24 Aug Applications closed || Researcher for The Body on Killhope Moor

Posted at 14:14h in All News, Body On The Moor, News by

Applications closed

We look forward to growing our team, good luck.

JOB

JOB TITLE || Researcher for The Body on Killhope Moor 

FEES || £7,000

REPORTS TO || Lucy Ridley, Director of Drama in the Dale 

DURATION || 12 Month Contract 

 

TIMETABLE

Advertise September 2020

Interview September 2020 

Commence September/ October 2020

Completion September 2021

Overview

Drama in the Dale creates community theatre in unusual places. 

Centred in Weardale, Drama in the Dale provides inclusive creative opportunities for members of the community regardless of age and abilities. We seeking to engage people of all ages who, live, work or spend their leisure time in and around Weardale.

Our new project, The Body on Killhope Moor, is our most ambitious to date, and seeks to uncover the story behind a body that was discovered on Killhope moor in 1921 by a local shepherd. Using local knowledge, artefacts, documents from the time Drama in the Dale plan to research the history and then write a play based on this Weardale story.

The process would begin with the Researcher, and they would support access to archived documents, arrange research visits to museums and encourage volunteers to have an inquiring mind and a desire to find out more about the place they live. Volunteer members from Drama in the Dale will then work alongside a Writing Mentor, using the historical research, to inspire and influence a script for a play that can be performed by Drama in the Dale at Killhope Lead Mining Museum in Summer 2021. This project will offer high quality, diverse creative and heritage opportunities for people in Weardale that will be open to all, creating a legacy of community spirit across rural Weardale. 

We are looking to appoint a Researcher Mentor to support volunteer members of Drama in the Dale to access archives and museums, and handling and interpreting historical documents.  The Researcher Mentor will also support volunteers to create an exhibition of findings to be shared with the wider community and visitors to Weardale. The historical findings will then be used to inspire a script for a play that will be performed by Drama in the Dale.

The Researcher Mentor will

  • Advise on historical aspects of the project.
  • Lead research using recognised research methods.
  • Deliver workshops for volunteer members of Drama in the Dale.
  • Arranging visits to sites, museums and archives for volunteer members of Drama in the Dale.
  • Deliver workshops in local Primary and Secondary schools.


Methodology

  • Provide an initial research plan outlining the methods to be used.
  • Use historical documents from appropriate archives and libraries to discover the stories surrounding the finding of a body that was discovered on Killhope Moor in 1921, who this person may have been and the context of his death.
  • Facilitate visits to appropriate museums and archives including but not limited to Durham County Archives, Killhope Museum and Weardale Museum.


Outputs and Deliverables*

  • 10 workshops for volunteers from Drama in the Dale so they understand how to research an historical event, including visits to appropriate museums and archives or historical sites.
  • 5 workshops in local Primary and Secondary schools reaching 125 young people.
  • Mid-term progress report.
  • Final report.
  • Supporting members of Drama in the Dale to curate an exhibition on the findings from the research.
  • Presentation of the findings to the committee and members of Drama in the Dale.
  • Provide expertise to the working group writing the script for the play.

 

*Are subject to change in light of current government restrictions/ recommendations due to COVID-19 

Contract Management

  • Research to begin Autumn 2020 and be completed by Summer 2020. Final report and presentation of exhibition materials to be submitted to Drama in the Dale Summer 2020.
  • Total budget £7,000 inclusive of VAT and all expenses. 
  • Contract will be let then managed by Drama in the Dale
  • All exhibition material and the final report will be the property of Drama in the Dale
  • The contract will be managed by Lucy Ridley, Director of Drama in the Dale supported by the other Directors.

 

Award Criteria

The candidate must demonstrate they can or are

  • Professional historian, ideally with local knowledge of County Durham.
  • Provide a methodology for finding, reading and critically appraising documents and contemporaneous accounts of the finding of the body on Killhope Moor.
  • Experience of mentoring volunteers through workshops methods of historical investigation.
  • Experience of delivery workshops with young people aged 8-16 years.
  • Write reports.
  • Display exhibition material.
  • Present findings to groups of people.

The role of Researcher will be judged at interview (either Zoom or socially distanced) by a panel to include Drama in the Dale and a representative of Northern Heartlands and or Auckland Project.

 

Procurement process

Applications closed

 

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