Wearers Festival - an alumni intiative looking for a new team member

Wearers Festival is the first multidisciplinary art festival dedicated to exploring the meanings and relationships between dress, body and identity. The main objective is to contribute to the revindication of dress and body adornment as topics of huge social, cultural, political, historical, and environmental significance among diverse audiences that are not necessarily just academic or commercial.

The idea is to establish partnerships with different individuals, companies and institutions to create inclusive spaces for enjoyment, discussion, reflection and fun, spaces for people from all sorts of backgrounds and communities to tell the stories about their clothes and their bodies.

We are not a fashion festival: we are an art festival about dress, and we are working for our first edition to take place during October 2021 in London, in multiple locations and dates.

The event programme encompasses exhibitions, workshops, performances, book presentations, round table discussions, social events, and more — all carried out by contemporary artists, writers, academics, curators, creatives, and yes, everyday people. The programme has been curated to champion inclusivity, relatability and originality.

The exploration of dress inevitably stimulates dialogues around politics, environment, identity, culture, race, gender, sexuality, and a long history of colonialism — issues that are more relevant than ever!

Wearers Festival is being registered as a non-profit organization and is run by a small and diverse team of creatives:

• Nao, Director and graduate from MA Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion
• Nessa, Producer and current MA Fashion Curation student at London College of Fashion
• Adan, Graphic Designer, Art Director and current MA Graphic Communication Design student at Central Saint Martins
• Trishna, Marketing Director and MA Fashion Journalism graduate from London College of Fashion

We also have a board of trustees lead by Jo Wiltcher, museum consultant and specialist, and two London College of Fashion academics: Jeff Horsley and Rosie Findlay. We got together to work on this idea months ago, after some of us were been made redundant from our jobs given to the pandemic, so in a way, Wearers Festival is the result of synergy and resilience created from crisis.

We decided to form a creative studio dedicated to produce projects where dress and art converged together, with a special emphasis in exhibitions, and we called it Wearers Coterie. From Wearers Coterie, we are working on the production of Wearers Festival, the first project of our portfolio and a platform where we could be creative and experimental, but also open opportunities of collaboration for other creatives and artists to produce and showcase their work as well.

Looking for a 5th member of the team

Community Engagement Manager (working title)

We are looking for the 5th member of our team, a hands-on, organized, resourceful and inventive person with good energy and out-of-the-box ideas.

Since we are a new organization and project, we haven’t started receiving money yet, which means we are not able to offer a salary immediately. What we do have, is a business plan and fundraising strategy to be executed next year in order to fund the festival and make it become a source of income for us.

In this role, you will:

• Take part in processes of conceptualization, design and production of art experiences for different communities of London as part of a team.
• Propose creative solutions for exhibitions and public engagement projects and events.
• Create and supervise production project budgets.
• Help to build a network of collaborators from the creative industries for the organization.
• Help evaluate the social impact of the Festival events and use the information to improve future editions.

Consider yourself an ideal candidate if you:

• Have some experience in space design and public engagement projects (professional, volunteer, internships and uni projects count).
• Have part-time availability, but can be flexible.
• Have a deep interest in art projects and organizations.
• Have a deep interest in dress and fashion.
• Are passionate about culture and identity.
• Experience with event production or coordination is a plus.
• Are friendly, good communicator and good listener. We are building this organization from scratch and having good chemistry among the members of the team is very important.

How to apply

We strongly encourage candidates from a BAME background to get in touch, as we are aware of the underrepresentation of minorities in the managing teams of cultural organizations and their perspective is fundamental to keep building the cultural offer of this city.

To apply just send us an email to enquiries@wearersfestival.com introducing yourself and telling us why are you interested in this role and how your skills match the description. We care about honesty more than formality. Don’t forget to attach your CV and portfolio (if you have one).

Wearers Festival website (currently being built at the time of publishing this article)

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