Royal Armouries - Museum Management Trustee
- Body
- Royal Armouries
- Appointing Department
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
- Sector
- Culture, Media & Sport
- Location
- Meetings will take place at the three museum sites - Leeds, Fort Nelson and the Tower of London (remotely at present).
- Number of Vacancies
- 1
- Remuneration
- The position is not remunerated, but reasonable expenses are paid.
- Time Requirements
- Trustees need to commit around twelve days a year to the Royal Armouries, in addition to reading and attending other meetings and events on occasion.
Campaign Timeline
-
Competition Launched
19/05/2021
-
Closed for Applications
02/07/2021 at 23:00
-
Panel Sift
w/c 12th July
-
Final Interview Date
w/c 16th August
-
Announcement
TBC
Announcement
An announcement has been made on the outcome of this appointment.
Assessment Panel
- Panel Member
- Gemma Brough
- Positions
- DCMS Deputy Director Departmental Official
Show more information
| Political Activity | - |
|---|---|
| Notes | Gemma Brough is Deputy Director, Public Bodies, Appointments, Honours and Awards at the DCMS, where she oversees appointments to c.45 Public Bodies. She was previously Deputy Director, Governance at the Department for International Trade. |
- Panel Member
- John Procter
- Panel Role
- Chair, Royal Armouries Representative of Organisation
- Positions
Show more information
| Political Activity | - |
|---|---|
| Notes | John Procter became Chair of the Royal Armouries in November 2019. He is currently Managing Director of a national Optical business and a director of the Northern Ballet. John was also Chair of Leeds Grand Theatre, and was previously a Leeds City Councillor for 26 years. |
- Panel Member
- Iwona Blazwick OBE
- Positions
- Director, Whitechapel Art Gallery Independent Member
Show more information
| Political Activity | - |
|---|---|
| Notes | Iwona Blazwick has been Director of the Whitechapel Gallery since 2001 and is a critic, broadcaster and lecturer. She formerly worked at the Tate Modern and London’s ICA, and has also been an independent curator in Europe and Japan. She was awarded an OBE for services to art in 2007. |
Vacancy Description
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is seeking to appoint an outstanding individual to join the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries, the national museum of arms and armour. The appointee will have skills and experience at a very senior level in the management of museums and earlier career experience as a curator, conservator, collections manager or interpretation manager. Expertise specifically in arms and armour is not required.
Although, as with all National Museums, the Royal Armouries is facing difficulties and uncertainties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our underlying sustainability has recently, pre-Lockdown, been boosted by the transformation of our commercial operations, which we expect to recover over the next eighteen months. Meanwhile, we are continuing to develop an ambitious Master Plan for the organisation’s future.
Arms and armour are among the products of human endeavour which have had the greatest impact on the history of the world: thanks to humanity’s relentless desire for advantage in attack and defence, they have been pivotal in forming and re-forming its cultural and geopolitical shape. They continue to do so, the consequences of their use are all around us and they will inevitably shape the future.
More information, including the Royal Armouries’ Corporate Plan 2019-24 (under review) and the Annual Report and Accounts for 2018/19 can be found at:
https://royalarmouries.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Royal-Armouries-Corporate-Plan-2019-2024.pdf and https://royalarmouries.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Royal-Armouries-Annual-Report-18-19.pdf
Person Specification
While recognising that no one person will offer skill and expertise in all the areas listed below, those of the ideal candidate will include a number of the following:
Essential:
- Experience in the management of a major museum or museums at a very senior level and understanding of the issues and opportunities facing museums both today and in the foreseeable future;
- A commitment to preserving the Armouries’ collection, maintaining an acknowledgment of heritage’s important role in teaching us about our past and, sometimes the need to contextualise or reinterpret, but never to erase;
- Experience of fundraising for museums and their work or the capacity to do so;
- Experience of Board or committee work, and the tact and discretion necessary for collective and strategic decision making;
- An interest in the work of the Royal Armouries and in its subject and purpose.
Desirable:
- Experience of and success in popularising museum collections and activities for non-specialist audiences;
- A high media and public profile;
- Experience of the role and potential of museums in providing an education service;
- Understanding of the government procedures and policies in relation to non-departmental public bodies and museums in particular;
- Experience of developing commercial opportunities whilst maintaining the core objectives of a national museum.
