WE ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW BOARD MEMBER TO JOIN OUR CHARITY AS TREASURER.

University of the Underground Board Member Role Description 

Job description: Board Member Treasury 

University of the Underground

Role-voluntary position. 

Salary- unpaid *as per the charity status rules, none of the members of the board are receiving a salary

Location and residency- Netherlands

Application deadline: 22nd July 2021

Interviews: 26th July and results communicated 30th!

Email hello@universityoftheunderground.org with your CV, cover letter and portfolio to apply!

 

It gives us great pleasure to invite you to apply to join as one of the three University of the Underground Stitchting Charity board members.

The University of the Underground was founded in February 2017, as a charity with ANBI status (RSIN 8575.82.781). The University of the Underground is a free, pluralistic and transnational university based in the basement of nightclubs- with headquarters in Amsterdam and London- and actively working with both institutions and nightlife. As a charity, the hope of the University of the Underground is to bring generations together to democratise access to public institutions and trigger changes and critical reflections through the use of creative and experiential practices. As a member of the board, you will:

– provide guidance to the University of the Underground in multiple capacities. Such as fundraising for financial stability, governance and guidance of finances, establishing foundations for pioneering academic excellence and future growth.

– provide academic advice, and support academic direction, teaching and learning, research, and management of the resources of the programme and staff, in liaison with the board of the University of the Underground . Fundraising, through earned external income and discretionary income is a key part of the role. 

– Working with support from the University of the Underground teaming team and alumnis, you will be required to help in generating external funding for the programme, faculty research and knowledge exchange, and for bursaries and scholarships for students and staff as a part of their programme or for the future.

– Advice on establishing an academic philosophy and vision for the programme closely aligning it with the mission and strategic plan of the University of the Underground, continuing to develop and refresh it. 

– build upon the significant reputation and achievements of the programme, ensuring it grows in stature and international profile, and forges successful creative and academic links with other programmes within and beyond the University of the Underground.

– In addition to promoting the work of the programme, both nationally and internationally, you will communicate and represent the interests of the University of the Underground as a whole, and facilitate the possibilities for collaboration and to further links with other schools. 

– Facilitate introductions between the University of The Underground staff and meaningful personal and professional contacts who could be potential supporters

– Participate in quarterly meetings and occasional individual check-in calls

– Help plan and promote The University of The Underground events and fundraisers

– Support the University in the way best suited to you. Whether that means hosting small donor dinners, arranging partnerships, outlining a business plan, or sharing technical skills, speaking with our students — we need your help.

– act as principal investigator (and minimum of co-investigator) on external research grant applications. 

 

Person specifications:

– The ideal candidate will be informed about current issues and developments in higher education, and will be up to date with current political and creative practices and research nationally and internationally. 

– Experience working as a board member or other with no profit or charity.

– Experience leading or managing innovative educational programmes.  

– Experience in fundraising and volunteering with non profit and charities.

– Experience of teaching in higher education

– Experience of one or more of the following: fundraising/sponsorship/successful grant applications, experience of staff management; 

– Commitment to equal opportunities and diversity

– Significant contribution to politics and/or creative practice in an international context

– Proven record of research excellence and impact, and commitment to, through productions, publications or equivalent, the advancement of learning and/or the application of knowledge in his or her, their specialised discipline;

– A successful track record of securing competitive research grant income and/or industrial sponsorship and funding.

– Based in the Netherlands and with residency in the Netherlands.

Board Composition: 3 members, in regular contact with the University of the Underground’s staff. Benefits of being on the board of the University of The Underground:  

• Joining the select group of world leading, creative dreamers from all corners of the world
• Making meaningful change in creative leadership and education for future generations.
• Working with a small team, who are passionate about the University of the Underground and its mission.
• Tickets to the University of the Underground’s end-of-year event
• Limited edition University of the Underground vinyl
• Copy of the University of the Underground’s annual 

 

History:

The University of the Underground was founded in February 2017 to create global engagement with society as a whole. A registered charity, it aims to bring generations together to democratise access to public institutions and trigger changes and critical reflections through creative, experiential and design practices. The University believes in a transnational form of education, which goes across borders and beyond nation-states. It is an educational structure with an accredited full time Master of the Arts (MA Design of Experiences), and a cultural institution. Since 2019, we have been running a series of research programmes across the world and also on virtual platforms.

The curriculum is concerned with a contemporary and strategic foresight implying politics, sustainability, institutions, new technologies and scientific developments both in Artificial Intelligence and in current digital ecosystems. It uses design, linguistic, experiential, political, theatrical, musical and other practices to engage members of the public with the experiences and the debates created. The University produces unconventional research and design practices to better understand and challenge the formulation of culture and the manufacture and commodities of knowledge. With an explicit focus on political theory and philosophy, experiences, music, theatrical practices, film, social actions, and social dreaming; it aims to provide toolkits for members of the public and students to actively participate in revealing power structures in institutions. The University of the Underground supports unconventional research, countercultures, and practices that apprehend and challenge the formulation of culture, the manufacture, and commodities of knowledge. For the University of the Underground, it is essential to rethink education beyond national borders, but also to build a federation of cooperative schools globally to support the development, identification and empowerment of countercultures in institutions. As a result, the University of the Underground has started to run educational programmes in the USA, starting in summer 2019, in collaboration with the Hannah Arendt Center of Bard College and the United Nations; but also in Cairo and (online) in Tbilisi in Georgia. You can see these programmes and the outcomes for the work of the Tbilisi x Amstersdam cohort here , the work of the Cairo x Amsterdam cohort here, the work of the NYC x Amsterdam cohort here and the work of the MA Design of Experiences 2017-2019 students here.