Head of Scenic Art

Role Purpose

To lead and inspire the Scenic Art department, ensuring all scenic finishes are delivered to exceptional artistic and technical standards on time, within budget, and in line with each designer’s vision. The Head of Scenic Art will combine hands-on painting expertise with leadership and planning, overseeing a team of permanent and freelance scenic artists and collaborating closely with designers, production managers, and workshop heads.

Duties & Responsibilities

Paintshop Management & Communication

Build an effective & positive team providing support & supervision. Encourage staff to develop their skills.

Ensure work is budgeted, planned, scheduled & distributed to meet deadlines, attending regular meetings to develop work plans for productions.

Supervise and monitor staff to ensure the highest appropriate standards of work are maintained at all times whilst still keeping to budget and schedule; reporting changes/overruns ASAP.

Carry out training & reviews as required.

Work with the admin team to book additional staff when required, arrange paint calls and order materials in time & within budget.

Ensure good housekeeping, health & safety and correct working methods (to COSHH standards).

Scenic Art

Work with the scenic art team, preparing samples showing processes and materials that will create the desired effect within the time and budget available.

Interpret designers’ small-scale ideas, and develop them into full-scale reproductions.

Use a broad range of scenic techniques, textures and materials in established processes, alongside expanding and developing their use in new ways.

Be excellent at colour-matching and be able to produce finishes to the highest standards.

To stretch, hang and paint scenic cloths and gauzes using projection and measure out and create cut cloths effects.

Encourage and teach members of the team to develop new skills and processes, occasionally working with students too.

Work off site when required at meetings or paint calls.