Head of Arts, Nigeria at British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
 
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head of Arts, Nigeria

Job ID: 47860
Location: Lagos

Role purpose

• To set, enable and deliver the strategic direction, leadership, and governance of our Nigeria Arts programme and contribute to the objectives of the British Council Arts programme.

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following
Strategic Leadership:

• Be responsible for delivering our strategy in arts and creative industries work in Nigeria, developing programme vision, operational plans for the country arts and creating new opportunities in the sector.
• Support enterprise development, creative economy policy and creative economy leadership through cocreation and codelivery between UK and Nigeria.

Business Development and Stakeholder Management:

• Develop new opportunities for external income that extend the impact of our work
• Creating relationships with key players in the creative sector and the private sector.

Operational Management and Governance:

• Be accountable for financial / non-financial targets and risk management for our Arts Programme.
• Manage the governance and accountability of the Nigeria Arts providing month and annual assurances.

Staff Leadership and Line Management:

• To provide management to country colleagues responsible for delivering our work in arts.

Thematic and Regional Leadership:

• Represent Nigeria and provide thought leadership on all our work in the arts
• Be an active and constructive member of the programme leadership team in Nigeria and support the Director Programmes and Country Director to provide overall management of the operation.

Requirements of the role

• Degree or Higher Education qualification in relevant Arts, Cultural, Heritage, or Humanities field.
• Written and Spoken English at Proficiency Level
• Strong knowledge of UK creative sectors and creative sectors in Nigeria  
• Sector knowledge in the field of arts and programme management with a strong Creative Economy specialism
• Experience in managing a large team or a small organisation
• Experience of commissioning and managing consultants and partner organisations
• Experience Raising funding for arts and creative economy projects.

Desirable:

• An innovative approach to the use of digital and social media to connect audiences.
• Experience of working with both large and medium organisations
• Experience in delivering arts work in more than one country in Sub Saharan Africa.

Application Closing Date
18th February, 2026; at 23:59 South Africa Time / 22:59 UK Time.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: We request that applications be submitted in English.