Digital Archivist

**Digital Archivist**

**Full Time - Leicester**

Thank you for your interest in the position of Digital Archivist at Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage.

Please find attached more detailed information for the post, which includes:

- About Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage and Unearthed: Forgotten Histories
- Job Description and Person Specification

To apply, please send us your CV outlining your skills and experience and a written statement and/or an audio/video presentation stating how you meet the person specification for the position of Digital Archivist.

Applications received after this time will not be accepted. Interviews are expected to be held the week commencing 14 August 2023.

**About Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage**

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage is an internationally connected arts and heritage organisation that actively changes the UK creative and cultural landscape with an innovative and inspiring high-quality programme that centres perspectives from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora.

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage programmes include Black History Month Leicester, the Annual Windrush Day Lecture and the flagship dance festival and Let’s Dance International Frontiers.

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage has established a legacy; hosting a growing living archive documenting Black arts, heritage and culture, documenting the voices of Black practitioners and community activists, nurturing artists to create high quality new work and mentoring young people.

Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage fosters innovative new work from artists, both emerging and established, bringing diversity to the forefront of cultural experiences for all.

With a 12-year track record working locally, nationally and internationally and the success of past projects funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, _Lost Legends_ and _Archiving the Past: Reflecting_
- the Future, _this opportunity comes at an important point in the Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and

Heritage’s development with a three-year project that builds upon our heritage work thus far in the form of _Unearthed: Forgotten Histories_.

**About Unearthed: Forgotten Histories**
- Unearthed: Forgotten Histories_ is a forward-thinking initiative that seeks to make a structural difference to the recording, documentation and sharing of Black history and heritage in the UK. Serendipity

Institute for Black Arts and Heritage are building a digital living archive that encompasses the history of the African and African Caribbean Diaspora across the Midlands. By amplifying the historical picture and telling stories from a different perspective the archive aims to give back hidden histories for everyone to share. Educational resources, events and exhibitions are planned to give the opportunity of interaction, reinterpretation and the repositioning of the gaze of the heritage.

Alongside this, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage is leading on the Young Archivists an accredited training programme inspiring a diverse range of future heritage experts, currently underrepresented in the sector, at different stages in their careers with training and mentoring.

Opportunities for volunteers are also available to develop high-quality skills to support the collection and preservation of oral histories and archival material.

The project seeks to highlight histories from communities across the Midlands that might have been lost, forgotten or ignored, using technology in innovative ways to tell and share stories, ultimately creating a legacy for all to engage with beyond the project and long into the future.

**Purpose of the Role**

The role of Digital Archivist has been made possible with funding from the National Lottery Heritage

Fund thanks to National Lottery Players.

We are looking to recruit a Digital Archivist to provide specialist technical and operational support. This post comes at an exciting time in the organisation’s development with the start the delivery phase

Unearthed: Forgotten Histories and the post will be central to the success of the project.

The Digital Archivist will play a central role in the development and delivery of Unearthed: Forgotten

Histories and support the digital archive, educational, volunteer work, cultural programming and documentation and user access. Providing digitisation and editing services ensuring that all work is carried out to the relevant technical standards and provide digital content for preservation, display and engagement purposed and or specific projects.

You will work closely with the Heritage Manager and Collections Archivist to establish and maintain rigorous and robust approaches to digital archiving and preservation and advise on specifications, quality control and verification processes to meet agreed quality standards and deadlines, assisting in leading Sere