Culture Board Membership Role and Responsibilities

Over the past six months the City Office has been working to refresh four of the One City thematic boards – Children & Young People, Economy & Skills, Homes and Communities and Transport. This project is now complete and we are now starting the process of resetting the membership of the Culture Board, which is an ‘enabling’ board working across all boards and contributing to all projects, as well as owning their own projects.

Are you excited to help deliver our vision of Bristol as a fair, healthy, and sustainable city? A city of hope and aspiration where everyone can share in its success?

If so, we are seeking expressions of interest from a range of people from varied backgrounds, both from key organisations and/or those with expertise in relevant sectors, to bring their experience, resources, knowledge, and networks to help lead Bristol’s journey towards becoming a fairer, healthier and more sustainable city for all.

Diversity

We will ensure that the Boards’ membership is as diverse as possible, so its members can bring views from a range of the city’s communities. We are undertaking an open ‘expressions of interest’ process to help achieve this. We are keen to strive for gender equality on the Boards, and to encourage applications from people with knowledge, skills, and/or experience of the following groups that risk being under-represented on the One City boards:

• black and minority ethnic communities;
• disabled people; and/or
• young people aged 18-24 (we also work with the Youth Mayors & Youth Council, ages 11-18).

Support and mentoring will be offered to any successful candidates who feel that this would help them to play a full and active role in a Boards’ work.

What We’re Looking For

We are seeking 18 members for this Board. While the successful candidate will be appointed as a Board member in an individual capacity, they will usually represent a specific organisation or network. On the Culture Board we also have the opportunity for three members to be sponsored by the Culture and Creative Industries Team at BCC – paid for their time to join the Board (based on their attendance at the Boards and involvement in any Task and Finish groups).

The leadership capability we are looking for could involve a range of areas, such as:

• A senior role in a related business or organisation in the city.
• Providing the city with vital infrastructure and/or services that will be key to achieving the Board objectives.
• Being a key policy or regulatory body, which influences the key outcomes of the city.
• Being a key thought-leader and/or influencer, with an ability to shape or influence public, business, and/or organisational opinion and actions in the city.
• Being a representative of key residents’ groups within the city to ensure that the needs of citizens are at the heart of the work of the Boards.
• Having other influence in the city, region or country which can assist with goals of the Boards.

As Board members will be responsible for its success, candidates must demonstrate an ability and willingness to work collaboratively. Further qualities, skills/abilities and experiences that will be sought when making appointments are outlined below, but no individual candidate is expected to be able to offer all of these:

Qualities

Candidates should:

• reside, work and/or have a strong business or personal interest in the city or region
• have skills/expertise in different aspects of the theme of the Board
• be able to show willingness and ability to engage with other key organisations and beyond, in line with the One City approach
• have agency to affect change, for example, through the scale or impact of their business or organisation, their personal influence or skills/expertise
• have an ability to influence outcomes within their own organisations and/or in other fora
• be keen to provide city-level Culture related knowledge.

Skills

Candidates may:

• be able to collaborate with: fellow Board members, the six ‘One City’ boards, and the City Office, as well as other groups and organisations
• be able to offer and receive constructive challenge where necessary
• be able to influence others and act as a thought-leader
• have experience of driving significant change within organisations and/or communities
• have technical and/or academic knowledge of Culture sector issues including equality; and/or
• be well-positioned to influence and/or leverage resources to Culture related outcomes or influence policy-making to do so.

Knowledge

Candidates may have:

• expertise in (but not limited to) Culture
• Interest in creating interest and engaging others in the Culture industry, in all its facets
• awareness of Bristol’s communities; and/or
• expertise and influence that will help to address systemic Culture issues and resolve barriers.

Eligibility

All prospective Board members must agree to not to bring City Office/One City Approach into disrepute, nor have a history of doing so.

The Boards will also include a member of Bristol City Council’s senior management and a representative of the City Office. Other than the BCC Senior Management level member, candidates must not be officials of any of the four local authorities in the West of England region nor of the West of England Combined Authority. Officials from these institutions will be invited to attend as observers. Additionally, other than the political co-chair lead, Board members will not be able to hold or actively seek political office, nor be a political spokesperson, but this does not preclude Board members from being a member of a political party. Employees of Bristol City Council, which will provide the secretariat for the Boards, are not eligible to apply but will be invited where their officer duties are relevant. This is so that the boards do not become dominated by Council staff and activities or solely focused on scrutinising Council activities. The One City Boards’ primary function is to enable alignment and coordination amongst city stakeholders and not scrutiny of council functions.

Additional Information

Time commitment: Members will be expected to attend FOUR meetings a year (quarterly) and respond on an ad hoc basis to emails and phone calls between these. Meetings are likely to be in a central Bristol location and likely to last for around three hours or virtual via zoom (subject to public health advice). The overall commitment of time is expected to be between 5 and 10 days each year. There are likely to be further opportunities to engage with cross-theme One City Plan working groups, etc. but these would not be a requirement for members.

Term of appointment: Members of each Board will be appointed for 18 months in the first instance. It is also anticipated the Board will also undertake reviews every 18 months.

Appointment process: A panel made up of representatives of Bristol City Council, representatives from the City’s equality commissions and the wider city stakeholders will appoint members of the Board from the expressions received based on the information outlined above. While formal interviews are not planned, a member of the panel may contact candidates for an informal discussion about the role.

Workplans: After feedback from our Board members, City Office has created work programmes for the reset Boards. These are currently being utilised by the Boards and have informed the creation of Task and Finish groups across the Boards.