Festival Guides

Our group of 10 Festival Guides will be experts on Liverpool Biennial 2025 exhibitions and the city, responsible for the day-to-day running and forward-facing aspects of the festival.

Main Duties

  Delivery of an Outstanding Visitor Experience  

• Be the first point of contact to warmly welcome all visitors, arts professionals and stakeholders to Liverpool Biennial venues, as well as public realm works as necessary.   

• Ensure the accessibility and provision of information and advice to visitors and guests to enable them to make the most of their visit, which will encourage repeat visits and visits to other Biennial venues and events.   

• Preparation and delivery of tours of the exhibition for groups and members of the public as required.  

• Encourage engagement with resources and activities for visitors, such as family activity packs, interactive artworks, and available accessibility and sensory provision.  

• Support public programme and advocacy events such as artist performances, talks, screenings, drinks receptions, celebrations, etc. through stewarding, ticket checking, preparing venues and supporting the Programme team and artists as required.  

• Support learning activities and events such as the set up, pack down and facilitation of workshops and school tours.  

• Ensure that all enquiries made in person, by telephone, e-mail, or in writing are handled professionally, courteously, promptly and effectively. Assist visitors or guests with specialist enquiries, either transferring them to someone who can help or taking their details and contacting them when the information is found.  

• Undertake evaluation questionnaires with visitors to gather data and feedback on all elements of Liverpool Biennial.  

• Attend induction and training opportunities as required.  

Operational  

• Day-to-day running of the exhibitions and the public programme, including supporting tours and group visits as well as monitoring capacity, maintenance of space, artworks and resources.   

• Daily open and closing of venues, and switch on and off of artworks, ensuring lock-up protocols are strictly followed and venues are made secure when unattended.  

• Ensure that Liverpool Biennial 2025 venues are health and safety compliant: clean, free of clutter, all equipment in working order. Report any issues to the Front of House Coordinator.  

• Fully understand and implement health and safety, safeguarding and incident reporting guidelines and protocols for exhibition and information sites.  

• Be knowledgeable on all operating procedures and report any issues to the Front of House Coordinator.  

• Promote and provide information on opening hours, exhibitions, events, facilities and services relevant to information points.  

• Provide verbal and written visitor/customer feedback and ideas for improvement to the Front of House Coordinator and the Programme Team.  

• Be knowledgeable of Liverpool Biennial 2025 exhibits and activities, local geography, transport services, shops and other relevant public information.  

  Administrative & Training  

• Attend a 4-week induction and training programme, ensuring to complete all relevant training required for the post within given timeframes.  

• Support the Front of House Coordinator to ensure that the information kept in directories and information files is accurate, available, up to date and easy to navigate.  

• Liaise with venue partners and staff to ensure efficient communication and sharing of up-to-date information relating to visitor services.  

• Support the Front of House Coordinator to ensure that daily briefing sheets are completed and accurately circulated to all relevant parties.  

• Support and encourage audiences to complete evaluation surveys.  

• Manage sales of merchandise and Limited Editions, providing regular updates to the Development team.  

• Encourage and facilitate donations to Liverpool Biennial to help support our work with artists and communities.  

• Work within the context of Liverpool Biennial’s Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety and Safeguarding Policies and Staff Code of Conduct in delivery of internal and external service to and treatment of others alongside all other Company policies as detailed in the Staff Handbook.  

• Contribute to the documentation and evaluation of the Festival Guide programme.  

• Complete administrative and runner duties where required to support the core LB team in the delivery of the festival and its programmes.  

• Other duties which are commensurate with the nature and responsibility level of the post. 

PERSON SPECIFICATION  

Essential  

• Minimum two years’ experience in a public facing role such as invigilating, working on events or in the customer service industry  

• Excellent communication skills, including being confident in public speaking   

• Ability to work well in a team  

• Good organising and planning skills  

• Confidence in using self-initiative   

• Ability to demonstrate reliability and punctuality  

• Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion   

• Commitment to Environmental Sustainability and responsibility   

  Desirable  

• Experience of working in the arts/heritage/visitor attraction/tourism sectors  

• Experience of working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds  

• A Knowledge of the Liverpool arts community  

• Knowledge of contemporary art  

• Demonstrable ability to engage individuals with contemporary art & culture  

• Knowledge or training in Health and Safety, First Aid, Safeguarding and Accessibility  

Find out more about this role in the job pack below