Arts Manager, Kenya at British Council

Role Purpose

To support the management and compliant delivery of British Council’s Kenya Arts programmes which a season celebrating creativity, innovation and digital opportunities through the arts, culture and education links between the UK and Kenya planned for 2025.

The role will apply specialist expertise and work in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to manage and deliver Kenya Arts programmes which includes the UK/KE Season and provide a supporting function to co-ordinate arts programme activity across the British Council’s global network. The Project Manager will help to position and align the contribution of the Arts portfolio and British Council’s cultural relations mission.

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:

Project Management 

• Contributes to development of, owns and delivers on Project Management Plans across the global programmes mentioned above. 
• Identifies risks in a project or programme, puts together mitigation strategies and delivers against these plans as required.
• Responsible for internal and client, procurement, contracting, compliance, and reporting  
• Reviews and reports on the compliance of projects and programmes 

Relationship & Stakeholder management 

• Has relationships with delivery partners and stakeholders within country and is able to procure services and contract delivery partners. 
• Line manages project staff as requested and lead their professional development.
• Holds suppliers to account for delivering against contract. 
• Build strong internal relationships and networks. 

Commercial and Financial Management   

• Ensures sound financial planning, working closely with finance teams to ensure British Council and client financial year plans are up to date.  
• Manage the financial life cycle of programmes end-to-end; ensures accurate and timely monthly (re)forecasting is in place, by running regular reports in the SAP system on actuals, monitoring outstanding purchase orders, reviewing commitments, analysing, and commenting on reasons for variances to plan and recommending corrective actions. 
• Monitoring monthly finances, including correct expenditure, ensuring all processes are being followed and correcting any mis-postings or journals needed. 

Business Development 

• Supports the identification and development of professional networks, relationships, and partnerships to increase the British Council’s impact and reputation.  
• Ensures high quality and accurate pipeline data for the relevant Kenya Arts programmes.
• Conducts specific pipeline and partner/competitor analysis to contribute to business development planning and prioritisation. 
• Provides support with development of new business proposals, ensuring that internal and external professional standards are met. 

 Managing self and others  

• Has the ability to work independently and manage workload against project deadlines.  
• Actively contributes to an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of own biases, and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensures people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people’s well-being and mental health.   
• Understands the British Council’s approach to equality, diversity, and inclusion and how it applies to the role and makes time for learning and development relating to EDI and anti-racism.  

Role specific knowledge and experience

• Experience of working in Arts sector
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to work effectively with tight deadlines.
• Experience of managing projects from start to finish and familiarity with project life cycles. 
• Understanding of procurement, evaluation and reporting requirements of projects. 
• Experience of using technology n project delivery. 
• Good understanding and experience of supporting monitoring and evaluation. 
• Experience of managing stakeholders   

Minimum requirements:

• Degree or HE qualification in relevant cultural, heritage, or humanities or project management field or equivalent experience.

Desirable:

• Foundation level Project Management certificate or equivalent work experience.