Creative Communities Engagement Officer

Louth County Council is the authority responsible for local government in Louth. The county of Louth is divided into the three municipal districts of Drogheda, Ardee and Dundalk. There are five electoral areas in Louth: Ardee, Drogheda Rural, Drogheda Urban, Dundalk-Carlingford and Dundalk South. There are 29 elected county councillors and an annual operating budget of €184 million in 2025.

The Council provides a diverse range of services across a large geographic area. Key services areas include housing delivery, planning and development, emergency services, infrastructural upgrades and projects (road improvements, public realm), community services and facilities (community/leisure centres, libraries and parks), encouraging economic development through FDI (foreign direct investment), and supporting existing and new business.

Context

Local Government has undergone a very significant reform process in line with the proposals in “Putting People First”. The programme sets out a wide range of actions to deliver reform in order to address weaknesses, enhance effectiveness and accountability and improve performance across the entire system.

The Local Government Act 2014 provided the necessary legislative basis to give effect to many of the reform measures set out in the Action Programme. The Act, together with the Action Programme, provide the broad policy context within which the successful candidate will work and a focussed agenda which he or she will be required to lead and deliver on, as directed by the Chief Executive.

The Creative Ireland Programme is an all-of-government initiative committed to enhancing access to, engagement with, and enjoyment of Ireland’s culture and creativity. Within the broad range of available definitions, creativity is considered as a set of innate abilities and learned skills; the capacity of individuals and organisations to transcend accepted ideas and norms and by drawing on imagination to create new ideas that bring additional value to human activity.

The vision of the Creative Ireland Programme 2023–2027 is to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation so that individually and collectively, in our personal lives and in our institutions, we can realise our full creative potential thereby promoting individual, community and national wellbeing.

The Creative Ireland Programme delivers through collaboration and partnership. It promotes understanding of the value of creativity in all its forms – whether through the arts, culture, heritage, creative industries.

The Creative Communities Engagement Officer will be a key member of the Culture and Creativity team responsible for engaging proactively with relevant directorates and personnel, internal and external. The person will report to the Creative Ireland Coordinator in Louth County Council. The position may from time to time require work to be conducted/completed outside of normal office hours. The position will involve day-to-day administrative duties.

Louth County Council is currently inviting applications from suitably qualified persons for the above competition. Louth County Council will, following the interview process, form a panel for the post, from which future relevant vacancies may be filled subject to sanction approval from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. This panel will exist for 12 months and may only be extended at the discretion of the Chief Executive.

Essential Criteria

Character

Each candidate must be of good character.

Health

Each candidate must be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Education, Training, Experience

Each candidate must, on the latest date for receipt of completed application forms –

Have obtained a qualification at level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications.

Have obtained at least Grade D (or a Pass), in Higher or Ordinary Level, in five subjects (or four subjects if Irish is included) from the approved list of subjects in the Department of Education Established Leaving Certificate Examination or Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme including Irish and/or English and one of the following: Mathematics, Accounting, Business Organisation or Economics, and

Have obtained at least Grade C (or Honours) in higher level (or Honours) papers in three subjects in that examination (or two subjects if Irish and/or one of the following is included: Mathematics, Accounting, Business Organisation or Economics) or

Have obtained a comparable standard in an equivalent examination, or

Hold a third level qualification of at least degree standard.

The Ideal Candidate

In order to demonstrate that they can deliver the key responsibilities of the post, each candidate must, on the latest date for receipt of completed application forms –

Have significant work experience working in a role relevant to this position in the public sector or independent creative sector. This may involve for example experience from the arts, heritage, libraries, community development, or sustainable economic development.

Have demonstrable knowledge of relevant national, regional and local policies and strategies of relevance to culture and creativity in local government, or ability to acquire same.

Satisfactory knowledge and understanding of County Louth and its socio-economic make up.

Leadership skills and experience in collaborating and working cross functionally with other teams and stakeholders and the ability to interact with staff at all levels in the organisation.

Have excellent interpersonal, communication, presentation and organisational skills.

