Project Director

Role: PROJECT DIRECTOR  To develop and deliver the Benton End House & Gardens Project

Location: Benton End House, Hadleigh, Suffolk (The successful candidate should live locally, or be relocating to Suffolk)

Salary: £65,000 per annum  

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract – 3 years (commencing March 2025, or sooner if possible)

Role Type: Full-Time, however 4 days per week will be considered for the right candidate. This is a Hadleigh-based project with national reach. Occasional evening and weekend working may be required.

Introduction

The Garden Museum is excited to present an extraordinary opportunity for a driven and dynamic Project Director to lead the transformation of Benton End – the iconic home of artist-gardener Cedric Morris - into a centre for creativity and freedom in the arts, horticulture, and learning, set in the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

In 2018, the Garden Museum hosted an exhibition of the work of the painter Cedric Morris, titled Cedric Morris: Artist Plantsman. The exhibition showcased the artist’s flower and garden paintings – Morris, alongside his skill as a painter, was an avid and successful gardener. The culmination of these complementary interests can be seen at Benton End in Hadleigh, Suffolk - the home he shared with his partner and fellow artist, Arthur Lett-Haines, where together they founded and managed the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing from 1940 until Cedric’s death in 1982. Students of the school included Lucian Freud, Maggi Hambling, and Bettina Shaw-Lawrence.

In 2018, Benton End was acquired by the Pinchbeck Charitable Trust to revive its legacy as a key site at the intersection of the arts and horticulture; a mission that was subsequently entrusted to the Garden Museum through a transfer of ownership. Therefore, the Garden Museum is seeking an exceptional Project Director to lead an exciting new arts, horticultural, and learning initiative at Benton End. The Project Director would oversee the transformation of Benton End to a thriving cultural and community venue in the heart of Suffolk’s countryside.

This position would suit an experienced professional from the cultural sector, with experience of delivering National Lottery Heritage Fund project, and managing arts venues, museums or heritage sites.

Project Context

Benton End is a Tudor House acquired by the artists Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines in 1939 to become their home, and the home of East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, a residential academy distinguished by a freedom of curriculum radical in comparison to the established art schools of the time. Morris was also a horticulturalist of national distinction and in the walled garden at Benton End created the country’s first naturalistic garden. Benton End became a community in which art and gardening combined with music, literature, and food but, above all, was a place for freedom, inspiration, and creativity. Additionally, it is an important site to queer history.

At Morris’s death in 1982 it became a private home, and passed through four private families until in 2018 it was purchased by The Pinchbeck Charitable Trust (PCT) for £1.25 million in order to re-open Benton End as a place of learning and a celebration of Morris’s legacy. In 2021 the PCT transferred ownership to the Garden Museum, an independently run museum which had recently completed its own transformational capital project, entrusting the Garden Museum to deliver the project.

The Project Director will be an employee of the Garden Museum but lead their own small but growing team in Hadleigh, which is currently comprised of the Manager, Head Gardener, and Horticultural Trainee.

Benton End was re-opened to the public in 2023 for guided tours and community events in the current year has been visited by over 1,800 people, including 3 out of 4 of Hadleigh’s schools. The revival of the walled garden which was the ‘showpiece’ of the wider site has begun with the funding of a Head Gardener for three years by The Linbury Trust and further support from Project Giving Back; miraculously, much of Cedric’s plant collection has survived successive private owners – including his famous Benton Irises. It is planned to complete the walled garden by the summer of 2026.      

In June 2024 the NLHF responded to an Expression of Interest for £2.9 million towards a project cost of £5 million with an invitation to submit a Round 1 application. The EOI proposed:

• The restoration of the Grade II* listed house and the art school spaces inserted in 1940 and its conversion into an arts and learning centre on the basis of a feasibility study by Ptolemy Dean Architects
• A learning plan focussed on under-privileged audiences identified by the NLHF with an emphasis on young people, as in Cedric and Lett’s vision
• A vibrant plan of fee-paying courses in art, floristry, food and writing for a national audience, with five en-suite bedrooms formed within the house
• The creation of a permanent display telling the story of Cedric and Lett, including long-term loans from private collections and public collections
• The establishment of an archive of the art school, and a permanent collection of pupils’ work
• The display of works from the Garden Museum collection on its theme of art and gardening  
• A Business plan pivoting on the ability to rent out the house as a holiday let, with a number of festivals and weddings     
• A training programme for young horticulturalists in partnership with the Garden Museum and training providers
• A programme of artistic residencies to continue the story of the artist and the garden, with exhibitions within the house

A fundamental challenge on which the Project Director must lead is to establish a vision for Benton End which is inspired by the East Anglian School’s historic radicalism but is relevant and meaningful to audiences today. It will also be your role to translate into reality the idea of Benton End as hybridising the Garden Museum’s identity and programme with Benton End’s local roots.        

