Placement Opportunity
This is a new, exciting and unique opportunity for anyone interested in preserving and sharing the histories of HIV, drag and wider LGBTQ+ cultures and communities. The placement would be useful to anyone considering a career in heritage or who has recently completed relevant training or study.
The placement will work 28 hours per week for 6 months as part of NHST’s ‘HIVstory’ project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Two days per week will be spent at George House Trust in Manchester, with other days spent working remotely or at other archive and heritage sites. Regular working hours will be weekdays between 9 and 5, but some evening and weekend work may be necessary.
Role: Project Assistant
The NHST Engagement Project: HIVStory
Location: George House Trust, Manchester
Reports to: HIVstory Project Manager
Placement Focus
Manchester’s Gay Village was built on fierce resilience, but in the darkest days of the 1980s and 90s, it was the region’s drag queens who stepped into the breach when the world looked from the AIDS pandemic. When statutory support was scarce and fear ran rampant, these performers did far more than lip-sync for applause; they mobilized an entire community. Armed with quick wit, towering wigs, and unyielding solidarity, they turned cabaret stages into frontline fundraising machines, held the hands of the dying, and buried their own House Mothers, daughters, and friends.
The successful applicant will work closely with NHST staff and volunteers, George House Trust staff and other local organisations to uncover and preserve the living history of this unique frontline. We will gather rare video footage of historic performances, photograph preserved costumes that carry the dust of legendary venues like The Number 1 Club and Paradise Factory, and record deeply intimate video interviews with the surviving queens, organizers, and patrons of the era.
The placement also offers more general experience of:
- Working with and interpreting heritage collections in a professional setting.
- Developing, delivering and supporting heritage-based community events
- Taking part in relevant training opportunities
- Making presentations in person and online
- Creating a regular blog
The placement will also support the wider work of George House Trust including:
- To activate their archive within Manchester Central Library
- Support George House Trust’s LGBTQ+ activities
- Create an event for LGBT History Month 2027
Employee benefits package
- 12 days of leave
- Flexible working options
- Training and development opportunities
- Total fee for the role is £9,307.20, invoiced for in monthly instalments
Applicant Requirements
Essential
- Verifiable interest in heritage-based work including research, outreach and engagement
- Excellent organisational skills
- Self starter
- The ability to work well with others
- Good communication skills
- Clear interest to pursue a heritage-based career
- Experience in creating effective written information
- A demonstrable willingness to take on new challenges and opportunities.
Desirable
- Skills in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Knowledge and understanding of the history of HIV and people’s lived experience.
- Previous experience engaging with Manchester’s drag and/or LGBTQ communities.
- Basic experience of film making.
About NHST
The NHST’s key activities are:
- The Archive: collecting stories and interviews through filmed material to ensure the events of the last 40 years are recorded and not lost.
- Engagement events: presentations to groups ranging from corporates to community groups, sharing materials and letting people hear the first-person testimony recorded in our interviews. Our long-term aim has always been to reach groups beyond the LGBTQ+ community.
- Volunteering programme: to work with a team of volunteers involving them in all aspects of the archive’s work including community outreach, communications and social media, groups and events.
In addition, we are looking to expand our ‘story telling’ work through use of the archived interviews in media, film, student research, medical education and the arts. Creating events that bring people affected by HIV together in order to help with the feelings of isolation and loneliness through shared experience and storytelling is of great importance. Sadly there is still much misunderstanding and prejudice against those affected by HIV and this is something we wish to change.
Visit: https://www.nhst.org.uk and www.hivstory.org.uk
Further Information
This opportunity will support anyone wishing to work in heritage outreach and engagement. The NHST project is focused on the history of HIV and the lived experience of survivors, family members and medical professionals. It is required that those applying for the placement can show commitment and interest in this specific area, as well as a wider interest in heritage work.
Application notes
Please email a cover letter explaining your interest in the role and how you meet the applicant requirements to james.king@nhst.org.uk
Closing date: Monday 7 December
Interview Date: Monday 14 December
Expected start date: w/c Monday 4 January
The NHST believes in equality in employment and we therefore welcome applications from all members of the community, irrespective of age; disability; gender reassignment; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion and belief; sex and sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership status.
The National HIV Story Trust is a registered charity – Number: 1185923
Picture by zoompics/Alamy