The Council is looking for a new Head of Culture & Arts to join our awarding-winning Council who will also set the creative direction for the new Telford Theatre due to open alongside for the Town’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 2028.
At Telford & Wrekin Council, we see culture as an essential part of delivering our vision to ‘protect, care and invest to create a better Borough’. We have continued to invest in our cultural assets and events bringing people into our towns and high streets and investment into our economy, building community pride and, most importantly, creating a feel-good factor.
We were delighted to secure more than £25m of levelling up funding which is driving delivery of a new cultural quarter including the complete rebuild of the Telford Theatre alongside investment into outdoor event spaces and community based arts facilities.
The new Theatre includes a 750 seat auditorium, a second studio theatre and community rehearsal space allowing us to deliver a diverse cultural programme reflecting our Borough’s changing demographic, develop community based production and attract larger shows extending our reach regionally and nationally.
Telford has a rich creative sector with a network of freelance artists and performance arts organisations and a thriving heritage craft sector – it is entrepreneurial reflecting our roots as the birthplace of the industrial revolution and home to the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
Our town has a distinctive Borough town structure and heritage – with 2027 marking the 40th year of the Ironbridge Gorge designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All of this is interlinked with new communities and green spaces including our award winning Telford Town Park home to our outdoor arena hosting national events like Balloon Fiesta and lake side Amphitheatre. Opening in July this has seen performances ranging from comedy, drama, magic and music throughout the summer.
During the Theatre rebuild we have grown our community and audience engagement through Theatre on Tour taking indoor and outdoor performance featuring music, dance, film, comedy and drama to venues Borough wide.
In early 2026 the National Trust took ownership of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust and are a key partner in our emerging Cultural Compact which is contributing to developing our new Cultural Strategy to be launched at the end of the year.
Recently identified as a new priority place for culture by ACE, we are committed to building on our bid for Town of Culture status, with an ambition to be a National Portfolio Organisation. Our new Strategy and Compact will set our future plans including our diamond jubilee in 2028. This is set to be a major celebration of the Borough’s heritage, culture and arts delivered with and throughout our communities.
This role will be challenging, varied, exciting and above all rewarding. Our Team is incredibly creative and hardworking bringing longstanding experience of our community and cultural scene and a passion to make culture and arts a meaningful part of people’s everyday lives, to nurture local talent, bring economic success and have fun along the way too.
Telford & Wrekin Council is a great place to work, where colleagues are valued and ambition is embraced. We absolutely know our colleagues are the Council’s greatest and most valuable asset, so we do our best to invest in the workforce, promoting and nurturing development whenever we can.
This is a pivotal moment to join our team. You will have a real opportunity to lead our plans, bringing your creative vision to drive the success of the Telford Theatre and build on our Council’s commitment to make culture and arts accessible to all.
Telford & Wrekin Council is a great place to work, where colleagues are valued and ambition is embraced.
We absolutely know our colleagues are the Council’s greatest and most valuable asset, so we do our best to invest in the workforce, promoting and nurturing development whenever we can.
This means having the right people, with the right skills, in the right roles so we can get on with delivering the excellent services that residents and businesses in the borough expect from us.
And because we have a culture of innovation, every employee is encouraged and empowered to bring fresh ideas to the table.
It’s because our employees are at the heart of the council that we work hard to attract, train and retain the very best people. We do this by providing clear career pathways, with support and development to make sure we encourage, grow and make best use of the talent and skills that we have.
We like to think of ourselves as a family at Telford & Wrekin Council and we have many ways we come together from teams and services across the Council: we have a staff book group, various staff support groups, an annual staff quiz, staff bingo events, staff volunteering opportunities, staff and family thank you events and more!