APPLICATION PACK: CREATIVE PRODUCER FOR THE MILE-LONG STREET PARTY

Brent 2020 are looking for an exceptional Creative Producer - or company/collective - with a track
record of success in developing and delivering ambitious, large-scale, outdoor arts and cultural
events to produce the signature event in our London Borough of Culture 2020 programme, the Mile-
Long Street Party - taking place on the Kilburn High Road on 11 July 2020.
1. About the Mile-Long Street Party

The Kilburn High Road is London’s oldest, straightest and greatest road. It is home to London's most
radical theatre, what was once the biggest cinema in Europe, the best Irish pubs, the greatest music
school in the capital, six shoe shops, three shisha bars, three laundrettes, 24 newsagents, 14 places
to get your phone fixed, 32 market stalls and the oldest WH Smith’s in Britain.
Known as “the original London road”, it has been a source of inspiration for artists, musicians,
writers and film-makers for decades. Walk in one direction for long enough and you'll reach the Irish
Sea; in the other direction lies Dover. This road is the heart of a nation, a world, a city and a borough.
On Saturday 11 July 2020, we will celebrate the Kilburn High Road, and the incredible stories of the
communities from around the world who have travelled along it, with an all-day street festival of
art, dance, theatre, food, film, music and installations.
The Mile-Long Street Party will take place on a closed and car-free stretch of the High Road between
the two Kilburn stations, during a massive weekend for Brent as we host the final of Euro 2020 at
Wembley Stadium.
2. Commissioning themes for the Mile-Long Street Party
We’re interested in using the below themes as a basis for developing large scale commissions on
the road working with artists and communities:

Inspiring writers and film-makers

Zadie Smith grew up near the Kilburn High Road. Her novel ‘NW’ has a short chapter devoted to it.
Her acclaimed debut novel ‘White Teeth’ begins further up the road on Cricklewood Broadway.
The road has inspired essays by Hanif Kureishi, Doreen Massey and Stuart Hall; it was also the
subject of a film by BAFTA-winning director Marc Isaacs.

Location of a buried man

In 1968 an Irish labourer Michael Meaney lived under a street near the High Road for 61 days. He
was trying to break the world record of 45 days for being entombed underground. He was sealed
into an oversized coffin and passed out of the window of the Admiral Lord Nelson pub, onto the
back of a flatbed lorry and taken to the site to be buried alive. He was fed food through a pipe and
guided through exercises by Kilburn boxing promoter, publican and circus strongman Michael
‘Butty’ Sugrue who, according to legend, once pulled a bus up Kilburn High Road with his teeth,
pushing a pram with his other hand. Butty was famous for, amongst other things, trying to
recreate Killorglin’s famous Puck Fair on the Kilburn High Road.

Wellspring of pop
Luke Patterson from Clean Bandit is one of hundreds of famous musicians who went to the
Institute for Contemporary Musical Performance on Kilburn High Road. Ed O’Brien (Radiohead),
Cathy Dennis (songwriter for Kylie, Katy Perry, Little Mix, Galantis) and Sandy Beales (One
Direction) are also alumni. Clean Bandit recorded their ubiquitous global mega-hit ‘Rather Be’
nearby at South Kilburn Studios. Dua Lipa lived in Kilburn, while at stage school.

Home of stylish, modish people

Tommy Nutter reinvented Saville Row in the 60s under the ‘Nutters of Saville Row’ brand. He was
educated at Willesden Technical College and grew up in Kilburn. Sir Bradley Wiggins, Britain’s most
iconic and stylish cyclist, went to St Augustine’s Junior and High School. He often refers to himself
as a ‘kid from Kilburn’ and shortly after winning the Tour de France in 2012 he played a gig at the
Gaumont with Paul Weller.

Music Mile
The Kilburn High Road was once promoted as ‘London’s Music Mile’ by the London Tourist Board
in recognition of the number of live music venues along the road. The Smiths’ live album ‘Rank’
was recorded at The Kilburn National (a music venue which operated in the old Grange Cinema
between 1976 and 1999.) The Who’s ‘Live at Kilburn’ album was recorded at the Gaumont State
Cinema in 1977. Ian Dury named his band Kilburn and the High Roads after this iconic road. After
the recent closure of several small music venues, live music is back on the rise in Kilburn with the
recent opening of The Fiddler by the influential music industry mogul Vince Power who moved to
Kilburn as a young teenager from County Waterford, Ireland, and opened the original Mean
Fiddler Club in Harlesden in 1982.

