Trustee

Location: London

Role type: Voluntary

Join the board of a leading arts venue and help shape its future through strategic oversight, advocacy and community engagement.

Hackney Empire is a landmark venue recognised nationally for our work with young people and young artists, and our commitment to championing global majority creatives. We have recently appointed a new executive team, with Chris Sudworth as CEO and Julia Mattingley as Director of Operations & Commercial and have secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund development grant. As such, we are looking forward to a period of growth and development forging new creative, community and business partnerships; becoming more central to the cultural narrative locally, in London and nationally.

For almost 125 years, Hackney Empire has been a much-loved home for the people of Hackney, East London and beyond to come and share experiences together in our theatre. In 2025 we welcomed over 150,000 people through our doors to enjoy everything art and culture has to offer: from comedy to opera, theatre to live music, world-class dance, spoken word and community events. 2025 was also a record-breaking year for our legendary pantomime, in which we welcomed 45,000 audience members, an increase of 8% on 2024. We are proud to be an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

We’re looking for up to three Trustees to help guide Hackney Empire through an exciting period of growth, creativity and deepened community impact.

What you'll be doing

As a member of our Board you will play a vital strategic role in shaping the future of Hackney Empire.You’ll support our mission to empower young people, champion diverse artistic voices, and strengthen our connections within our local community and the wider cultural landscape.

In line with Charity Commission guidance and Hackney Empire’s legal responsibilities, Trustees together form the Board of Hackney Empire, and have the following general responsibilities and duties:

• Ensuring the charity is for the public benefit
• Complying with Hackney Empire’s governing document and the law (e.g. Annual Returns)
• Acting in the charity’s best interests
• Managing the charity’s resources responsibly
• Acting with reasonable care and skill
• Ensuring that the charity is accountable
• Providing leadership through regularly reviewing strategic aims
• Setting overall policy guidelines and policies
• Evaluating performance
• Managing conflicts of interests and annual declarations
• Maintaining a risk register
• Safeguarding
• Health and Safety 11
• Supporting equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the organisation, including the Board.

Who we are looking for

We’re particularly keen to hear from individuals who share our values, have strong strategic and advocacy skills, and bring experience in arts management, fundraising, legal practice, heritage/buildings projects, or digital and social media strategy, as well as people whose lived experience reflects the communities we serve.

Disabled and D/deaf people are currently under-represented at Hackney Empire, we will offer an interview to anyone who identifies as D/deaf or disabled if they are able to demonstrate they meet the person specification. Recognising under-representation of people from the global majority in our Heads of Department Team, we actively encourage people from the global majority to apply for this role.

• A track record of successful achievement in your field, which will command the respect of fellow Board members, the staff, customers, funding bodies and the performing arts profession
• A commitment to the values and aspirations of Hackney Empire and its place within the community, and the local, London nations and culture ecology
• Lived experience and/or heritage that reflects the communities we serve
• A willingness to “roll one’s sleeves up”, actively supporting management and contributing to delivering agreed objectives
• The ability to network and make the case for culture, supporting the Executive team in fundraising, lobbying, championing Hackney Empire, liaising with key funders
• A commitment to good corporate governance
• An understanding of strategy, financial planning and/or the legal context within which Hackney Empire operates
• A passion for theatre, and an understanding of arts buildings, the theatre industry and funding bodies, or a willingness to learn more about them
• Understanding or experience of heritage projects or buildings
• An understanding of the principles of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and how to achieve good practice
• Awareness of or commitment to learn best practice in relation to Safeguarding and Child Protection

To find out more about the role, please download our Recruitment Pack or visit our website https://www.hackneyempire.co.uk/jobs/trustee

You are encouraged to contact the Chair of the Nominations Committee for an informal and confidential conversation before expressing interest. She can be contacted via recruitment@hackneyempire.co.uk, or at 020 8510 4507.

To apply: Please send your CV and a covering letter (no more than two sides of A4) setting out your interest in the role and examples of how you meet the person specification to or call the Chair of the Nominations Committee at 020 8510 4507.

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.