Have strong understanding of the importance of systems, process and structures in enabling efficient delivery of an effective team with the ability to prioritise and multi-task.

Be able to demonstrate competence in influencing and negotiating, delivering quality outcomes and the ability to work in direct contact with a diverse range of stakeholders including agencies/bodies, voluntary groups, creative/heritage organisations, libraries and artists.

Satisfactory ICT skills with comprehensive working knowledge of office productivity tools.

Experience of budget preparation and management.

Hold a current, full, unendorsed Class B Drivers Licence and have access to own car.

Assessment Procedure

Candidates will have to demonstrate from their application form to the satisfaction of a short-listing board that they possess sufficient skills and experience in the competencies listed below in order to be called for interview.

Relevant Knowledge and Experience

Delivering Results

Personal Effectiveness

Leading, motivating, and managing performance

Candidates short-listed for interview will then be assessed at the interview under the competencies listed above using some/all of the following indicators within each competency.

Relevant Knowledge and Experience

Has knowledge and understanding of local government structure including service requirements.

Understands key challenges facing the local government sector and Louth County Council.

Understands the role of a Creative Ireland Engagement Officer.

Knowledge & Experience of operating ICT systems.

Good social media and communication skills.

Delivering Results

Plan and prioritise work and resources effectively.

Establish high quality service and customer care standards, particularly with local communities.

Make timely, informed and effective decisions and show good judgement and balance in making decisions or recommendations.

Create opportunities or overcome obstacles by rethinking or reconceptualising practices or procedures e.g. ensuring harder to reach communities participate in programmed initiatives.

Personal Effectiveness

Takes initiative and seeks opportunity to exceed goals.

Manages time and workload effectively.

Maintains a positive, constructive and enthusiastic attitude to the role.

Leading, Motivating, and Managing Performance

Lead, motivate and engage employees and local communities to achieve quality results and to deliver on operational plans.

Effectively manage Team Performance.

Lead by example demonstrating through your own behaviour a clear sense of quality service delivery.

Duties

The key responsibilities of the post include, but are not limited to:

Working with Louth County Council Arts Office to deliver the strategic priorities in Louth County Council Culture and Creativity Strategy 2023–2027 and Cruinniú na nÓg, through an annual programme.

Liaison with local creatives, artists, organisations and staff across relevant directorates within the local authority to manage the development and delivery of a programme of projects and events. The aim is to encourage increased participation in creative and cultural activities locally.

Liaison with local creatives, artists, organisations and local authority staff involved in the delivery of Cruinniú na nÓg, the national day of creativity for children and young people.

Support the Creative Ireland Coordinator and Culture and Creativity Team in their objectives including: broadening creative engagement locally; enhancing the strategic role of culture and creativity within local government; supporting collaborative actions and links to wider local authority policies of relevance to wellbeing, social cohesion and economic development.

Support engagement between the local authority and the Creative Ireland Programme centrally including via the Creative Ireland portal.

Arrange and manage yearly schedule of meetings for the Culture and Creativity Team.

Attend relevant Creative Ireland Programme quarterly meetings and others as they arise.

Provide data, briefing and updates to senior managers in [insert local authority] and the Creative Ireland Programme officials as requested.

Local citizen engagement campaigns through marketing and social media platforms to ensure greater understanding of Creative Communities programme locally.

These duties are indicative rather than exhaustive and are carried out under general guidance. Persons employed will be required to work in any location within the Louth County Council administrative area.

Salary

The salary shall be fully inclusive and shall be as determined from time to time. The holder of the office shall pay to the local authority any fees or other monies (other than his/her inclusive salary) payable to and received by him/her by virtue of his/her office or in respect of services which he/she is required by or under any enactment to perform.

The salary scale for the position of the Creative Communities Engagement Officer is: €51,722 – €61,865 (LSI 2) gross per annum. Entry point to this scale will be determined in accordance with Circulars issued by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

In accordance with Departmental Circular Letter EL.02/2011, a person who is not a serving local authority employee on or after 1st January 2011 will enter the scale for the position at the minimum point. Rate of remuneration may be adjusted from time to time in line with Government Policy.