Role, responsibilities and deliverables

General: The Project Director will;  

• Develop and deliver a National Lottery Heritage Fund project through the R1 and R2, with building work scheduled to begin in late 2026; for the R1 you will be working with the team of consultants including Julia Holberry Associates, Anna Cullum Associates, and James Mellish of JM Environmental Ltd., who drew up the successful EOI
• Work with the Head Gardener, design consultant, and Gardens Committee and Horticultural Trainee to deliver the design for the walled garden, including raising a further £180,000; this element of the project is to be independent of the NLHF process
• Establish a group of volunteers based inside the house, complimenting the volunteer group established in the garden   
• Develop the learning programme initiated in 2023 in partnership with community groups, and partners including Otley College and the Field Studies Centre at Flatford Mill
• Pilot an artistic programme to begin a series of ‘pop up’ exhibitions in addition to residencies; a bedroom was refurbished in 2024 with a grant from the Estelle Trust
• Establish a regional network composed of;
  • (i) a regional steering group comprising partner Museums and HEIs, and Babergh and mid-Suffolk District Council
  • (ii) a Hadleigh community panel
  • (iii) a fund-raising Committee with its own Chair Represent and advocate Benton End to a diverse range of people and constituents, with major stakeholders including the District Council and Arts Council
• Recruit and lead a team of staff and consultants appropriate to the NLHF process while generating a momentum and life for Benton End within its current limitations

Skills and experience required

Our ideal candidate would be a seasoned museum or heritage professional who has delivered a significant NLHF project from inception to delivery. They would have proven skills and experience in the following areas;

• Excellent team leadership: the Project Director will be leading an internal team of staff and external team of project consultants, and will need to be able to recruit/procure, manage and motivate a wide range of team members.
• Experience of managing Heritage Fund projects: including coordinating successful applications. This would include understanding and supporting NLHF outcomes and priorities; being able to represent the project to NLHF staff; understanding the process and being able to deliver and manage all NLHF deliverables.
• Project Management: strong project management skills essential, as this is a role that has construction, community engagement, public programming and business planning elements to deliver, all of which will overlap at points within the project.
• Community Focus: The social benefits of Benton End will be central to the project, and the Project Director will need to be committed to community engagement, and inclusive participation in arts and heritage.
• Artistic Vision: The Project Director will develop an artistic vision for Benton End, alongside the community vision, that draws upon what was unique about Cedric and Lett’s own lives and ethos. This will include developing and embedding a vision for the house that underpins all activities, including public facing exhibitions and events, commercially driven activities, learning activities, horticultural activities and community programmes. Central to this vision is that Benton End is a place dedicated to the art of the garden, and the successful candidate will believe in the value of this to visitors and the wider community.
• Business Planning: When Benton End opens to the public, the Project Director will have oversight of a business plan which promotes income generation and uptake of paid activities, alongside Benton End’s community engagement programme. A good understanding of marketing and visitor service would be advantageous, as would experience of balancing a museum/heritage site’s social and commercial imperatives.

Benton End Project Team

The Project Director is expected to be self-driven and through their expertise and leadership, to successfully deliver the Benton End project, but will be a direct report of Christopher Woodward, the Director of The Garden Museum, who will act as a ’sounding board’ and also engage with fund-raising, drawing on the supporters of the Garden Museum’s own projects.

Additionally, the Project Director will also report to a local Chair and set up, support and be guided by the networks described above.

The Project Director and Head Gardener will also report to and be guided by the Gardens Committee.    

Benton End Team: The Project Director will line manage the following team;

• The Head Gardener, who in turn manages the Horticultural Trainee funded by the WFGA
• The Manager

Additional Support: The Project Director will be supported by the Garden Museum as follows;

• The Garden Museum Director at 1 day per week Financial reporting and management of a budget currently at £120,000 p.a. is provided by the Garden Museum finance team  HR and Payroll Access to all appropriate expertise (e.g., Archivist) and software including fund-raising software and Membership databases

External consultants and wider project team

The Project Director will procure and have oversight of all external consultants and contractors needed to deliver the project. These will include, but may not be limited to;

• Professional practices to develop the Activity Plan, Interpretation Plan, Conservation Plan, Business Plan, Management and Maintenance Plan, and Project Evaluation.
• A design team which will include architect, landscape designer, engineers and QS. Some design work will need to be developed and costed prior to the development phase.
• Building and landscape contractors in readiness for the delivery phase, and an external Construction Project Manager who will provide direct oversight of the building and landscape contracts.

Application Process

Please send a CV and covering letter by an email via the button below outlining your skills and experience in relation to the job description.  

Please ensure you mark the subject box: BENTON END PROJECT DIRECTOR and include details of two referees in your application, who we can contact if you are selected for interview.

Closing date for applications: Midnight on Friday, 29^th November 2024.

We regret that we are unable to respond to all applicants, you will only hear from us if we wish to invite you to interview

First stage interviews will be held at Benton End House, Hadleigh, Suffolk on 10^th December 2024.

Second stage interviews will be held in London, on 16^th December 2024.

Equal Opportunities

We aim to be an inclusive organisation where everyone is treated with respect and dignity, and where there is equal opportunity for all. We respect and values diverse characteristics. We are committed to positively engaging and celebrating the differences of our diverse staff and users, to enable us to achieve our aims within the organisation and the external community.