Are you training to work the events industry or would you like to find out the inner workings of Cowley Road Carnival and be part of the team that makes it happen?

Cowley Road Carnival, Oxford’s biggest community event, is looking for 5 Associate producers to be trained up to be this year’s Zone mangers. This is chance for successful applicants to have input into what goes on at Carnival, and to perhaps help shape it for the future.
Each successful applicant will get the chance to work with the core carnival team and help plan and implement the 5 working zones on and around Cowley Road.

Led by Carnival’s Creative producer and the Technical Manager the Associate producers will be invited to attend as many planning meetings and discussions as they can, helping design the look of each zone and performance area and, with the support of the technical coordinator, be the point of contact for all performers and content in their zone on the actual day of carnival.

During the lead up to carnival the Associate producers will work closely with the core team, learning in detail, the layout of their zone, the timings of the performances that are programmed and all the information that contributes to their zones running smoothly. For those that are interested there may also be opportunities to help with programming some of the Zones.

Each Associate producer will also get the chance to have a one on one with other members of the core team, if they have a particular interest in their role, for example, Media and PR, Stalls management, technical roles, volunteer management or directing a charity such as Cowley Road works, the charity that runs carnival.

We ask that every Associate producer is available on Saturday the 4th of July, the day before carnival, and Sunday the 5th of July, the day of carnival. Each Associate producer can then choose either the 3rd of July or the 6thth of July to further assist us with setting up and tidying up of carnival.

We would expect you to attend at least two core team meetings, this is a great opportunity to learn from us and all the details, large and small, that go into making this amazing community event work.. It would also be a time for you to get to know the other staff and associate producers and really become part of the team. You would be welcome to attend all team meetings if this suited your schedule. Our meetings take place on Tuesdays and you will be given a list of these dates should your application be successful.

At the beginning of the planning process, you will have time with the Technical coordinator and the Creative producer, to visit your allocated zone, to start to get an idea as to what lies ahead, later there will be ample opportunity to revisit these areas to make sure that you fully understand how your zone works.
On the actual day of Carnival, you will be managing your zone, over seen by the Technical manager and Creative producer, you will have a team of volunteers working with you to help set up and take down the requirements for your area and generally make the program run smoothly throughout the day.

You will need to be quite fit, carnival is a long day, with not much time to sit down and you would have quite a large area to cover. A good grasp of spoken English is needed as a lot of our communication on the day is done over radios, written English, whilst not so important, would be a bonus as there will be a lot of email communication and plans to follow.

Applicants with physical access needs, will be considered and Cowley Road Works will do its best to see if things can be put in place to make this possible.
What we can offer you.

Genuine hands on learning and experiences working with event and arts professionals.

Learning about planning spaces, licensing, programming and event coordination, as well as an overview of Health and Safety systems and documentation, the implementation of ideas and concepts into the real world, communication, people skills and how to work autonomously and as part of a larger team.
There will be opportunities to attend Safety Action group meetings at the City Council, these meetings involve representatives of the emergency services, council licensing departments and other stakeholders who have a say in what we can and can’t do on the day. Our part of the meetings are led by our event manager, and this is a real chance to learn first-hand what all the legal requirements are to stage this kind of community event.

For those that are interested there may be the chance to be involved in the programming of some of the performance areas, this will depend on the funding that carnival may receive for performance based projects and contacts you may have within the community world of performance.

We also offer the following-
A small fee of £400
An official Carnival staff T-shirt
A packed lunch on the day
An invitation to join in the ‘thank you’ meal for the volunteers after carnival.
Last but not least, a lot of team spirit and camaraderie.

If you think you would be interested, please email Anya Fox artistic_producer@cowleyroadworks.org, with a copy of your CV and a covering letter stating why you think this would be a suitable experience for you to take part in. Please return your application before April the 5th with a mind to starting fairly soon afterwards.