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Performance on stage at St George's Hall, Bradford
St George's Hall. Photography by Nigel Hillier courtesy of Bradford 2025.

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 Bradford 2025 to offer an early-career Bradford producer a 40-day placement working as an Assistant Venue Programmer 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 producers and those new to international producing

When is it?

40-day placement from
January - May 2025

Where is it?

Bradford City Centre

Apply by

Sunday 24 November 2024
at 11 PM

Book your place at our online info session

To find out more about this placement, what it involves, and how to apply – book a place at our online information session. This session will also include information about our Assistant International Producer placement with Bradford 2025.

About the placement host

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture will deliver 12 unforgettable months of creativity, culture and arts across the District. From New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve 2025, the District will explode with shows, exhibitions and events, by and for everyone.

As part of their plans to realise this, Bradford 2025 is creating two new temporary venues for the Bradford district:

  1. Meanwhile Performance and Exhibition Space
    A disused building in the City Centre adapted to include a flexible underground events space, 200-seat black box theatre and an inspiring gallery/installation space.

    Think festival fringe-style venue – a place to be part of the action with a rough-and-ready aesthetic and a warm, welcoming and accessible vibe.

    The Meanwhile Space is set to open in February 2025 and will run through to the end of the year.

  2. Beacon
    A beautiful temporary festival-style venue that will visit 4 parks across the District including Wibsey, Bowling, Cliffe Castle and Lister Park – residing in each park for a month.


    Beacon is a flexible venue that can accommodate various staging setups including end-on, in-the-round, thrust and standing gigs with a range of capacities.

Each location will host the best of live performance from national and international artists as well as classes, clubs, concerts, get-togethers and family activities hosted by communities across the District. Everyone is welcome – and (almost!) anything goes. 

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 producers to deliver high-quality events
  • Have access to additional support and mentoring through Bradford Producing Hub 
About the placement

You will be working alongside the Venues Programme Producer and Venues Programme Coordinator to curate high-quality, exciting and relevant events for both of the temporary spaces, with a programme that includes:

  • Theatre
  • Dance
  • Music 
  • Comedy
  • Circus
  • Family events
  • Exhibitions & installations
  • Community led-events

The roles and responsibilities of the successful candidate will include:

  • Being part of the Venues Programming team – curating and selecting events for both spaces
  • Liaising with artists and companies over engagement dates, performances and fees
  • Gathering and collating information about events and sharing this with relevant Bradford 2025 teams and departments
  • Reaching out to artists, promoters and companies to broker new relationships and opportunities
  • Working closely with Events Managers, Technical/Production team and Venues Programme Coordinator to plan the delivery and smooth running of events
  • Supporting the Venues Programme Coordinator in arranging national and international travel, accommodation and hospitality

Bradford 2025 is staffed by a growing team of almost 100 people. You will be part of the Programme Team, who are leading on producing the programme.

The venue-specific team will consist of:

  • Venue Programme Producer
  • Venue Programme Coordinator
  • 2 x Venue Events & Operations Managers
  • 2 x Venue Technical Managers

You will work 40 days over the following schedule:

  • 6 January – 9 February
    2 days per week (Tuesdays and either Mondays or Wednesdays to suit the candidate)
  • 10 February to 23 March
    2 days per week (Tuesdays and another day to be agreed) The Meanwhile venue will open so some out-of-hours work is expected.
  • 24 March 17 April
    3 days per week
    (Days to be agreed) Beacon will open so some out-of-hours and in-venue work is expected
  • 14 April – 4 May
    2 days per week
    (Days to be agreed) Beacon will be open so some out-of-hours and in-venue work is expected.
  • One additional day to be worked flexibly across the placement plus one day for evaluation
    (to be agreed between placement and host)

Bradford 2025 operates a combination of office-based and home working and are happy to be flexible and accommodate some home working to meet the needs of the candidate – but it is expected almost all of the days will be in the office or onsite.

Bradford 2025 operates ‘hot desking’ in their offices; therefore all the team work on different desks when they are in and are asked not to leave anything on the desks when they leave (a locker can be provided).

Once the venues are open it is expected that the working location will be split between the Bradford 2025 office and the venues. There will be evening and weekend work required to attend and support the delivery of events.

The Bradford 2025 office is fully accessible. 

Both the venues will be fully accessible and will have accessible toilet facilities.  However, during the build/ development phase, there may be some barriers around physical access – but we will work with you to understand your needs and ensure this is in place before you are asked to go onsite. 

Areas of the parks where Beacon will be located are over grass and uneven ground.

No heavy lifting is involved.

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 producing
  • 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:

  • 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
  • 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 skills, passion, ideas or general attitude and approach to work.
    Around 1-2 paragraphs is fine.
  • 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

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 Sunday 24 November 2024 at 11 PM.

We send invitations to interview on Friday 29 November and interviews will take place on Tuesday 3 December 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. 

Yes, please get in touch with us so we can support you – hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk

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