Event Production Manager

Who We Are:

Frieze is the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – frieze, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week – and seven international art fairs – Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York, Frieze Los Angeles, Frieze Seoul, The Armory Show and EXPO Chicago. Legacy art fair brands The Armory Show and EXPO Chicago were acquired by Frieze in September 2023. In October 2021, Frieze also launched No.9 Cork Street, a permanent space for visiting international galleries in the heart of Mayfair, London. At Frieze we believe art is vital to communities and cultures. Bringing together galleries, artists, institutions, and art lovers all over the world to make art flourish.

About the Frieze Production Department:

The Production team are responsible for delivering all physical elements of the fairs and ensuring it’s safe, timely and successful delivery. This team is an operational one, based in London, made up of two distinct subsets, with a Head of Department for each:

• Exhibitor Production – focuses on all production elements related to the Exhibitors at the fairs, including; booth builds, complex artwork installation, technical support, drafting, floor planning, art shipping logistics, Frieze Sculpture management, production schedules (venue builds), Health & Safety.
• Fair Production – encompasses all other areas of the fair, including; tent builds & related infrastructure, F&B, contract management, Partnership lounge support/production, other non-gallery build, fair design, site infrastructure, security, cleaning, contractor management, production schedule (tent builds), Health & Safety.

Frieze FRAME – this newly formed department, although working closely with the above teams, is a stand-alone team who will act as the Frieze in-house production agency. FRAME will primarily be sold to existing and new sponsors across the Frieze Fairs portfolio, offering a turn-key production management service for their on-site brand activations.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Define project scope, objectives, and deliverables in collaboration with clients and internal stakeholders.
• Develop comprehensive project plans outlining key milestones, resource requirements, and budget allocations.
• Manage project resources effectively - assigning tasks, tracking progress, and adjusting freelance resource allocations as needed to meet project objectives and deadlines.
• Supporting new business pitches and strategic planning initiatives with feasibility studies, production methodologies, and proposals to drive project success.
• Advising clients and internal teams on creative and practical production solutions.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams on the end-to-end production process from concept, through to completion.
• Effectively manage relationships with suppliers, negotiating contracts and agreements to secure favourable terms and pricing while maintaining the highest level of service and quality.
• Responsible for H&S documentation and working with contractors and stakeholders to ensure the activation complies with H&S and venue regulations.
• Creating briefing documents and technical specs to share with production suppliers.
• Implement key process documentation for all production elements.
• Budget forecasting, management, and reconciliation.
• Ensuring cost trackers are kept up to date and the client is kept abreast of spend.
• Providing production leadership onsite, overseeing delivery, carrying out final technical checks ensuring that all elements are executed according to project specs and timeline.
• Reporting and evaluation across projects, with ability to confidently implement and push forward learnings and best practices across future projects.
• Developing our overall offering by staying ahead of the latest production techniques, suggesting ways in which these can be adopted and deployed across our activations.
• Ensure sustainability initiatives are delivered.
• Drawing up and managing project production schedules, with freelance producers as required.
• Working closely with the Experience Designer and Graphic Designer to ensure timelines are followed and a smooth delivery of all projects.
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and travel as required. When on-site, longer working hours will be required.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a Production Manager, with a focus on luxury brands activations and experiential marketing.
• A working understanding of event production disciplines such as custom fabrication, AV, power distribution, rigging and logistics.
• Experience with writing and managing production schedules.
• Proven track record of successfully managing projects from conception to completion, within budget and on schedule.
• Proven strong negotiation and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent supplier knowledge / black book in the above areas.
• Must have a good understanding of legal obligations, Health & Safety and the roles of all duty holders under CDM.
• Extensive budget management experience.
• Experienced in balancing, and executing, creative direction vs operational realities.

Desirable:

• Experience in the art world.
• Experience working with luxury brands.

Skills and Abilities:

• Previous experience includes working in an experiential production agency.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong negotiation skills with the ability to cultivate and maintain relationships with sponsors, suppliers, and vendors.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport and establish credibility with clients, stakeholders, and team members at all levels.
• Strong organisational and time management skills, with excellent attention to detail.
• Team player with the ability to foster strong relationships with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to work both autonomously and as a team.
• Multi-Lingual – (English, Korean, Spanish) (Desirable).

Qualifications and Training:

• Health & Safety qualification(s) e.g. IOSH (Mandatory).
• Previous experience working in the art world (Desirable).
• Bachelor's degree in Event Management, Marketing, Business Administration, or related field (Desirable).

Working Conditions:

Perm, London Surrey Street Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm.

Our Diversity & Inclusion Statement:

Frieze unites people in our love of the arts. We understand this can only be accomplished when we harness the entirety of our company and lead with a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do. As a global company that drives culture, we are committed to practicing anti-discrimination including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, together with artists, writers, and cultural practitioners from all backgrounds. There is still much work to be done to address systemic inequality and discrimination within the arts and culture industry, and we are dedicated to making progress to both within our own organization and the art world at large.