Call out to County Durham arts/cultural organisations

Summary

County Durham Cultural Education Partnership (CDCEP) is offering the opportunity for to up to five arts and cultural organisations based in the county to work with Rachel Adam, mentor and consultant in the cultural sector, to map their education and learning activities/ offer into the National Curriculum.

We would really love to hear from cultural organisations that are seeking to further grow their engagement with schools audiences, and would benefit from some specialist support with framing the benefits of their offer in terms of how it delivers on the National Curriculum and increases cultural capital for and with children and young people.

We are seeking to work with a diversity of organisations in terms of size and scale, the way that you work (for example you might work on a project basis, as opposed to having a year-round offer), and in terms of geographical spread. You’ll need to be able to commit approximately half a day to the project (preparation, consultation interview and follow up) before the end of September this year.

This project has been funded by the North East Combined Authority, and is part of CDCEP’s drive to ensure that all children and young people living in County Durham are able to access opportunities to engage with cultural activity within and outside of schools. Our overarching aim for this project is to make it as easy as possible for teachers to match up their needs and the needs of their schools with cultural learning opportunities in the county.

This project complements curriculum mapping work currently taking place, led by the Durham Museums Learning Network. Together, we are working towards making a directory of the learning opportunities available in the county on the CDCEP website, www.cdcep.org.

Timescales and requirements

Deadline for confirming your interest: 5.00pm Friday 5th September, 2025.

You would need to be able to commit a total of c. half a day’s time to the project by the end of September. This would involve a meeting with Rachel Adam, to be arranged at a mutually convenient date and time, plus preparation for the meeting and follow up. The meeting would last around 60 – 90mins and would be online.

To find out more and to express an interest: please contact CDCEP Producer Sally Dixon at sally.dixon@gmail.com; or call 07774 301 781.

Please note that if we have more than five organisations expressing an interest, we will run a short selection exercise, supported by our Interim Co-Chairs, to ensure we have a range of types of organisation.

About CDCEP

Our mission is to work more closely with educators, school leaders and governors so that all children and young people living in County Durham are able to access opportunities to engage with cultural activity within and outside of schools. The Partnership was set up in 2015 (as were other Local Cultural Education Partnerships across the country) and we bring together representatives from cultural organisations, local government, schools and education settings in County Durham, and Durham University.

CDCEP has two Interim Co-chairs (arrangement in place until the end of December 2025) – they are Anne Besford, Chief Executive of National Youth Choir (offices at Ushaw Historic House) and Rich Hurst, Education Development Advisor at Education Durham, Durham County Council. CDCEP is coordinated by Producer Sally Dixon, with admin support provided by Sue Archbold of participatory arts organisation The Forge.

The projects we take forward are developed collaboratively, and in partnership by the members of CDCEP, with the aim of addressing shared needs.

Rachel Adam

Rachel Adam is a mentor and consultant in the cultural sector, and her work includes support for a range of clients who are delivering cultural education learning opportunities. This includes delivery of peer learning with teachers who are part of North East Museums Cultural Match programme. In her consultancy work, Rachel draws on rich experience from previous roles including Director of Museums Northumberland bait (Creative People and Places), Director of Juice (Newcastle Gateshead’s festival for Children and Young People) and Head of Development at Sage Gateshead (now The Glasshouse).