After more than three decades at the heart of Live & Local, John Laidlaw MBE is stepping away from his role as Executive Director, marking the end of an era.

Live & Local is now launching the search for a new Executive Director to lead the organisation into its next chapter! This is an exciting opportunity to take a leading role in an organisation dedicated to bringing high-quality arts experiences to communities and supporting the cultural life of rural areas.

As the organisation enters an important period of development, our new Executive Director will work alongside our Board, staff team, promoter network, partners and stakeholders to shape the future of the organisation. With changes to the arts funding landscape, a renewed national focus on people and place, and new opportunities to demonstrate the impact of arts and culture within communities, it is an exciting time to join us.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic leader who shares our commitment to community participation, quality and creativity. Our next Executive Director will provide strategic leadership for Live & Local while ensuring that the organisation continues to be effective, financially resilient and responsive to the communities we serve. We are particularly interested in candidates with a strong understanding of the arts and cultural sector and experience of leading and managing organisations, programmes or partnerships.

Interested?

Live & Local has a brilliant team of colleagues and a strong network of partners and communities. We are proud of what we have achieved and ambitious about what comes next. You can find full details of the role on our Jobs Page where you'll find our Executive Director Recruitment Pack, which includes Job Description, Person Specification, Salary information and more - as well as instructions on how to apply. Please Click Here to visit our Jobs Page.

Application deadline: Midday 16th November 2026

We look forward to hearing from you!

You can read more about the career of our outgoing Executive Director John Laidlaw in this recent blog.