Community Consultation Freelance Opportunity

We are seeking a freelancer to help us develop a programme of community consultation activities, to support and inform a brand new museum and library in Wakefield City Centre, due to open in 2024. 

Wakefield Council are at the start of a journey to create an exciting new museum and library in the heart of Wakefield city centre, opposite Wakefield Cathedral. Featuring museum galleries, library collections, services and spaces, learning and activity spaces, events space, an interactive family gallery, and a café, the new site will provide a space in the city centre for local people to explore their heritage, learn new things, and be inspired.

The museum galleries will explore the story of the Wakefield district from prehistory to present day, through our amazing collection of over 110,000 objects. These galleries will be co-produced with local people, providing a space for them to share their own stories in their own words.

The library will provide a central point for accessing a wide range of library services, including books for loan for learning and leisure, information databases, IT facilities, Wi-Fi, space to study and work, business information, children’s library and chill out spaces.

Community participation and voices are central to our vision for the museum and library and so it is critical that we capture and act upon the ideas and feedback of our communities from the very beginning through imaginative and creative consultation.

Freelance Opportunity

We would like to appoint a freelancer to devise and develop a consultation plan, with a varied programme of consultation activities that can be delivered by our teams in community venues across the Wakefield district, helping us to reach non-users. These could be pop-up events, activities, focus group meetings, or conversations in community venues such as care homes, community centres, markets, schools, youth clubs, shopping centres and more.

We would like a series of seven activities in total: six activities aimed at six different priority demographics (one activity per demographic) and one generic drop-in activity, which can be delivered to a mixed and unspecified audience, such as people visiting a market, library or outdoor event. These activities will be delivered by our museum staff to multiple groups within that demographic. These demographics are:

• Families with children under the age of 5

• Primary Schools (pupils and teachers)

• Young people (14-25 years old)

• Polish people

• Older people (over the age of 55)

• Wakefield Council employees

The activities should be designed, planned out and communicated in a way that our staff can easily pick up and deliver to groups.

Outputs:

❖ A timed consultation plan, with details of who, when and how we will consult with our priority groups. The plan should contain detailed plans of each consultation activity (in a lesson-plan style) and the resources needed to deliver them.

❖ A method for recording the data and feedback we acquire, so that it is understandable and usable.

The fee for this work is £3500. 

Deadline for Expressions of Interest is Monday 25 April, 9am. 

For a copy of the full brief, or for more information, please contact Leah Mellors, Collections & Exhibitions Manager on lmellors@wakefield.gov.uk