As revealed exclusively in SomersetClive on July 15th, the White Elephant Enclosure is seeking a new employee.
Following an approach from the Smalltown Culture and Arts Manager, Debby Karmary, Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Councillors agreed to funding totalling £49,994 to cover the cost of employing a Smalltown Culture and Arts Marketing Manager for Economic Development (SCAMMED).
In her presentation to the council Ms Karmary explained that she was far too busy searching for grants and other sources of free money to fund the White Elephant Enclosure to be able to actually do her job of developing the business.
“I have been able to secure funding from the Arts Council, the Government’s Pandemic Relief Fund and Chernobyl by Sea’s Community Impact fund in recent years, to help cover some of the losses incurred by the WEE. Unfortunately those funding sources have now dried up, so I need to source and apply for other grants, otherwise the losses will be even worse. The only alternative would be for me to try and turn the WEE into a successful, money-making enterprise and let’s face it – that’s never going to happen.”
Head of the Staff Room, Cllr Eugenie Sherry explained to Councillors that because so many members of staff had resigned their positions in the first few months of 2022, there was plenty of money left in the staffing budget to throw at the WEE.
“The WEE budget for this financial year forecasts a deficit of only £101,000, meaning that so far operating the venue has only cost this Town Council £1 million of Council tax payer’s money. What harm can an extra £50k do? What else are we going to spend that money on?”
The new SCAMMED role seeks an applicant who has excellent marketing and communication skills in order to write and distribute press releases to build a positive image for the WEE. The successful applicant will also be expected to lead the staff and manage the volunteers, book acts and artists to appear on stage, run the box office, sweep the floors and sell icecreams during intervals – in fact, all the things the SCAM was originally employed to do, but hasn’t.
They will be required to pay special attention to the WEE’s social media content with a brief to ‘Keep a lookout for any adverse comments about the WEE and bring them to the SCAM’s attention so that she can delete them immmediately.’
Applications can be made by completing a 94 page questionnaire which is available on the WEE website.