation with Tim and/or James Wilton, contact Tim at the address above or on 07740 771 572.