PROPEL is our 40-day paid work placement programme for early-career creatives working in producing, production and programming.
PROPEL has connected emerging talent with top festivals, theatres, and performance companies across the North for over two years. For 2025, we’ve partnered with some exciting new hosts in Bradford and West Yorkshire, offering five hands-on paid placements in production, producing, and programming.
We’re excited to have partnered with Common Wealth Theatre and Bradford 2025 to offer an early-career Bradford creative a 40-day placement working as a Production Design Assistant in 2025.
To see the full range of placements available through this programme, head to our main PROPEL page.
Who is it for?
Early-career production designers
When is it?
40-day placement from
April - June 2025
Where is it?
Bradford City Centre
Apply by
Monday 10 February 2025 at 11 PM
Book your place at our online info session
Book your place at our online information session on Thursday 30 January 2025 at 1 PM to learn more about this placement, what it involves, and how to apply. If you can’t attend the live time, you can book to receive a recording after the session.
If this session has passed and you have any questions about the placement, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
About the placement host
Based in Bradford and Cardiff, Common Wealth Theatre make site-specific theatre events encompassing electronic sound, new writing, visual design and verbatim. Their work is political and contemporary – based in the present day – the here and now. They make work that is relevant and addresses the concerns of our times.
This placement is on their upcoming performance, Right/s.
Right/s
An ambitious, large-scale performance: part documentary-theatre, part large-scale immersive event, made by Common Wealth and commissioned by Bradford 2025 City of Culture. Right/s asks the question – are we all innocent until proven guilty?
At times a club night, a courtroom, a citizen’s assembly – with action happening simultaneously.
Performed by a cast of rappers and DJ’s from Bradford, Right/s invites the audience to imagine possibilities as it tackles the serious subjects of freedom and justice, exploring the criminalisation of young people across society – and how knowing our rights can give us the power we need to shape our future.
Right/s takes us on an immersive journey from club night to courtroom and beyond, with testimony and true-life stories from young people – and a sound-score featuring drill, bassline, grime, afrobeat and house from some of the country’s most exciting artists. This vivid and electrifying world-premiere show will capture and celebrate what it means to be young in the UK today.
What will I get out of the placement?
Through this placement, you will:
- Be paid £150 per day for 40 days of work – that’s £6,000 in total
- Gain hands-on experience working with professional teams to deliver high-quality events
- Have access to additional support and mentoring through Bradford Producing Hub
About the placement
Common Wealth Theatre is excited to have announced several new freelance production roles, including this placement, to support a new ambitious, large-scale performance to be showcased during Bradford 2025 and touring/re-staged in 2026.
Part documentary theatre, part immersive event. The performance will be playful and experimental as it tackles the serious subjects of justice and freedom. It will feature a cast of 20 young people sharing personal experiences and honest opinions, and pushing for change.
The performance will fill two floors and multiple rooms. An immersive environment will be created through projection, sound and lighting and they are particularly excited to integrate live cinema.
This role would suit someone with costume and/or stage management experience or someone with great logistic skills.
Your experience might include:
- Creating designs for costumes and props
- Conducting measurements and fittings for casts
- Maintenance of costume and props
- Great logistic skills with attention to detail
- Strong communication skills
- Collaborating with a creative team
Working with the Production Designer, the Production Design Assistant will:
- Assisting in costume and props design and delivery
- Working on costume and props sourcing, making and care (making skills are not required and can be outsourced, basic needlework would be advantageous for the role)
- Supporting with the full production design, where applicable, inclusive of mentoring opportunities with the designer
- Admin duties where required; research, maker-booking and liaison, tracking spend, cataloguing items, cast measurements etc.
- Leading on costume and props management, with support from the Company Stage Manager
- Setting and performing any movements of props and costumes and their associated stage management
- Wardrobe management
- Assisting the cast with fittings and changes
- Fitting radio microphones with support from the Sound Engineer
Working across the creative and technical teams, this role, along with the other Production Assistants may also support physical movements during production. Responsibilities may also include:
- Coordinating cast movements between spaces
- Assisting with camera movements with support from the Video Engineer
- Assisting with any maintenance as required
You will work 40 days over the following schedule:
- March – April 2025: 17 x pre-production days, used flexibly in line with the Production Designer
(potential to start these earlier depending on candidate availability) - 21 May – 23 June 2025: 23 x Production Days across the following dates:
- 10-12 April: Scenic install*
- 15 – 17 April: Rehearsals
- 22 – 24 April: Rehearsals
- 29 April – 1 May: Rehearsals
- 6 – 8 May: Get in*
- 8 – 9 May: Off-site rehearsals
- 12 – 17 May: Tech rehearsals
- Tuesday 20 May: Tech rehearsal*
Shows**
- Wednesday 21 May: Opening night
- 22 – 24 May: Shows
- 28 – 30 May: Shows
- 31 May: Closing show and club night
- 2 – 3 June: Get Out*
* Essential dates
** Essential to be available for all shows
Common Wealth Theatre is happy to be flexible to accommodate the needs of the candidate in the run-up to the production weeks.
