Expanding Horizons – Freelance Project Co-ordinator Vacancy

County Durham Cultural Education Partnership and Northumberland LCEP (NCEP), are leading on a locality pilot project funded through the North East Combined Authority (NECA) Child Poverty Reduction Plan. Children in rural parts of the North East are often unable to access cultural school trips due to a lack of public transport infrastructure and the cost of private transport. Expanding Horizons aims to improve access to cultural school trips for North East children, no matter where they live; and to test out new ways of working to build a sustainable model which can be rolled out to other schools.

We are looking for a Freelance Project Coordinator who will have experience in working collaboratively with a range of partners, as the role will involve working with schools, pupils, cultural organisations and transport providers. The coordinator will support and attend a range of school trips which provide a cultural education experience for children, as well as working with schools to support use of existing public transport where possible. The coordinator will be tasked with gathering evidence of the value of cultural education trips and will lead on creating transferable resources which can be used by schools at the end of the project – either supporting them to use existing public transport or to secure sponsorship from local businesses.

Deadline for applications: 5pm – Friday 22nd May 2026

Reports to: Chairs of CDCEP/NCEP (or delegated individuals) – day to day liaison with NCEP Coordinator and Project Advisory Group

Location: Remote Working with travel across West Northumberland and County Durham

Timeline: A total of 90 days from June 2026 – August 2027. Interviews will be held w/c Monday 1st June.

Salary: £180 per day. Additional travel costs to be agreed in advance.

How to express an interest

To express an interest, we are inviting submissions in the following format:

• A covering letter outlining your suitability for the role and relevant experience
• A two-page CV

Please email submissions to enquiries@intheforge.com and let us know if you would prefer to submit your expression of interest in any other format.

All applications will be acknowledged.

The full brief can be found here – Freelance-Project-Coordinator-Brief.