About the National Film and Sound Archive

 The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is Australia’s audiovisual archive, telling the national story by collecting, preserving and sharing audiovisual media, the cultural experience platforms of our time. The collection itself dates back to 1935, making it one of the world’s oldest audiovisual collections. It is also one of the country’s most used cultural collections, with around 125 million views of collection content each year. The NFSA is in a period of significant change. Following increased Government investment, the institution is in a process of digital transformation, establishing the NFSA as Australia’s most dynamic and valued cultural organisation. We are rebuilding our curatorial workforce and developing the NFSA’s capacity to digitise our collection at scale – to preserve it for the future, to make sure it can be discovered, and to share it with all Australians.     

We continue to work on developing a stable, secure and future-proof workforce across our four physical sites based in Canberra and Mitchell in the ACT as well as in Sydney and Melbourne.

We are also undergoing a program of business improvement for many of our corporate systems to improve efficiency and reduce manual handling.

We are an ambitious organisation, and we aim to be an employer of choice within the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector, providing exciting and challenging work, as well as favourable employment conditions and unique development opportunities for our staff.

Cultural Values

We are an equal opportunity employer, embracing a diverse range of applicants such as veterans, and people who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, LGBTQIA community members, individuals with disabilities and/or health conditions, as well as those from varied faith and cultural backgrounds. At the NFSA we prioritise the development of a safe, inclusive, and high-performance culture through shared actions and behaviours that align with our strategy and direction. This empowers our employees to effectively contribute to our goals.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia is committed to ensuring a child-safe and child-friendly environment. All employees are expected to demonstrate a commitment to, and support for these principles in theory and practice.

About the Team 

The Public Programs and Visitor Experience (PP&VE) team is part of the Programs and Place Branch. The Branch’s key objectives are to increase NFSA’s relevance, reach and revenue, particularly through experiences at our headquarters in Acton
The PP&VE team is responsible for managing and delivering Visitor Services, Commercial Venue Hire, Café contract (external supplier), corporate events, and four key streams of on-site public programs and experiences at our Acton location, including:

• ‘Baseline’ – Our ‘always on’ experience welcomes visitors to our revitalised heritage spaces and courtyard with digital and object-based displays and café.
• NFSA Presents’ – A program of digital installations of commissioned artworks in our main gallery space, public programs that enliven and enrich all our spaces, and a year-round program of screenings in our award-winning, heritage-listed Arc Cinema and Theatrette.
• ‘NFSA Co-presents’ - The team collaborates with external strategic partners to deliver joint programs and events such as film festivals and symposia. Through these partnerships, NFSA builds community and participates as a key voice in the conversation about identity, city renewal, placemaking and design.
• Commercial Venue Hire – Many of our revitalised spaces are available for hire and more are coming online. The NFSA recognises venue hire as an opportunity to connect with diverse audiences, develop business tourism and generate revenue.

Additionally, the team collaborates with teams across the NFSA to deliver internal corporate events.

The PP&VE team is part of the Programs and Operations section, which also includes the Learning & Media Literacy team and the Technical & Production team.

The Opportunity

The Manager PP&VE will play a key role in refining our strategies, systems, tools and procedures and managing a multi-disciplinary team to achieve this goal.

The Manager PP&VE manages a large, multi-disciplinary team, ensuring the effective, safe and timely delivery of all public programs, our ‘always on’ visitor experience, exceptional customer service and venue hire at our Acton location.

While primarily a management role, the position includes significant opportunity to lead creative dialogue within the team and with external partners, and to contribute ideas for innovative programs, events and products. The Manager PP&VE has direct responsibility for managing ‘NFSA Co-presents’ creative partnerships, developing tourism products and managing the café contractor. The Manager PP&VE sits on the Programming Committee which programs activation of the Acton campus.

The Manager PP&VE reports to and works in close collaboration with the Head of Programs and Operations, other managers within the Programs and Operations section and teams across the NFSA to ensure alignment of strategy, creative direction and operations.

The Manager PP&VE will be highly organised, proactive and collaborative, with strong project management and team leadership skills. They will be able to apply their creative, analytical and entrepreneurial mindset and experience in delivering innovative public programs and customer service in a cultural institution context.

Please note: This recruitment process is intended to fill both current and future vacancies. While the position on offer is ongoing, a merit pool of suitable applicants may be established to fill similar ongoing and non-ongoing positions within the next 18 months.