Join Our Team as Assistant Venue Manager at Gosforth Civic Theatre

The Role

Gosforth Civic Theatre is a community‑rooted, values‑driven arts venue, café, and creative hub. We’re home to performances, brilliant hospitality, and a warm welcome for everyone who walks through our doors. Due to an internal promotion, we’re looking for an Assistant Venue Manager who can help us deliver exceptional experiences across our events, café bar, and day‑to‑day operations.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a lively, people‑focused environment, enjoys variety, has strong bar management and hospitality experience and wants to contribute to a venue with a strong social purpose.

You must ensure standards and service are delivered to a consistently high quality, providing a first-class service to all of our customers and guests. This could be audience members, a wedding couple, a gig promoter, a visiting artist, a business conference, or a family party.

Reporting to the Venue Manager, this role will mainly take place on evenings and weekends, where you will be the responsible senior member of staff on site.

What you'll be doing

• Supporting the Venue Manager with the smooth running of daily operations across events, café bar, and building management.

• Leading shifts to ensure high standards of customer service, safety, and accessibility.

• Supervising and supporting staff and volunteers, helping to create a positive, inclusive working culture.

• Acting as Duty Manager for performances, hires, and community events, ensuring everything runs safely and professionally.

• Maintaining venue standards, including cleanliness, presentation, and compliance with licensing, health & safety, and safeguarding.

• Contributing to event delivery, from room setups to liaising with artists, hirers, and community groups.

• Supporting stock control and bar operations, including cash handling and end‑of‑day procedures.

• Helping improve systems and processes, bringing ideas that make the venue more efficient, welcoming, and sustainable

To be successful in this role, you will be passionate about providing an exceptional guest experience. It goes without saying that you will have bags of personality and a real flair for hospitality.

What we offer

• A supportive, friendly team who care deeply about what we do.

• Opportunities for training and professional development.

• A varied role where no two days look the same.

• The chance to contribute to a venue with a strong social mission and a vibrant creative programme.

• Staff discounts on food and drink and a variety of tickets to shows

• Wellbeing Hub access to talking therapies, GP appointments, physio sessions, and mindfulness app; shopping discounts and rewards.

• Generous holiday allowance - 30days plus bank holidays

What you'll bring:

• Experience in hospitality, events, arts venues, or similar customer‑facing environments.

• Confidence leading and supporting a team during busy shifts.

• A calm, solutions‑focused approach when things get lively.

• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.

• A commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and community‑centred practice.

• Willingness to work evenings and weekends as part of a rota.

• A genuine enthusiasm for creating a warm, safe, and joyful experience for our audiences and visitors.

You will positively and creatively manage the evening and weekend operations at GCT. Work within the senior operations team to deliver and improve our offer to the community and our audiences. You will be a passionate advocate for the organisation and its mission and vision of inclusion.

Terms

• Contract: Permanent

• Hours: 40 hours per week (including evenings and weekends)

• Holiday entitlement: Generous holidays - 30 days per year plus bank holidays

• Salary: £30,000 p.a

• Place of Work: Gosforth Civic Theatre, NE3 3HD

• Job Title: Assistant Venue Manager

  
  

How to Apply

To apply, please send a CV and completed application form to emma@gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk. The closing date is Friday 3rd April 2026.

Assistant Venue Manager - Application Form.docx

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We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, including those with disabilities and from underrepresented communities.

Join us in making a difference in the community through the arts. Your role as Assistant Venue Manager will be vital in shaping the experiences of our guests and supporting our mission of inclusion and accessibility.

About us

From our experience, if we told you the truth about why Gosforth Civic Theatre exists, you probably wouldn’t believe us. There is a group of people with learning disabilities who set up and run a theatre company called Liberdade (Lib-er-dar-jie). In 2012, they decided they wanted to open a theatre where everyone was welcome. They wanted jobs in their theatre and to provide the opportunities they’d had for other young people. That’s how Gosforth Civic Theatre came to be.

This journey to get to where we are makes GCT unique. Add to that a governance structure that empowers and gives a voice to both people with learning disabilities and young people, and you have a cultural building that can create real social change in a community. We think people can sense that when they come and visit us.

We regularly welcome over 50,000 visitors annually to nearly 700 events, or to our café and bar. This success and our company members' vision enabled us to secure and successfully carry out a multimillion-pound redevelopment of the building in 2023.

At a pivotal moment in Liberdade’s history, join us to take our customer experience to the next level. You will have an important part to play, running a versatile events venue and managing a diverse staff team. As a crucial member of our senior operations team, you will be joining a growing and successful organisation.