Trustee Applications
Happy Valley Pride is recruiting Trustees to join our Board on a voluntary basis.
This is an opportunity to be part of one of the most innovative Pride organisations in the UK, to contribute to our capacity to deliver our year-round programme of LGBTQIA+ community support, amazing queer arts events and creative celebrations.
Deadline: Friday 28th February 2025
Commencement in post: TBC, April 2025
Hours: Meet four times a year and attend an annual away day. Contribution approximately 4 hours per month.
Form: Click Here OR email info@happyvalleypride.com with your CV and a response to the following question:
Why do you want to become a trustee of Happy Valley Pride? 400 words max please.
WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Most importantly, you will share and champion our values: Queer, Creative, Authentic, Compassionate, Accountable.
Together with current trustees, the successful applicant will help to build our ambitious strategy for Happy Valley Pride: to consolidate and grow steadily, increase our organisational capability, and ensure our services are consistent, efficient, agile, and collaborative as well as challenging and influential.
We are looking for passionate and committed individuals with a range of skills - please tell us more via the application form.
We would like to hear from everyone but we are particularly interested in receiving applications from members of our community who are currently underrepresented on our board: particularly people with lived experience of disability, Black and Brown people, trans people, and those who are under the age of 30.
WHAT IS A TRUSTEE?
• Being a trustee means making decisions on the to make a real difference to our community.
• Trustees are the people who lead the charity and decide how it is run. They play a vital role in helping to define and develop the work of the charity.
• Trustees work alongside the management team, using their skills and experience to help the charity to define and achieve its strategic aims. But they do not undertake the day-to-day work of running the organisation.
• Trustees are also Directors of Happy Valley Pride as it is both a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.
• Trustees give their time on a voluntary basis. They are not paid fees, but they can claim reasonable expenses.
We are aiming to recruit more than one trustee. Ideally, we would like to find one person with experience of financial planning and budgeting management to support our General Manager. This includes:
Support General Manager with our annual budget and review of annual accounts prior to submission to the board of trustees for approval.
Monitoring financial systems, to ensure accurate financial records are maintained.
Reviewing financial policy annually.
ABOUT US:
Launched in 2016, we are a LGBTQIA+ led, co-created community driven, grassroots and rural alternative Pride and queer arts organisation. We bring together all ages, sexualities, genders, ethnicities and abilities in a creative celebration of equality & diversity with an annual week long arts festival, year-round community events, youth engagement programme and art-focussed mental health project. We work with international stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race winner to alt-cabaret duo Bourgeois and Maurice, and our patrons include Human Rights activist Peter Tatchell, Lesbian poet Jackie Kay, trans Artistic Director Kate O’Donnell and Lesbian hero artist Horse McDonald.
Created in response to a piece of homophobic graffiti seen in Hebden Bridge in the summer of 2015, our first ever project brought our community together in defiance & solidarity. We have been celebrating LGBTQIA+ life & promoting tolerance, understanding & friendship through access & participation in community created art & culture ever since. With support from Calderdale Council, Arts Council England and a range of other funders and partners, we are now working with over 2,000 5-18yr olds, 50+ community volunteers, 50+ artists, 12+ schools & reaching 3,700+ audiences each year.
We work to:
• promote equality & diversity to make our community a happier & healthier place.
• eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity
• break down social barriers, reduce social isolation, encourage conversation & share learning.
• use advocacy, empathy & fun as the key tools to our success.
• increase opportunities for everyone to access & participate in live events
• create & deliver the highest possible quality artistic activities, to inspire & connect people.
Happy Valley Pride consistently punches above its weight, but we no longer have capacity to sustain its growth as an organisation mainly reliant on volunteer hours. We are now in a position where we are transitioning to a sustainable model, with staff as well as volunteers, and need new passion and energy to take us to the next level.
The new trustees will bring real enthusiasm and engagement to the role and relish the opportunity to join a growing and passionate Board. Ideally, applicants will have live/work and have strong links with Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and the surrounding areas. You should also have a good understanding of what the role of a Trustee entails and its importance to the governance of the organisation.*
*NOTE: training and support can be provided for the right individuals to join the Board.
To apply, please fill out the online application form.
Alternatively, for additional application support or questions, contact Chair Jenn Wilson via jenn@happyvalleypride.com