Programme assistant

Closing date for applications: Monday 23rd February 2026

Salary: £33,639

Location: London

Reporting to: Head of Education

This is an exciting opportunity to support arts education, helping deliver programmes, workshops, and public events within a charitable foundation.

Freelands Foundation champions art education. Freelands Foundation believes in the intrinsic value of art and that making is fundamental. Its vision is to increase the status of art education, enable equality of access and promote material literacy. The Foundation supports this important work in formal education settings, in galleries and art organisations, and by learning through artistic practice. Its charitable programme provides vital funding through grants, awards, fellowships and residencies. It also commissions innovative action research to inform the Foundation’s future support and to help make progress across the sector. At the Foundation’s home in London, as well as online, there is a programme of lively discussions, workshops and events for teachers, artists, gallery and art professionals, alongside a growing a library of inspiring art education resources.

We are seeking an organised and adaptable Programme Assistant able to work across multiple types of activities as needed to support our programming activities across the Foundation. This is an exciting new role, ideal for an enthusiastic individual early in their career, who will be applying their experience to assist the work of multiple teams, while learning about and furthering art education within a charitable foundation.

The Programme Assistant will support the administration and running of Freelands Foundation’s in-house programme and projects with partner organisations. This includes supporting the delivery of public events and workshops, as well as assisting in the smooth operation of the Library.  In addition, the successful candidate will assist in the effective running of open calls for off-site programmes and grant application processes. Reporting to the the Head of Education, the Programme Assistant will work collaboratively alongside Freelands Foundation’s Programming, Digital, and Grant-making teams.

What you'll be doing

Public Programme

• Supporting the delivery of public events, workshops, and discussions across the Foundation programme.

• Assisting the team in the planning and preparation of events and workshops, including setting up and clearing away equipment, materials and refreshments.

• Providing operational support to the programming team during the installation and running of exhibitions.

• Working with the Building and Operations Manager to effectively manage stock and resources across events and ensure health and safety standards are complied with.

Administration

• Monitoring inboxes and responding to email enquiries with support from the programming team.

• Assisting with the administration of Open Calls, including filing, collating applications, communicating with applicants, and inputting data to Salesforce and Microsoft Excel.

• Providing support in maintaining team calendars and communicating reminders ahead of key deadlines.

• Preparing printed materials required for meetings, plus taking notes and actions to share with attendees.

• Carrying out desk-based research on the art education sector.

Library

• Supporting the maintenance of the library, including archiving books, magazines and journals.

• Coordinating the receipt of new acquisitions and donations

Who we are looking for

Essential

• An interest in art education and arts funding, with knowledge of the wider visual arts sector.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the use of Microsoft Office tools.

• Capability to manage and prioritise multiple tasks efficiently.

• Ability to work and communicate effectively across teams.

• Excellent organisational skills.

• Interest and experience working directly with the public.

• Flexible and hard-working attitude.

Desirable

• Track record of supporting successful events and working with Front-of-House staff.

• Experience in using Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Digital Asset Management tools.

• Knowledge of Health and Safety best practice.

Hours of work: Full-time, 40 hours per week. Typical working hours will be Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm. Due to the nature of the role some evening and weekend work will be required for which TOIL can be claimed.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.