County Kilburn
Known as ‘County Kilburn’, Kilburn was once the capital of London’s Irish community. The road still
has many Irish pubs, whose inhabitants were celebrated in Jimmy Murphy’s play ‘The Kings of the
Kilburn High Road’ which was later made into the feature film ‘Kings’. In 1975 a pub was bombed
by loyalist paramilitaries. The previous year, 3,000 people had lined the road for IRA hunger striker
Michael Vaughan.

Brent solidarity
The Grunwick Strikes were an industrial dispute at the Grunwick photo processing plant in nearby
Dollis Hill, centred on working conditions, unequal pay, union representation and racism between
1976-78. They were led by Jayaben Desai and organised by trade unionist Jack Dromey (now a
Labour MP), the son of Irish migrants and raised in Kilburn. The strike was defeated and Desai
never got her job back - but the event is widely remembered in the labour movement as the point
at which the interests of migrants became the interests of all workers and unions. Desai has
become an iconic figure for feminists, anti-racists and all those concerned with social justice. She is
frequently included in lists of Britain’s greatest women.

2. About the London Borough of Culture 2020

London Borough of Culture is a new initiative devised by the Mayor of London as a way to
spotlight arts and culture in London. The competition was open to London's 32 boroughs to bid for
more than £2m of funding to stage a programme of cultural events and initiatives in either 2019 or
2020. Brent will be the second Borough of Culture in 2020, following Waltham Forest in 2019.
Next year the eyes of the world will be on Brent as we host the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020
in Wembley - it will be a year in which to show Europe that we are united community that
embraces and celebrates diversity. Brent’s story has never been told and our London Borough of
Culture programme (LBOC 2020) will explore the stories and cultures of London’s longest-running
demonstration of diversity, and celebrate all that comes from it. All the projects and commissions
in the programme are looking to answer one or more of the following four questions:

 Where are we? Brent hasn't been here for long. Most of London doesn't know about us
and where we are. LBOC 2020 will present projects that show where Brent is and where it
sits in relation to London, the country, the world and the universe. What does the world
look like when viewed from here? Where are our borders? What are our landmarks? What
do we look like to those looking in?

 Where have we come from? Brent is a meeting point of roads, canals and railways bringing
new ideas in and out of the borough. Millions pass through everyday - some stay. LBOC
2020 will support projects which tell the stories of those who have struggled, loved,
rebelled and made life here. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
What stories from Brent’s past need to be told?

 Where do we live? Much of Brent’s creative and cultural life is behind closed doors - just
over fences, walls and behind gates. In kitchens, gardens, on laptops, in sports clubs, gyms,
allotments, cafés, libraries and community organisations. LBOC 2020 will support projects
that uncover, reveal, and explore the private and semi-private lives of families, friends and
communities across the borough.

 Where are we going? Brent is always on the move. Building, creating, enterprising - into
the future. LBOC 2020 will support projects that help with thinking about the future of the
borough. Can Brent be a place where things are done differently, independently and
creatively? What kind of places does the borough need and who can make them?

Brent is the home of Zadie Smith, reggae, Wembley Stadium, the Grunwick Strikes, the Kiln Theatre
and the biggest Hindu Temple in Europe. Our programme will explore the stories, art and emotions
that hold life in Brent together. Working with VICE, Zadie Smith and every school and library in the
borough we are programming a cultural festival along major high roads and railways lines,
composing an anthem for the borough, creating a ‘Museum of All Brent Life’, an exhibition of sound
systems and a digital reggae archive. Brent’s LBOC 2020 programme is committed to putting Brent’s
culture at the heart of everything we do.

3. Creative Producer: Job Description and Person Specification

CONTRACT: Fixed-term contract from August / September 2019 – August 2020

FEE: £45,000 (depending on start date/ approx. commitment expected to average three days per
week, although we’d expect the Creative Producer to be working full-time around event time)

LOCATION & WORKING PATTERN: A desk will be provided to the successful candidate at the
Brent 2020 office in The Granville Centre in South Kilburn. We would expect the Creative
Producer to spend at least one day a week based in the office to benefit from interactions
with the wider 2020 team, in addition to attending any necessary meetings with internal or
external partners.

