NTGENT OPEN CALL: Artistic director (an individual of any gender or a group of people)

RESPONSIBILITIES

As the artistic director of NTGent, you will be responsible for defining its strategic policy in tandem with our business director, in a dual leadership model. You will adopt a helicopter view, developing artistic lines for the coming years to fulfil our five functions: production, presentation, development, participation and reflection. You will continue to build on our current policy plan, setting up transparent working frameworks to guarantee a city theatre with multiple voices. We are looking for someone who charts a visionary course whilst demonstrating a sense of reality in terms of budgets and staffing.

You will be the driving artistic force behind the city theatre in a cultural landscape that is locally embedded in Ghent yet puts itself on the regional and international map. You use experience and expertise within the performing arts with passion at these different levels. You respond to local dynamics and continue to extend our international activities. You are a strong networker who engages in new partnerships and deepens existing relationships.

In a leadership role at NTGent, you will be a guide who both directs and serves the organisation. You easily pick up on signals from our staff and respond to their needs, based on the values of NTGent. You will embody the role of artistic director to the full; this is your focus. You will coach our artistic team and demonstrate your commitment to the activities of the other teams.

Continuing to develop the artistic community is your responsibility, and you will be the point of contact and sparring partner for the artists involved.

You will make your voice heard in social and artistic challenges. You will inspire and nourish our audience, as well as our staff, artists and partners. As the artistic director, you will be responsible for continuing to challenge, renew and question the organisation, artists, the city and the wider field of the performing arts. Your dynamic vision of what NTGent represents as the City Theatre of the Future is of great significance here.

We are searching for someone who wants to continue the search with us.

 PROFILE

- You are enthusiastic about our 23-27 policy plan and convinced of the possibilities it offers to further shape the transformation of NTGent within this framework and based on your own artistic vision. You embrace the values and guiding principles of NTGent (see below, see also policy plan and management agreement). You are willing to assume your role within a dual leadership model. You convey the importance of diversity and inclusion.

- You are a performing artist or familiar with theatre practice in another role. We welcome applications from makers, actors, dramatists, curators, curators, collectives, authors, etc. It is important that you commit fully to the role of artistic director and are prepared to spend the necessary time present on site.

- You are interested in the work and methods of the diverse group of artists associated with NTGent. You are enthusiastic about building an artistic community and you have the vision required to make it happen.

- You are well acquainted with the local and international theatre scenes. You find it easy to move between these different levels and want to connect to the local dynamics of the performing arts in Ghent as well as to continue developing NTGent’s international activity. You see yourself as someone who is willing to cooperate and connect without losing acuity. We believe in complementarity and shared responsibility. You don't have to do or be able to do everything yourself. Convince us with your self-awareness, your vision and your strategy for artistic leadership that you can fulfil the expectations outlined above.

CITY THEATRE OF THE FUTURE. ABOUT NTGENT 2023-2027

As the city theatre, we aim to offer our home city of Ghent a forum for theatre. We do this by committing fully to the five mainstays of the Arts Decree: production, presentation, development, participation and reflection.

As a city theatre, NTGent aims to question, motivate and mobilise a diverse audience. We achieve this by making and presenting high-profile productions and by engaging theatre in social debate. After all, we are not merely interested in the canon of classical theatre literature, but most of all in the world we live in. We are an open house, accessible to everyone.

We are based in Ghent. In our view, theatre is always local and live. We aim to play a pioneering role in the performing arts landscape in Ghent, Flanders and internationally. We produce work with a diverse range of makers – both regulars and guests – and aim to create a meaningful mixture of voices.

The theatre that interests us does not remain on the stage where it was rehearsed: it tours internationally. As an open, travelling company, we aim to bring our productions into the world (in Ghent) and show them to the world (elsewhere). We offer a stage to actors and non- professional players of different nationalities and languages.

The city theatre, as we see it, stands between tradition on the one hand and utopia and experimentation on the other. We are searching for new classics, for the myths, tragedies and contradictions of our time, by mythologising current events and updating mythology. In this way, we aim to give form to a political, mobile and creative city theatre of the future.

To achieve our mission, we base our efforts on five values. These values form a guideline for our internal activities, the way we position ourselves on the arts scene and our relationship with external parties: we aim to be sustainable, ground-breaking, collaborative, transparent and vulnerable.

We also apply several guiding principles. Along with our values, these principles form the framework for our day-to-day policy.

NTGent fulfils an artistic mandate in the performing arts at an international level of excellence. NTGent is firmly committed to its five functions (production, presentation, development, participation and reflection) and aspires to be recognised as a Flemish institution. This statute can only be initiated by a formal invitation from the Flemish Government. In anticipation of this, we fulfil the criteria for inclusion.

NTGent pursues a dynamic, open and honest business policy, with particular attention to sustainability, innovative leadership, good governance, fair practice and cooperation.

NTGent exists by the grace of its audience. We aim for our public activities to reach a large and diverse audience, locally and internationally, live and digitally.

We are a home for artists, for our partners and for our staff. NTGent is transforming into a City Theatre of the Future with an open and sustainable infrastructure and diverse and inclusive working practices.

NTGent is a reliable and innovative partner in the cultural field. We initiate, support and participate in local, national and international collaborations with the aim of developing, renewing and supporting the arts.

We intend to continue building the future on this basis.

OFFER

We offer a competitive salary in line with the standards applied within the performing arts sector.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your CV and letter of motivation in a format of your choice by Sunday 4 June 2023 at the latest through vacature@ntgent.be. With questions about this position, please contact Daan Vander Steene, business director, reachable at Daan.vander.steene@ntgent.be.

PROCEDURE

The selection process will be completed in June and July and will include the following steps:

- Week of 5 June: Selection based on applications. - Week of 12 June: First interview with a maximum of 8 candidates and selection of a maximum of 3 candidates. - Week of June 19: Assessment for a maximum of 3 candidates and informative talk with the business director. - Week of 26 June: Second interview with a maximum of 3 candidates with the jury and the Core Board. - Week of 4 July: Confirmation by the Board. - July 14: Announcement of the new artistic director.

THE JURY

- Members of the Artistic Advisory board - 3 external members - 3 internal member

NTGent values diversity. The selections are therefore made on the basis of competencies regardless of origin, age and gender.