Become our new Chief Executive

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in the position of CEO of The Cheltenham Trust.

The Cheltenham Trust commenced operation as an independent charity, with a subsidiary trading company, in October 2014. It was established by Cheltenham Borough Council to operate the town’s culture, heritage, leisure and sport venues and services.

As the lead provider of arts, culture, heritage, sport and leisure in Cheltenham, the trust manages some of the town’s most iconic and contemporary venues, Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham Town Hall, The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, Leisure at Cheltenham and the Prince of Wales stadium. The trust is unique given its diverse services and its approach to carefully blending culture, community and commercial activities for the benefit of residents in the town and surrounding areas, plus the large numbers of visitors to the “festival town”.

The trust is a not-for-profit organisation and it promotes and enables culture, heritage, entertainment, sport and leisure to be accessible to all.  Following major refurbishment of The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum in 2022 to create a new community art gallery, vibrant arts café and artist studios, and newly refurbished galleries, work is currently underway to complete the next phase of refurbishment that will transform the Victorian wing of the museum to create new and accessible galleries promoting the story of Cheltenham and bringing more of its rich history to life for everyone to enjoy. The new galleries will open Spring 2025.

During the trust’s life, it has had two Chief Executives with the second having served for the last five and half years, during which time the Cheltenham Trust has faced a number of challenges, including the COVID pandemic, the recent cost of living crisis and enforced closures of buildings for structural repairs. The trust has repurposed and evolved and is now a dynamic, innovative, and commercially adept organisation. Its aim is to achieve financial resilience and sustainability. However, the financial headwinds remain strong and, along with many other organisations delivering similar services across the country, achieving financial breakeven remains a major challenge.

In the past four years the trust has grown its annual turnover from £4.2m to £7.3m planned for this financial year. However, it’s net income position at the end of each year has oscillated between surplus and deficit. In the last financial year, the unaudited accounts are showing a surplus of c. £100k, bolstered by some one-off items. In the current financial year of 2024/25, the current forecast is showing a significant deficit, primarily as a result of unplanned closures to buildings that have resulted in lost revenue and additional costs.

The most significant challenge facing the incoming CEO is financial sustainability. That said, considerable effort is currently being put in by both executives and trustees to identify actions to both generate additional income and to reduce costs.

The trust is also looking to refresh the organisation’s mission and vision, and to develop a new strategic plan. This is therefore an exciting time for our incoming CEO to shape the future direction of the trust. A major backdrop to this is the Council’s obligation to re-tender for the trust’s services within the next five years. This offers a unique opportunity to re-shape the services provided within a contractual framework which is sound and resilient for the long-term success of the trust.

I am proud to promote an organisation that makes a real difference to Cheltenham and its communities, ensuring historic and cultural venues are relevant and continue to be so. We continually seek new opportunities to enrich and improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and support the local and visitor economy, and the richness of Cheltenham as the “festival town”.

This is an exciting time to join the trust and if you have the experience, expertise and capacity that the trust needs to achieve its goals, then we welcome your application.

We look forward to hearing from you, and as the Chair, I am committed to supporting the successful candidate in delivering success for the Trust.

Thank you again for your interest.

Mike Napier
Chair of the Board of Trustees
The Cheltenham Trust