We would expect them to regularly attend team meetings and to attend and present at
Project Engagement Board meetings every two months. There will be a requirement to work
long and unsociable hours throughout the event set-up, duration and break-down which will
include evenings, weekend and late night working.

KEY CONTACTS:

 Mile-Long Street Party Project Engagement Board: The Project Engagement Board is
composed of Council staff and local residents from our Brent 2020 Community Adviser and
Young Ambassador programmes. It meets bi-monthly to help guide and offer assistance to
the development of the event. It is chaired by the project Senior Responsible Officer (SRO)
who manages the Council’s Transport and Highways team and is leading on managing
logistics for the event, including liaison with Met Police around event safety, liaison with TFL
and Camden Council re: traffic/bus diversions, and organizing parking suspensions
 Brent 2020 Team – most directly with the Executive Producer (contract manager for this
post and project lead for the Street Party), Community Engagement Manager (lead for local
engagement and participation across the programme), Artistic Director, Senior Producer &
Marketing & Communications Manager
 Brent Council’s Kilburn Town Centre Manager
 Brent Council’s Operational Director for Environmental and Employment Services (the SRO
for the Street Party)
 Local, national and international artists and organisations
 Local community groups, businesses and venues in the Kilburn area
 Camden Council
 The FA (Euro 2020)

4. Job Description

ARTISTIC DIRECTION & PROGRAMMING

 Establish an accessible and compelling artistic vision for the street party, in line with the
overall vision for Brent’s Borough of Cultures programme, working with the LBOC team and
Project Engagement Board. This will include refining the theme and message, considering
the event scale, participatory elements, profile and sense of occasion
 Lead on artistic programming to include: commissioning a series of original new works
along the road, sourcing and programming relevant existing work to animate the road and
scheduling activities by organisations and artists, funded through the 2020 Culture Fund to
take place as part of the event
 Develop new and utilise existing contacts within the wider music and arts industry to raise
the profile and reputation of the Street Party and source content for the event
 Be responsible for siting activities onto the road, defining and confirming spaces, venues
and features along the road to host activities and installations. The High Street is formed of
diverse architectures, a plethora of shops and retailers, varieties in scale and width, with
some interesting period features so the Creative Producer will need to make clever
 creative use of scale and the best of existing site assets in their approach to programming
the event
 Confirm the detailed programming timeline and schedule for the day, considering artistic,
producing, logistical and technical requirements – particularly around enabling crowd flow,
freedom of movement, welfare, enabling a range of entertainments for a multi-
generational audience and access to food and drink
 Lead on the development and delivery of the Street Party artistic commissions, working
with the LBOC team and Engagement Board. This will include exploring the history and
significant cultural stories and themes of the area as a starting point, identifying potential
locations and producing short summaries of site characteristics to include in briefs,
defining and writing artist briefs, approaching artists and issuing open calls / targeted
invitations to selected artists or arts organisations
 Work with LBOC team to assess applications for activities to take place as part of the Street
Party via the LBOC 2020 Culture Fund. Be responsible for integrating selected activities
within the overall event curation
 Liaise with the Football Association, Brent Council & Greater London Authority to develop
creative ways of incorporating Euro 2020 within the Street Party
 Explore and confirm collaborative creative approaches to the Street Party with Camden
Council, who are a key event partner as the boundary between Brent and Camden runs
down the middle of the Kilburn High Road

SITE LAYOUT & DESIGN

 Oversee the creative elements of site layout and design for all elements of the Street Party,
in collaboration with the event production company
 Develop and oversee the delivery of creative and cost-effective suggestions for
dressing/furnishing the street to include participation projects to create banners, flags or
similar to line the road, creating opportunities for artists and partners to make creative
window installations and temporary seating areas along the road

PARTNERSHIPS

 Work with artists and organisations to develop ideas for participatory projects which could
be commissioned to culminate in ambitious ‘joining’ or unifying moments during the Street
Party. The Brent 2020 Community Engagement Manager will advise the Creative Producer
on the development of projects from a local engagement perspective, and will lead on
brokering relationships with local individuals, groups, residents’ associations, schools and
settings and organisations to connect them in with projects
 Develop new and manage existing partnerships with artists, arts & cultural, creative and
youth organisations with an interest in participating in the Street Party

