Leicester Dance Theatre/Aakash Odedra Company

Transcription

1 Leicester Dance Theatre/Aakash Odedra Company Tender Title: Marketing consultant Period: October 2018 January 2019 inclusive Deadline for receipt of tender proposals: 5pm Monday 10 th September 2018 Leicester Dance Theatre/Aakash Odedra Company is seeking to appoint a skilled marketing consultant/company to work with us. You will develop operational plans for marketing, digital and social media and robust systems for data collection, collation, analysis and reporting to help us move to the next stage of development. Section 1: Background Dance is a window into our souls. When we really dance, we feel free. If we help others to dance, we help them to be free. This is what we do. Aakash Odedra Leicester Dance Theatre/Aakash Odedra Company (AOC) is now an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation at Band Two. We have partners in place for new international dance creations in 2020 and In 2017/18 we toured to 16 countries. Combined with the expansion of Shiamak, our franchise company teaching Bollywood dance, we are embarking on a vibrant period of change. At Aakash Odedra Company we know the future is what we make it. We are believers and dreamers. Excellent art, and in particular dance, is at the centre of everything we do and understand its transformational power in people's lives. We believe Art is everybody's fundamental right. With Arts Council NPO status, we are poised to deliver an ambitious plan over the next 4 years. We are building a team, and invite great people to join us on this journey. Our heart and home are in Leicester, Britain's most culturally diverse city, but our footsteps are global. LDT/AOC is a company limited by guarantee, governed by a board of directors and chaired by Anu Giri, Executive Director, Dance Umbrella Ltd. 1

2 About Leicester Dance Theatre Leicester Dance Theatre Limited (LDT), the legal name for the company, is a not for profit organisation encompassing the existing work of Aakash Odedra Limited with a mission to drive forward dance in Leicester, the UK and internationally. Day to day, we refer to ourselves as Aakash Odedra Company, and consider this to be the LDT master brand. So much so, that there is no website or logo for LDT just Aakash Odedra Company. Aakash Odedra Company Aakash formed Aakash Odedra Company, an international touring dance company based in Leicester, UK in 2011 as a vehicle for commissioning solos and to develop his own choreographic work. His debut full length solo programme Rising featuring new short works created on him by Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Russell Maliphant has been performed in 25 countries. Choreographic commissions include a piece for James Brown: Get on the Good Foot (Apollo Theater, New York) and the opera God s Little Soldier (Theater Freiburg). Aakash is an Associate Artist of Curve Theatre (Leicester). In 2017 Aakash was Movement Director for the play Pink Sari Revolution for Curve Theatre and choreographer for a new opera, Sukanya by Ravi Shankar for The Royal Opera (London) saw his first company ensemble work, #JeSuis, which premiered at NYU Abu Dhabi, with the European premiere at The Patrick Centre, Birmingham. Awards include a Bessie (New York), Dora Award (Toronto) and Danza e Danza (Italy). He was awarded the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award 2017 and the Eastern Eye Award for Dance 2018, both for #JeSuis. Shiamak Midlands Aakash s alma mater is Shiamak, the global leader in Bollywood Dance. With some 80,000 students across 4 continents and a teaching staff of 200, Shiamak Midlands is our franchise company teaching dance to 300+ people per week across the Midlands, providing access to popular Indian dance forms and contemporary dance for people of all ages and abilities. Working with Shiamak plugs AOC into a global network of a South Asian community. Our Shiamak students have the opportunity to perform in many leading Bollywood events across the UK and occasionally internationally. The brand strongly resonates with South Asian communities across the UK and other parts of the world with a large South Asian diaspora. Desi Masti Desi Masti is our 3000-square foot two studio facility on Belgrave Road, Leicester comprising a hub for our classes programme and for professionals and the community to train, create and rehearse. Desi Masti is thought to be the only dedicated multi-studio rehearsal space led by a South Asian organisation outside London. The name Desi Masti is well-loved by the Bollywood dance community of Leicester; for many years it was the name of a school which put on productions which caught the imagination of the local community and there is merit in keeping this brand alive for the future. 2

