About Starcatchers

We champion exceptional, innovative arts and creative experiences for our youngest children, those aged from birth to 5 years old and their parents and carers. The voice, needs and interests of this audience are at the heart of all our activity, providing inspiration and provocation in the development of projects and programmes. Our work is created by highly specialist artists who are attuned to the requirements of making work for and with this unique age group. Supported by nearly 20 years of high-quality work, evidenced through research and evaluation, Starcatchers is recognised around the world as being at the forefront of artistic practice for Early Years.

Primary Purpose

This is a new role within a refreshed Starcatchers Staff Team for 2025/26 and beyond. The post-holder will be pivotal in the development of our Community Engagement activity leading on the implementation of this work, supporting the specialist Starcatchers Artists who lead on delivery, nurturing existing and seeding new relationships within communities and securing funding to sustain activity moving forward.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Community Engagement

• To lead on the development and delivery of all Starcatchers' Community Engagement activity including current programmes
• Seed new activities in line with organisational priorities
• To ensure the implementation of a continuous improvement framework within the team
• To ensure the principles of Starcatchers Voice of the Baby research are embedded and reflected in artistic practice
• To ensure the participation of the babies, young children, parents and carers who engage in Starcatchers activity is evident in all aspects of service delivery
• To develop and maintain relationships with partners to support the delivery andpotential future development of project activity
• To oversee the implementation of research and evaluation surveys across all Community Engagement activity and provide feedback and figures for reporting,evaluation and development purposes
• To manage the Community Engagement budgets and ensure delegated budgets operate within organisational monitoring and reporting arrangements.
• To regularly attend Community Engagement sessions and provide support to delivery staff
• To ensure the Health & Safety policy is implemented in accordance with best practice and all activity is planned to include risk-assessment and compliance with Health and Safety and event management regulations
• To ensure the effective implementation of Starcatchers policies and procedures
• To provide line management support to the Community Engagement Artists

Fundraising

• To identify and apply for funding for Community Engagement programmes, both existing and new initiatives
• To support or lead on reporting to funders as required

General

• To play an active role in the strategic development of Starcatchers as a member of the Management Team
• To fully participate in company meetings and events as required
• To contribute to the on-going fundraising of the organisation as required
• To attend relevant training as and when requiredTo positively represent Starcatchers at eventsAny other duties appropriate to the post and organisation

Within the Development Manager (Maternity Cover) role, you will make an essential contribution to the development and sustainability of the organisation. This is an exciting time to join the Stills team, as we continue to develop our work and plan for Stills’ 50th anniversary in 2027.

You will also have the opportunity to bring your own skills to the role, supporting Stills’ financial sustainability and in-line with our vision and ethos. Within the Development Manager (Maternity Cover) role, you will work closely with the Director and be responsible for:

• Ensuring compliance with fundraising codes of ethics and practice.
• Generating income for Stills from a number of key fundraising sources including Trusts and Foundations, individual giving and corporate sponsorship.
• Identifying strategic opportunities for future fundraising and income generation.

Outline of key duties:

• Fundraising Management: to identify new fundraising opportunities and write funding proposals.
• Relationship Management: to ensure donors, supporters and partners are kept up-to- date and communicated with in a timely manner, while also ensuring they are credited appropriately across Stills’ marketing and communications.
• Fundraising Admin: to manage ongoing fundraising projects, keep track of timelines and lead on fundraising target management.
• Venue Hire: to respond to enquiries, manage agreements and oversee hires.
• Trusts & Foundations: to ensure new contracts are filed, relationships are managed, reports are completed in a timely manner and re-applications are submitted where appropriate.
• Individual Giving: to maintain and manage Stills’ Friends Scheme, Gift Aid forms and Patrons Scheme.
• Sponsorship: to arrange in-kind sponsorship activity with current sponsors where required.
• Photobooth: to manage partnership requests and respond to customer enquiries.
• Events: to assist with Stills public programme of events and work across the team to keep VIP mailing lists up-to-date.

Please note we are also interested in hearing from freelance fundraisers and grant writers. Please email vivienne.gamble@stills.org for further details.

The Edinburgh International Festival is looking for a Partnerships Manager to join the Development team. We want you to help us present this unparalleled celebration of the performing arts, which brings some of the most exciting and creative artists working today to audiences from around the world.

This is a dynamic role which cultivates new business and manages a varied portfolio of major partnerships (£20k+ pa) covering international, corporate and major trusts. This role will act as an internal and external ambassador for partnership opportunities – identifying assets within the organisation and generating new business externally. The Partnerships Manager will use creative approaches to attract long-term, high-value strategic partnerships which further the Festival’s vision and underpin long-term sustainability.

The Edinburgh International Festival is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity. We believe that an inclusive culture is the foundation for a successful workplace, and we strive to grow our diverse representation across our staff, our artists, and our audiences.

We are collecting data to measure the effectiveness of our recruitment methods, to ensure that they are fair. We strive to ensure our opportunities are accessible to people from all backgrounds.

We actively encourage applications from currently under-represented groups. We have identified ethnic minority backgrounds, and disabilities as the key areas we would like to focus our recruitment efforts in.

Our vision is that our youngest children, those aged birth-5, fulfil their right to access arts and creative experiences that give inspiration, joy and wonder to early childhood in Scotland. Our mission is to inspire babies, toddlers and young children by including them in high quality live performances and creative experiences that fulfil their right to access a rich arts and cultural life in Scotland regardless of where they live or their background. Starcatchers offers innovative, beautiful, collaborative arts and creative experiences that babies, toddlers and young children aged birth-5 can share with their parents and carers.Engaging with and participating in these activities brings joy and wonder, fostering the understanding that very young children are creative agents with their own capabilities and voices. Placing the child’s voice at the heart of everything we do also means looking after things that are central to children’s wellbeing. This means making strong choices to actively support diversity and inclusion so that all babies can grow up in a more equal and just society. It also means a commitment to climate action, carbon reduction and new models of sustainable working. Starcatchers was founded to provide our youngest children with the opportunity to experience theatre and the arts. Integral to that was the belief that all children,regardless of their age and stage of development, have a right to access arts and cultural life as outlined in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(UNCRC).This belief is unwavering. As Scotland incorporates the UNCRC into domestic law, our resolve to ensure that all our youngest children have access to age-appropriate, quality arts and cultural experiences is reinforced.We believe that Scotland should be the best place in the world to grow up and that Starcatchers, as the National Arts and Early Years Organisation, has an integral role to play in achieving this goal.

Starcatchers General Manager - Primary Purpose

To support the strategic development of the organisation, whilst managing the day-to-day organisational, administrative and financial systems to ensure the smooth operation of company activity.