CRIPtic Arts: Care, Access and Support Worker
Fee: £150 per day
Locations: London, Manchester, Bristol (though we are open to hearing from anyone in the UK)
Please note we do not have any active opportunities – we are creating a database of individuals we can call on for opportunities as they arise.
CRIPtic Arts is looking to build a database of UK-based Care, Access and Support Workers to work with our Artistic Director Jamie Hale, and any other disabled practitioners on our creative projects. Your role would be to enable the team member to perform to their maximum potential by reducing and eliminating the barriers they face and helping them manage their support needs in a flexible manner – whether they’re in a writers room, performing on stage, or directing a show.
As CRIPtic puts on work nationally, we often need additional care, access and support work. This role may encompass a range of tasks to include creative access support but also manual handling and the provision of personal and medical care. Full explanation and training would be provided, and you would always be working under the supervision of someone able to explain to you what to do, usually the person you are supporting.
You do not need to have any experience in any care-related roles, only a willingness to get stuck in, learn, and work alongside the person you are supporting.
This is a great opportunity for you to be in exciting artistic spaces, supporting people whether they’re performing, directing, or scriptwriting, including at major artistic venues and with high-level contacts. If you are interested in working in theatre or television, you would be in a position where you could shadow and learn from the person you were supporting and their wider team, whilst providing that support.
We are currently prioritising searching for London, Manchester and Bristol-based individuals but will expand this as work comes up in other locations.
We encourage applications from disabled (including deaf and neurodivergent) people, as well as from people who are not disabled.
The role:
What the work looks like may vary depending on the work the person you are supporting is carrying out, but the role would be likely to include:
- Assisting with note-taking in meetings, typically using Google Docs and/or mindmapping software
- Assisting with taking rehearsal notes
- Assisting with costume changes, stage makeup etc
- Moving set and scenery to the right place as needed
- Going to shops, storage lockers etc to buy and collect items as required (we will provide or pay for transport)
- General support in the space, from finding coffee to fixing costumes
- Supporting people with managing cognitive, emotional and psychological needs (e.g. around planning, flexibility, time management, and anxiety) through a process of listening and working through any challenges collaboratively and constructively
- Communication support through signing (if a BSL signer) or repeating things said in spoken English for hard of hearing creatives
- Support with telephone calls
- Assisting with some personal care, positioning, and hoisting (e.g. changing clothes or costumes, emptying catheter and stoma bags, giving medication and injections, and hoisting or manual transfers between wheelchairs or between a wheelchair and bed). Full guidance would always be provided
- Assisting with managing medical machinery (full instruction provided)
Essential Criteria:
- Fully vaccinated against COVID-19
- Willing and able to wear an FFP3 including if other team members are not doing so
- Willing and able to take on all tasks detailed above, with clear instruction, support, and guidance
Useful but not essential:
- Having a driving licence, especially if confident driving automatics, in cities, and larger vehicles (no car required)
- Experience in theatre environments, understanding the backstage rules and norms
- Experience taking rehearsal notes on a creative project
- Any degree of skill in BSL
- Expertise in applying makeup
- Experience in a care-related role previously, or personal experience of providing personal care
- Understanding of the Social Model of Disability and its application
- Experience providing any form of informal care work or formal (paid) support to disabled people
If you are interested in becoming part of our database, fill in our short form below.
