Film School Lead at Catalyst
Job Description
LOCATION
Oberschöneweide
DESCRIPTION
Interviews starting: 13 May 2024
Role: Up to full-time
Beginning Date: As soon as possible
Catalyst – Institute for Creative Arts and Technology is an international learning community, based at the iconic Funkhaus in the creative media metropolis of Berlin. Organised into a School of Music & Sound, School of Film & Visual Media, and School of Acting, our diverse and ever-growing bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes are based on the values and concepts of progressive, project-based education whilst complying with the rigorous requirements of a UK university qualification.
Aiming to become the international creative production and performance learning institution of choice, we encourage students to push their creative boundaries way beyond what they thought possible, at the same time engaging with their personal growth as a human being. Simply put, we aim to provide them with a set of skills that allows them to flourish whilst manifesting their interests and their unique greatness more powerfully in the wider world. With students from over 75 different countries, our creative community is a working environment that is international and multicultural.
What are we looking for?
A team member
Moving beyond outmoded ways of working together, striving toward a conscious people-centred culture, we operate in a distributed leadership model, which we can describe in more detail in-person. We are excited to invite team members who have the courage to bring more of their own interests, insights, and backgrounds to the mix.
Whilst the aims of the school are what bring us together, what keeps us together in our dynamic community is the idea that people can bring more of their authentic selves and not just their “professional” selves to the workplace.
A Film School Lead
We are currently going through an organisational redevelopment in order to prepare ourselves for the next stage of growth. This role will play a significant part in that redevelopment. You will be part of a small senior team working alongside our director to drive forward change, alignment with the organisational vision and an effective operation that delivers a high quality student experience.
Key accountabilities
Leadership
- Supporting all aspects of the organisation’s vision and building alignment with that vision within the school’s team and the school programmes
- Stewarding the film school towards academic, operational and developmental success
- Defining and enacting academic strategy and pedagogical vision inline with the organisation’s broader strategies and resources
- Enabling programme leads to carry out their work effectively, driving clarity through domain design, delegation and review
- Defining key metrics for monitoring and evaluation
- Supporting the team in delivering courses including BA, MA and short course programmes
HR
- Decision making in our recruiting and dismissal process
- Monitoring legal compliance
- Supporting the development and delivery of peer-led feedback and evaluation
- Supporting and coaching individual programme leads to be self-reliant
Development
- Designing and refining effective and scalable systems and processes
- Creating annual facility development proposals
- Operationally developing current and new courses, including BA, MA and short course programmes
- Validating any new programmes
Partnerships & Cooperation
- Promotion of the school internally and externally
- Increasing visibility at Berlin based public events
- Ensuring that Catalyst is supported through active professional networks
- Initiating and promoting opportunities for collaboration, exhibition-making and discussion (within Catalyst and beyond) that generate visibility and position Catalyst at the forefront of contemporary arts education
- Acting as a conduit for internal and external partnerships and collaborations which are connected to the school: e.g. with external universities, art institutions, internship programs, festivals, and professional opportunities and between programs at Catalyst
Academic Standards
- Evaluating and enhancing student success rates (graduate rate, employability, satisfaction)
- Setting and maintaining high-level professional and academic standards which align with the pedagogical vision
- Setting goals and targets for programmes to work towards with associated metrics
- Evaluating teaching practices and creating opportunities for improvement
- Aligning and exceeding the standards set out by our validating partner
Finance
- Developing financial sustainability and profitability of the school.
- Developing and managing school budgets
Storytelling
- Providing sector expertise to help inform design decisions and the choice of image, video, audio and text for course content
- Coordinating communications between Storytelling & Programme Leads
Teaching
- 96-108 teaching hours – Engaging with pedagogical development to support innovative teaching and learning
About you
The more of the following qualities/experiences you have the better, but don’t get put off applying if you’re missing anything!
- Broad knowledge of contemporary creative practices and industries
- Experience of working in a higher education leadership or administration capacity
- Teaching experience with an interest in practice-led and project-based learning
- An understanding of the importance of creating a sustainable business model
- Strong organisational, project management and administrative skills
- An interest in the use of thinking frameworks to solve complex problems
- An ability to critique and guide the work of others
- Experience balancing the needs of individuals versus the needs of the organisation
- Experience acting as a behavioural role model
- Cross discipline experience in arts education (music, film, art, design, architecture, socio-spatial practices, etc.)
- An established or emerging international profile as a creative practitioner
- A strong networker with an international professional network that spans a wide range of creative disciplines (film, music, art, fashion, design, etc.)
- Curatorial practice and interdisciplinary collaboration
- Experience with fostering discourse (artist talks, writing/editing, publishing, public presentations)
The successful candidate will likely have at least five years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree with senior experience within higher education.
What you can expect from us
We offer a working environment where learning and exchange are invited and encouraged. Within our vibrant creative community, we share a lively and flexible work environment. By design, the working environment invites fuller expression of yourself, taking initiative in shaping your own role(s), and opening up possibilities to develop yourself as a senior team member.
Part of what animates our work together is trying to find ways of delivering a progressive and rigorous education to our students, whilst centring community and belonging. We therefore strongly encourage applications from those who would traditionally be excluded from an educational institution. For Catalyst that means we envision a constellation of team members that is diverse in its gender, race, class, ability, age and sexual orientation backgrounds.
Next steps
Learn more about us here: https://catalyst-berlin.com/about/introduction
Instead of sending a traditional cover letter, describe in 500 words your perspective on progressive creative education in an HE institution and how you feel you would contribute to this endeavour (in PDF format). Please also include your most recent CV (in PDF format), with links to some examples of your artistic/curatorial portfolio (if available), and 2-3 of your syllabi.
Send us your application documents by using this form: https://forms.gle/6gJv3eJu6Jfn6g9u9
If you have questions, you may email them to your_mission@catalyst-berlin.com (include ‘Film School Lead’ in your subject). We will be accepting applications until 30 April 2024.
We look forward to reading your application and getting to know you!
CONTACT DATA
INSTITUTION
Catalyst – Institute for Creative Arts and Technology
ADDRESS
Nalepastraße 18
12459 Berlin
Germany
CONTACT PERSON
Catalyst Berlin
your_mission@catalyst-berlin.com
WEB