Common Wealth Theatre is based at 1-3 John Street, Bradford BD1 3JT
The production site will be based in Bradford City Centre.
There will be a mix of working at Common Wealth Theatre and the production site.
Common Space has step-free access to the venue via a ramp. There is a wheelchair-accessible bathroom upstairs which can be accessed via. a lift, the lift measures 73cm (w) X 90cm.
The production site will be fully accessible via ramp and lift.
You are eligible for the PROPEL work placement programme if:
- You have a demonstrable connection to Bradford
- You will be 18 years old or over when the placement starts
- You are committed to pursuing a career in production design
- You will have some experience in either prop or costume-making (or you can demonstrate some experience as a designer-maker)
- You are proactive and eager to learn and make the most of this opportunity
- You are ready to get involved and get hands-on as part of the host organisation’s team
- You are organised with your time and able to follow instructions
- You have good admin skills and can use email, Microsoft Word and Excel
- You can fully commit to this opportunity and are available for the key dates listed on the host page (if you can do the majority but there are a couple of dates that you can’t do, please speak to us as there may be some flexibility in these cases)
If you wish, you can apply for a placement with multiple organisations but you will only be selected for and offered a place with one. Please be aware that the individual placements will be recruiting at different times.
To make your application, please complete the online application form linked below. You are required to upload a copy of your CV to the application form so please have this ready beforehand. To help you prepare your application in advance, you can see the application questions in the next section.
If you require any access support for this application process, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
The selection process is as follows:
- If your application is shortlisted, you will be interviewed by the host organisation and BPH together – the interview will last no more than 60 minutes and we will keep this as relaxed as possible
- If you are offered a placement, you’ll have a kick-off meeting with BPH and the host organisation to confirm dates and the placement details
- BPH will issue you with a freelance contract and confirm how and when your fee will be paid
- The host organisation will contact you to arrange the welcome and induction process
If you have any questions about this placement opportunity, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
To help you prepare your application in advance, the questions in the application form are as follows:
Please note that you will need to upload a copy of your CV at the end of the form
- What is your full postcode?
I.e. BD1 3HT - What is your connection to Bradford?
- Please tell us about any support or access needs we need to consider when communicating with you and for you to be able to undertake this placement.
You will also be able to upload an access rider if you have one - For monitoring purposes, we’d like to know a little about your background.
Please state below how you self-identify, in as many of the following areas as you feel comfortable with: age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class and education level etc.
Optional - Please tell us any dates listed in the call-out that you cannot do or any other details about your availability.
- Are you available for the advertised interview date?
- Have you completed any producer or production management training with Bradford Producing Hub?
This is not essential for this placement, just handy for us to know. - What was the name of the training and when did you complete it?
Rough months and years are fine. - Tell us a bit about you and your professional experience and training
Around 2-3 paragraphs is fine - What attracted you to this placement and in what ways do you think it will benefit you? Why is this the right time for you?
Around 1-2 paragraphs is fine - What do you think you would bring to the role?
This could be things like your experience, skills, passion, ideas or general attitude and approach to work. Please give examples of when you have demonstrated this experience. - Do you have any links you would like to share with us, such as to your website, LinkedIn, or examples of your work or projects you have been involved in?
Don’t worry if not, this isn’t required. - Is there anything else you want to tell us to support your application?
- Please upload a copy of your CV
Please don’t worry too much about how your CV is formatted, a clear list of experience, dates and associated skills is all we’re after here
You will have a senior contact at your host organisation who will provide support and supervise you during your placement. You will also have regular support and check-ins from BPH who can provide independent guidance and mentoring.
Ready to apply?
Applications close on Monday 10 February 2025 at 11 PM.
Interviews will take place on Tuesday 25 February 2025 in Bradford city centre – so please pencil this date in your diary once you have applied.
Please ensure you have read all of the information on this page, including the FAQs below before applying.
If you have any questions, or you need to complete your application another way, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk.
FAQs
You will be paid a freelance fee of £150 per day for 40 days. That’s £6,000 in total.
You will have a freelance contract with BPH and we will arrange to pay you the fee. You will be responsible for paying any tax or National Insurance due as part of it. (If you are new to freelancing we can help you understand this).
Yes, we can provide support to meet your access needs and there is budget available towards travel, as well as for accommodation if occasional overnights are required.
There will be an online information session (date above) where the host organisations will talk about what they do and their placement.
However, you should also do your own research about them through looking at their websites and social media feeds to familiarise yourself.
Yes, but you will only be offered one place. If you apply for multiple, we will make a decision on what we think would be the best fit. Please be aware however, that there are staggered application dates for some placements. If you have already been offered a placement with another host, we would expect you to commit to your original placement offer.
Yes, please get in touch with us so we can support you at last 1 week before the closing date – hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
