Community Programmer

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme is a registered charity and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation based in Cumbria. It connects over 65 venues, an army of volunteer promoters and an ever-growing list of artists.
The Community Programmer will work with schools, libraries and community venues to plan workshops and events, sourcing and supporting professional artists to work within rural schools and communities. The role will expand our valuable participation work with children and young people, as well as managing creative workshops in community spaces for people of all ages.

Set up originally to work with isolated communities in the North Pennines, Highlights now works across Cumbria (Westmorland & Furness), County Durham and Northumberland. Across the three counties, many communities have suffered from long term economic decline, resulting in pockets of high unemployment, poor transport links, declining local services and social isolation. Our events bring people together in their local communities in a range of local venues.
We work with regional artists, as well as national and international artists to curate a vibrant programme of events. Alongside our live events programme, we work with schools and community providers across the three counties to programme a range of artist workshops.
We are one of 30 similar schemes which support professional arts in over 1,000 small, community venues throughout the UK, playing an important part in the social life and sustainability of their community and supported by the National Rural Touring Forum.