Additional Information
The Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries consists of a Chair and ten Trustees who have statutory duties under Chapter 47 of the National Heritage Act 1983. This states that:
The Board shall perform their functions for the general purpose of maintaining and exhibiting a national collection of arms, armour and associated objects, and of maintaining a record relating to arms and armour at the Tower of London.
In summary, Trustees:
- Must have and demonstrate energetic commitment to the Royal Armouries’ stated Purpose, Vision, Brand Identity, Aims and Objectives as set out in the Corporate Plan and to upholding its Policies;
- Must actively support the Royal Armouries fundraising activities and campaigns;
- Will be active and positive advocates for the Royal Armouries, representing it to stakeholders, including potential funders, and the education, regional and tourism profession, including local partners in Leeds and the surrounding areas;
- Will comply with the intentions of Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good Practice 2011 in so far as they are relevant to a NDPB and Charity Commission governance rules etc;
- Will in all respects embody the Seven Principles of Public Life.
More specifically, the Board of Trustees is intended to offer the skills and expertise which DCMS and the museum believe will be needed to guide the strategic direction of the Royal Armouries in the foreseeable future, particularly for the successful completion of the current Corporate Plan (2019-24, currently under review) and the development of the Master Plan. The required skills and experience are intended to complement and amplify rather than replicate those of the Executive Board.
The present Trustees offer skills and expertise in the fields of museum management and curation, finance, business, retail, marketing, public relations, education, history, property management and development and a range of others. The current vacancy arises on the retirement from the Board, after two four-year terms and a COVID-related extension, of Dr Andrew Burnett, former Deputy Director of the British Museum.
How to Apply
To apply, please send the following four documents:
- a CV of no more than two sides of A4;
- a supporting statement of no more than two sides of A4, setting out how you meet the criteria (NB: make sure you refer to the contents of this document);
- the Monitoring Form which must be completed by clicking this link, before submitting your application – please note this replaces the previous PDF monitoring form;
- the Declaration of Interests Form.
Completed applications should be emailed to: publicappointments@dcms.gov.uk. If you have any questions regarding your application please contact the Campaign Manager, Rhianna Bridgewater at rhianna.bridgewater@dcms.gov.uk. Each application will be assessed against the requirements set out above. Please put ‘Royal Armouries – Museums Trustee’ in the email subject line.
DCMS values and cares passionately about the diversity of its public appointments. Boards of public bodies should reflect our diverse society in order to ensure the sector has a leadership that draws fully on the different skills and perspectives our country has to offer.
We strongly encourage applications from all candidates and particularly welcome applications from women, those with a disability, and those from a black or ethnic minority background.
We ask all applicants to complete a diversity monitoring form. We hope you will help us by providing this information. Your data is not disclosed to the panel, but allows us to constantly evaluate any potential barriers to becoming a public appointee and whether there are any changes we could make to encourage a more diverse field to apply.
Disability Confident
We guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence in your application, which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria.
If you want to apply under this scheme, simply state this in the covering email or letter when submitting your application.
Reasonable adjustments
If you would like a confidential discussion regarding any reasonable adjustments during the process, please also indicate this in the covering email or letter.
Supporting information
This process is regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA‘s) Code of Practice. All applicants are expected to have adhered to the Seven Principles of Public Life.
Eligibility Criteria
You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:
- you become bankrupt or make an arrangement with a creditor
- your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors;
- you are disqualified from acting as a company director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986;
- you have been convicted of a criminal offence, the conviction not being spent for the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (c. 53);
- you become subject to a debt relief order or a bankruptcy restrictions order;
- you fail to declare any conflict of interest.
Conflicts of Interest and Due Diligence
If you have any interests that might be relevant to the work of the Royal Armouries, and which could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest if you were to be appointed, please provide details in your application. If you have queries about this and would like to discuss further please contact the Public Appointments Team.
Given the nature of public appointments, it is important that those appointed as members of public bodies maintain the confidence of Parliament and the public. If there are any issues in your personal or professional history that could, if you were appointed, be misconstrued, cause embarrassment, or cause public confidence in the appointment to be jeopardised, it is important that you bring them to the attention of the Advisory Assessment Panel and provide details of the issue(s) in your application. In considering whether you wish to declare any issues, you should also reflect on any public statements you have made, including through social media.
As part of our due diligence checks we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This will include us undertaking searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. This information may be made available to the Advisory Assessment Panel and they may wish to explore issues with you should you be invited to interview. The information may also be shared with ministers and the Cabinet Office.