3 Section 2: Brief LDT/AOC is seeking a suitably experienced individual or company with an understanding of the marketing and digital needs of dance/performing arts organisations working in the UK and with extensive international reach and familiarity with ACE NPO reporting requirements. The brief is to develop a marketing, digital and social media operational plan which can be delivered within our resources and capacity and which aligns with our vision and business plan. The consultant will create and implement practical systems to collect, collate and analyse data for the team to use for reporting and advocacy purposes. The brief is: 1. To work closely with the Producer and General Manger to review our audience development, marketing and digital strategies. To make recommendations as required. 2. To develop operational plans for marketing, audience development and digital deliverable within our capacity and resources, ensuring the plans align with the work of our Martha Oakes who delivers our PR. 3. To set up social media communication systems and ensure relevant staff know to use them. 4. To set up and test secure, robust systems for data collection, collation, analysis and reporting. To brief the Administrator/Marketing Role on how to use them. 5. To set up storage systems for data and evaluation material in a secure, yet accessible, way which makes appropriate levels of information available to staff that require it and ensure the company is GDPR Compliant. 6. To develop brand guidelines and house style sheet and brief the team. 7. To advise on and draft the job description for a part-time Marketing Officer post, to be advertised during the tender period. 8. To write the brief and specification for development of a new website 2018/2019 in conjunction with the AOC Team. 3

4 Section 4: Selection criteria Candidates will be assessed on the following: 1. Demonstrable experience of writing marketing, digital and social media operational plans for dance/performing arts companies touring in the UK and internationally. 2. Experience of assisting arts organisations to undertake strategy development 3. Experience of setting up data collection systems to meet ACE and other reporting requirements 4. Knowledge of how to store data securely and effectively. 5. Experienced in the responsible use of all forms of Social Media 6. Recent knowledge/experience of developing briefs for website development Section 5. Tender Timetable Event Date/Time Tender response deadline 5pm, Monday 10 th September Interviews w/c 17 September Start date 1 st October 2018 (negotiable) 4

5 Section 5: Fee The fee for this fixed term contract is 6,500 (4 30k pro rata travel) inclusive of VAT and including all expenses. Duration: October January Approximately 48 days work over that period Payment Structure and billing requirements: Monthly by invoice. You will be required to supply a UTR number. Work base: You will be required to spend approximately of 2 days a month working from the company office at Desi Masti studios, Leicester to meet and liaise with staff. We will provide a hot desk for such occasions. Section 6: Tender process Please read the attached information on the company. Further details can be found on the website. Submit a written statement outlining how you meet the selection criteria with a breakdown of fees and costs no more than 2 pages of A4. If you wish, please use additional documentation to demonstrate how you meet the criteria. Submit your CV and the names and contact details of 2 referees. LDT/AOC is not responsible and will not pay for any expenses you incur during the tender preparation. Submission by 5pm on Monday 10 th September 2018 to Aoife Daniels, General Manager by Aoife@aakashodedra.com For an informal conversation, please contact Anand Bhatt, Company Producer, anand@aakashodedra.com to arrange a mutually convenient time. We will only contact applicants invited to the interview stage. Section 7: Appendices Appendix 1. LDT/AOC Vision and finance Appendix 2: Activity Plan Appendix 3: Organisation chart 5

6 Appendix 1. Our Vision. Dance is a language without words. We spread this language with love, to improve everybody s quality of life and bring greater harmony between individuals & within communities. Aakash Odedra Our story is of a deep-rooted local community organisation, which faces and embraces the world. As a Kathakaar, story-telling is at the heart of Aakash s artistic practice. Rare for practicing two classical dance styles: Bharatanatyam and Kathak, he uses these ancient languages to tell stories through an extended movement vocabulary. A third generation British South Asian, a millennial and arguably the biggest British South Asian dance star of his generation, Aakash views these styles as adaptable, constantly evolving forms. His mission is to take them to a new place of relevance for a new bi-lingual audience: the generation that s grown up in Britain. LDT s purpose is to execute high quality artistic programmes which engage, educate & empower the widest possible audience. At home, Aakash is an Associate Artist at Curve Theatre, Leicester who support Aakash s choreographic projects through commissioning and residencies. We continue working with Curve on supporting the Creative Case for Diversity. We work with partners including Leicester City Council, De Montfort University, to contribute to Leicester s Diwali Celebrations, the biggest outside of India. In Aakash s home town of Birmingham, we have continuing relationships with DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome, with plans to increase our footprint in the city. Our work with Sadler s Wells is focused on developing Aakash s choreographic practice and raising questions around diversity in dance. We are not only interested in diverse artistic practice, but also how diversity manifests itself amongst our staff and audiences. We take seriously our responsibility as an organisation nestled in a BAME income deprived ward. Our position as a leading arts organisation in the Midlands is to ensure that dance which is less represented than our own, and communities less visible than our own are engaged in the creative discourse of this country. Diversity is integral to all our work. Finance LDT became a band 2 NPO in April 2018 receiving 365k annually. Aakash Odedra Company has received support from Arts Council England through Grants for the Arts since An Elevate award is enabling us to develop our infrastructure. Our turnover in17/18 was 659,000. We have ambitious plans to grow income from the Desi Masti studio and Shiamak. LDT/AOC is currently applying for charitable status. 6