Chair

Dance Base is a charity with a national and international reputation for supporting dance and dancers. We provide opportunities for dance artists across Scotland, for specific communities where dance supports health and wellbeing and for the wider Scottish public, all delivered by a highly motivated and experienced team led by Chief Executive Jim Hollington and Morag Deyes MBE, our internationally renowned and respected Artistic Director.

We also work from a stunning purpose-built venue and studios in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket and host dancers and dance companies in residence as they develop new work alongside our own dance companies. Just as importantly the building hosts over 140 community dance classes a week, open to the general public or targeted at specific groups. Each August the studios are also transformed into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s only dedicated dance venue, with an award-winning curated programme of Scottish and international contemporary dance. Roll on 2021!

Our work beyond the building and beyond Edinburgh is equally important, including a national partnership with Scottish Ballet and other partners to deliver the successful and influential Dance for Parkinson’s Scotland.

The focus of our challenges in 2021 will be:

• Playing the role of National Centre for Dance as effectively as possible , in particular providing support for the independent dance sector across the country and in supporting dance to deliver health and social outcomes through significant new partnerships with the public health sector and community organisations.
• Building a sustainable financial model balancing income from a range of sources including from classes, government funding, patrons, donors, trusts, foundations as well as from corporates at a time when the external environment is highly volatile and all funding sources are under pressure.
• Delivering on our commitments to diversity, including building a more diverse board.
• Maintaining a role in connecting Scotland’s dance sector to the world.
• Reimagining our role in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Current Chair Ed Crozier is stepping down after a successful tenure for which we are very grateful. We believe this now represents a great opportunity for an individual who is passionate about the success of dance and dancers in Scotland and who has a track record of organisational leadership to continue to deliver on the success and the potential of such a fantastic organisation. We are therefore looking to appoint someone who has achieved leadership skills in the arts, business, government, or the broader not for profit sector. This is a Non Executive, unremunerated position which will involve between 15-20 days per annum.

For further details please download the candidate brochure.

For more information or a detailed conversation please contact Willie Finlayson of FWB Park Brown via willie@fwbparkbrown.com or by phone 0131 539 7087.