ADMINISTRATION & FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

 Create and manage schedules for all creative aspects of the festival, booking artists and
performers, creating artist packs and providing the Event Production Company with all
necessary technical and contractual information for artists
 Set and advise on the project budget, held by the Executive Producer
 Negotiate artist fees/offers, overseeing through to delivery onsite (working with the Event
Production Company and Executive Producer)
  Support the Executive Producer with contracting artists and managing contracts,
providing information to support the preparation and production of written contracts
for commissions and activities
 Help identify and contribute information for funding and sponsorship proposals

PRODUCTION

 Work with the Executive Producer to recruit and manage an event production company to
lead on overall logistics and event operations planning, as well as subcontractors including
security and stewarding, first aid, traffic management, etc.
 Work in close collaboration with the event production company and Executive Producer, to
ensure a safe and smooth festival
 Oversee freelance crew, stage/venue/area co-ordinators, artists’ liaison, and site/venue
decor sign-off
 Establish access to venues along the road and any restrictions on listed or historical
features and seek formal permissions for their use – including for the use of rail bridges
and Kilburn Grange Park to host activities, which has been provisionally granted
 Act as the lead liaison for event venues, including brokering relationships with new venues,
rehearsal spaces and production facilities as required, negotiating contracts, and
maintaining good relationships with delivery partners
 Oversee and manage rehearsal and performance schedules as required
 Act as lead representative at Safety Advisory Groups and other key event planning meetings
 Oversee the creation of Event Management Plans in consultation with the event production
company, including preparation and implementation of project risk assessments, method
statements, crowd and traffic management plans and health & safety processes / legal
requirements, ensuring submission deadlines are met
 Liaise with the Volunteer Coordinator to define event volunteer roles and ensure that
volunteer recruitment and scheduling can take place efficiently and in good time

MARKETING

 As required, provide the Brent 2020 Marketing & Communications Manager with content
for websites, newsletters, blogs, promotional material and social media activities

EVALUATION

 Work with the Executive Producer to confirm key evaluation criteria and targets for the
event and ensure these are factored into the relevant artist briefs
 Support the overall evaluation of the Street Party

5. Person Specification

 An established track record of success in creating and producing complex, large-scale arts
festivals, live shows, events, commissions and participation projects, working with a wide
network of partners and stakeholders to bring ambitious ideas to life
 Specialist knowledge and interest in a wide range of art-forms, diverse cultures and
contemporary artistic practice
 Demonstrable experience and expertise in programming and producing cross-artform
festivals and events
  Demonstrable experience of participatory practice within the public realm
 Experience in high-level partnership working in a London-wide / national context
 Extensive knowledge of, and existing contacts with, key organisations, artists and venues
within the local, national and international festival / music / arts industries
 Experience of managing high-profile performer, stakeholder, partner and supplier relations
 Experience of forward financial planning and creating, managing and monitoring complex
budgets
 Experience of creating systems and processes to support project work and event
management
 Exemplary project management skills, working with multiple stakeholders and funders,
ideally including local authorities
 Demonstrable knowledge and experience of planning, resourcing and delivering ambitious
outdoor arts events or festivals of scale and complexity; an understanding of the technical
and artistic requirements of presenting work outdoors and in unconventional venues
 Understanding of operational roles in an outdoor festival/event context, experience of
attending Safety Advisory Groups and of creating and implementing Event Management
Plans
 Excellent communication and people skills, with the ability to present to and inspire a wide
range of individuals and organisations
 Excellent IT and administrative skills, using appropriate tools for planning
 Ability to demonstrate project-critical problem-solving skills
 Awareness of equal opportunities policy and practice, with experience of making arts events
fully accessible
 A commitment to the values of diversity

6. How to Apply

Please send your CV and a covering letter telling us why you’re the right person for the role - with reference
to the person specification - and what excites you about it to info@lboc2020.com by 12 noon, Thursday 18
July 2019.

For an informal conversation about the role please contact Miriam Nelken, Executive Producer, London
Borough of Culture: miriam.nelken@brent.gov.uk or 07776 665926.

Interviews for the role will be held on Tuesday 23 July.

A Feasibility Study was undertaken for the Street Party, the Executive Summary of which is available on
request: will.orpin@brent.gov.uk